5.1 Build Meta-Data File Formats

The following subsections describe the different parts of the build system's meta-data files. These files are specific to the build process. Other EDK II meta-data file formats are specified in their corresponding documents (see Related Information in the Introduction.)

5.1.1 Comments

Within a meta-data file, comments are encouraged, with the hash "#" character identifying a comment. In line comments terminate the processing of a line. In line comments must be placed at the end of the line, and may not be placed within the section ("[", "]", "<" or ">") tags. Comment characters can be at the start of a line, or after a data element (there must be one or more white space characters between the data element and the comment character. Examples:

# this is a comment line
[Unicode-Text-File] # This is also a valid comment.

[Unicode-Text-File # This is not valid]

The last example is not valid, as the section header data element format is [text] with the square brackets included as part of the data element.

Hash characters within a quoted string are permitted, and do not signify a comment.

5.1.2 Valid Entries

All entries must appear on a single line, with entries terminated by either a new line, or a comment.