What is the difference between distro features, machine features and image features ? What dependicies between them? [closed]

Question

I am using Yocto project to build a customized distribution to my board. I just want to ask you, what is the difference between distro features, machine features and image features ?

Whittemore

This question is primarily opinion-based and will most probably be closed. Read How do I ask a good question to find more information. – Subsistence

@Subsistence I disagree, Yocto configuration (distro/image/machine/...) is quite hard to understand and this question does not raise a primarily opinion-based issue. – Ramer

Answer 1

Yocto uses features as a means to figure out which libraries, utilities and kernel modules to include in the image.

There is some overlap between the three feature categories (especially distro- and image features), and it is not always obvious where to look for a particular feature. For example, api-documentation is a distro feature, while doc-pkgs is an image feature.

So these definitions are my own, check out the reference manual for more details.

Machine features are related to the hardware that the image is built for. For instance, the rtc feature specifies that the hardware has a built-in real-time clock, while the bluetooth feature indicates that the hardware supports bluetooth.

Distro features select broader categories of software support, though there is some overlap with machine features. Examples of distro-level features include ipv6, systemd and x11.

Image features typically (but not always, see splash or read-only-rootfs) are used to enable functionality useful for debugging and diagnosing issues. For example, allow-empty-password configures SSH servers to allow root login without password, and dbg-pkgs installs debug symbols for all packages in the image.

Arc