4. Integration commands

Sometimes a software requires more configuration or processing than what is performed at installation time, otherwise it will not run properly.

This is especially true in cases where a daemon or library interoperates with third party extensions and needs to maintain a system wide cache whenever its extensions are installed or removed; system wide font caches are an example of this.

In these cases we use integration commands to ensure that a runtime is ready to run after all of its components have been staged.

Note

This example is distributed with BuildStream in the doc/examples/integration-commands subdirectory.

4.1. Overview

In this chapter, we’ll be exploring integration commands, which will be our first look at public data.

4.2. Project structure

4.2.1. project.conf and elements/base.bst

The project.conf and base stack stack element are configured in the same way as in the previous chapter: Running commands.

4.2.2. elements/base/alpine.bst

kind: import
description: |

    Alpine Linux base runtime

sources:
- kind: tar
  url: alpine:integration-tests-base.v1.x86_64.tar.xz
  ref: 3eb559250ba82b64a68d86d0636a6b127aa5f6d25d3601a79f79214dc9703639

#
# Run ldconfig in the libdir before running anything
#
public:
  bst:
    integration-commands:
    - ldconfig "%{libdir}"

This is the same base/alpine.bst we’ve seen in previous chapters, except that we’ve added an integration command.

This informs BuildStream that whenever the output of this element is expected to run, this command should be run first. In this case we are simply running ldconfig as a precautionary measure, to ensure that the runtime linker is ready to find any shared libraries we may have added to %{libdir}.

4.2.2.1. Looking at public data

The integration commands used here is the first time we’ve used any builtin public data.

Public data is a free form portion of an element’s configuration and is not necessarily understood by the element on which it is declared, public data is intended to be read by its reverse dependency elements.

This allows annotations on some elements to inform elements later in the dependency chain about details of its artifact, or to suggest how it should be processed.

4.2.3. elements/libhello.bst and elements/hello.bst

These are basically manual elements very similar to the ones we’ve seen in the previous chapter: Running commands.

These produce a library and a hello program which uses the library, we will consider these irrelevant to the topic and leave examination of their sources as an exercise for the reader.

4.3. Using the project

4.3.1. Build the hello.bst element

To build the project, run bst build in the following way:

user@host:~/integration-commands$ bst build hello.bst

[--:--:--][        ][    main:core activity                 ] START   Build
[--:--:--][        ][    main:core activity                 ] START   Loading elements
[00:00:00][        ][    main:core activity                 ] SUCCESS Loading elements
[--:--:--][        ][    main:core activity                 ] START   Resolving elements
[00:00:00][        ][    main:core activity                 ] SUCCESS Resolving elements
[--:--:--][        ][    main:core activity                 ] START   Resolving cached state
[00:00:00][        ][    main:core activity                 ] SUCCESS Resolving cached state
[--:--:--][        ][    main:core activity                 ] START   Checking sources
[00:00:00][        ][    main:core activity                 ] SUCCESS Checking sources

BuildStream Version 1.93.1+172.g03ccfcd3b
  Session Start: Friday, 17-04-2020 at 20:54:20
  Project:       integration-commands (/home/user/integration-commands)
  Targets:       hello.bst

User Configuration
  Configuration File:      /home/user/.config/buildstream.conf
  Cache Directory:         /home/user/.cache/buildstream
  Log Files:               /home/user/.cache/buildstream/logs
  Source Mirrors:          /home/user/.cache/buildstream/sources
  Build Area:              /home/user/.cache/buildstream/build
  Strict Build Plan:       Yes
  Maximum Fetch Tasks:     10
  Maximum Build Tasks:     4
  Maximum Push Tasks:      4
  Maximum Network Retries: 2

Pipeline
   buildable b795a72d92c05ed0810723f5c3ad40c53bba6e8b568a9d5da22a450a11e03659 base/alpine.bst 
     waiting c51be27603466b582ea90970d9b83bc058224017d83c36f71e33bc5b3b84b638 base.bst 
     waiting dade3a10309e0169eaa5ff94de2699500c488e503c59c3471530ffc1f088f936 libhello.bst 
     waiting 281f8501f66dc3f648eda7602a71492f6ebb18418483bfbcfa713500b67d4e95 hello.bst 
===============================================================================
[--:--:--][b795a72d][   build:base/alpine.bst               ] START   integration-commands/base-alpine/b795a72d-build.5834.log
[--:--:--][b795a72d][   build:base/alpine.bst               ] START   Staging sources
[00:00:00][b795a72d][   build:base/alpine.bst               ] SUCCESS Staging sources
[--:--:--][b795a72d][   build:base/alpine.bst               ] START   Caching artifact
[00:00:00][b795a72d][   build:base/alpine.bst               ] SUCCESS Caching artifact
[00:00:00][b795a72d][   build:base/alpine.bst               ] SUCCESS integration-commands/base-alpine/b795a72d-build.5834.log
[--:--:--][c51be276][   build:base.bst                      ] START   integration-commands/base/c51be276-build.5841.log
[--:--:--][c51be276][   build:base.bst                      ] START   Caching artifact
[00:00:00][c51be276][   build:base.bst                      ] SUCCESS Caching artifact
[00:00:00][c51be276][   build:base.bst                      ] SUCCESS integration-commands/base/c51be276-build.5841.log
[--:--:--][dade3a10][   build:libhello.bst                  ] START   integration-commands/libhello/dade3a10-build.5845.log
[--:--:--][dade3a10][   build:libhello.bst                  ] START   Staging dependencies
[00:00:00][dade3a10][   build:libhello.bst                  ] SUCCESS Staging dependencies
[--:--:--][dade3a10][   build:libhello.bst                  ] START   Integrating sandbox
[--:--:--][dade3a10][   build:libhello.bst                  ] STATUS  Running command

    ldconfig "/usr/lib"

[00:00:00][dade3a10][   build:libhello.bst                  ] SUCCESS Integrating sandbox
[--:--:--][dade3a10][   build:libhello.bst                  ] START   Staging sources
[00:00:00][dade3a10][   build:libhello.bst                  ] SUCCESS Staging sources
[--:--:--][dade3a10][   build:libhello.bst                  ] START   Running build-commands
[--:--:--][dade3a10][   build:libhello.bst                  ] STATUS  Running command

    make PREFIX="/usr"

[00:00:00][dade3a10][   build:libhello.bst                  ] SUCCESS Running build-commands
[--:--:--][dade3a10][   build:libhello.bst                  ] START   Running install-commands
[--:--:--][dade3a10][   build:libhello.bst                  ] STATUS  Running command

    make -j1 PREFIX="/usr" DESTDIR="/buildstream-install" install

[00:00:00][dade3a10][   build:libhello.bst                  ] SUCCESS Running install-commands
[--:--:--][dade3a10][   build:libhello.bst                  ] START   Running strip-commands
[00:00:00][dade3a10][   build:libhello.bst                  ] SUCCESS Running strip-commands
[--:--:--][dade3a10][   build:libhello.bst                  ] START   Caching artifact
[00:00:00][dade3a10][   build:libhello.bst                  ] SUCCESS Caching artifact
[00:00:01][dade3a10][   build:libhello.bst                  ] SUCCESS integration-commands/libhello/dade3a10-build.5845.log
[--:--:--][281f8501][   build:hello.bst                     ] START   integration-commands/hello/281f8501-build.5881.log
[--:--:--][281f8501][   build:hello.bst                     ] START   Staging dependencies
[00:00:00][281f8501][   build:hello.bst                     ] SUCCESS Staging dependencies
[--:--:--][281f8501][   build:hello.bst                     ] START   Integrating sandbox
[--:--:--][281f8501][   build:hello.bst                     ] STATUS  Running command

    ldconfig "/usr/lib"

[00:00:00][281f8501][   build:hello.bst                     ] SUCCESS Integrating sandbox
[--:--:--][281f8501][   build:hello.bst                     ] START   Staging sources
[00:00:00][281f8501][   build:hello.bst                     ] SUCCESS Staging sources
[--:--:--][281f8501][   build:hello.bst                     ] START   Running build-commands
[--:--:--][281f8501][   build:hello.bst                     ] STATUS  Running command

    make PREFIX="/usr"

[00:00:00][281f8501][   build:hello.bst                     ] SUCCESS Running build-commands
[--:--:--][281f8501][   build:hello.bst                     ] START   Running install-commands
[--:--:--][281f8501][   build:hello.bst                     ] STATUS  Running command

    make -j1 PREFIX="/usr" DESTDIR="/buildstream-install" install

[00:00:00][281f8501][   build:hello.bst                     ] SUCCESS Running install-commands
[--:--:--][281f8501][   build:hello.bst                     ] START   Running strip-commands
[00:00:00][281f8501][   build:hello.bst                     ] SUCCESS Running strip-commands
[--:--:--][281f8501][   build:hello.bst                     ] START   Caching artifact
[00:00:00][281f8501][   build:hello.bst                     ] SUCCESS Caching artifact
[00:00:01][281f8501][   build:hello.bst                     ] SUCCESS integration-commands/hello/281f8501-build.5881.log
[00:00:02][        ][    main:core activity                 ] SUCCESS Build

Pipeline Summary
  Total:       4
  Session:     4
  Fetch Queue: processed 0, skipped 4, failed 0 
  Build Queue: processed 4, skipped 0, failed 0

Observe in the build process above, the integration command declared on the base/alpine.bst element is run after staging the dependency artifacts into the build sandbox and before running any of the build commands, for both of the libhello.bst and hello.bst elements.

BuildStream assumes that commands which are to be run in the build sandbox need to be run in an integrated sandbox.

Tip

Integration commands can be taxing on your overall build process, because they need to run at the beginning of every build which runtime depends on the element declaring them.

For this reason, it is better to leave out more onerous tasks if they are not needed at software build time, and handle those specific tasks differently later in the pipeline, before deployment.

4.3.2. Run the hello world program

Unlike the previous chapters, this hello world program takes an argument, we can invoke the program using bst shell:

user@host:~/integration-commands$ bst shell hello.bst -- hello pony

[--:--:--][        ][    main:core activity                 ] START   Loading elements
[00:00:00][        ][    main:core activity                 ] SUCCESS Loading elements
[--:--:--][        ][    main:core activity                 ] START   Resolving elements
[00:00:00][        ][    main:core activity                 ] SUCCESS Resolving elements
[--:--:--][        ][    main:core activity                 ] START   Resolving cached state
[00:00:00][        ][    main:core activity                 ] SUCCESS Resolving cached state
[--:--:--][        ][    main:hello.bst                     ] START   Staging dependencies
[00:00:00][        ][    main:hello.bst                     ] SUCCESS Staging dependencies
[--:--:--][        ][    main:hello.bst                     ] START   Integrating sandbox
[--:--:--][        ][    main:hello.bst                     ] STATUS  Running command

    ldconfig "/usr/lib"

[00:00:00][        ][    main:hello.bst                     ] SUCCESS Integrating sandbox
[--:--:--][        ][    main:hello.bst                     ] STATUS  Running command

    hello pony

Hello pony

Here we see again, the integration commands are also used when preparing the shell to launch a command.

4.4. Summary

In this chapter we’ve observed how integration commands work, and we now know about public data, which plugins can read from their dependencies in order to influence their build process.