2 DEC File Overview

This document describes the format of EDK II package declaration (DEC) files. The DEC files are used by the EDK II utilities that parse EDK II DSC and EDK II INF files to generate AutoGen.c and AutoGen.h files for the EDK II build infrastructure.

There are no new features or format introduced in this specification.

This version of the specification reflects changes to the EDK II reference build system that has been updated to support builds using EDK II Packages that are located in directories outside of the directory specified by the system environment variable, WORKSPACE. Refer to the TianoCore.org web-site for more information on the EDK II build system.

An EDK II Package (directory) is a directory that contains an EDK II package declaration (DEC) file. Only one DEC file is permitted per directory. EDK II Packages cannot be nested within other EDK II Packages.

A DEC file describes content for a collection of 'like' modules located in a directory tree. Each collection of modules must be in a unique directory tree in the WORKSPACE, and must contain only one DEC file.

EDK II modules are located in subdirectories below the directory containing this file. If a module is a Library, the module directory must be created in the "Library" subdirectory. An "Include" subdirectory is also required, with the header file for the Library class placed in the sub-directory Include/Library/, and be called LibraryClassName.h. Additional content for the Include directory may include header files and potentially another Industry Standard directory.

Note: Path and Filename elements within the DEC are case-sensitive in order to support building on UNIX style operating systems. Names that are used in C code are case sensitive as well as MACRO names used as short-cuts within the DEC file. Use of "..", "./" and "../" in path and filename elements is prohibited.

Note: GUID values are used during runtime to uniquely map the C names of PROTOCOLS, PPIS, PCDS and other variable names.

Note: The examples in this document use a backslash "\" character when the example line does not fit in between the margins. This character is not permitted in the actual DEC file, as all valid entries must appear on the same line.

Note: The total path and file name length is limited by the operating system and third party tools. It is recommended that for EDK II builds that the WORKSPACE (or directories listed in the PACKAGESPATH system environment variable) directory be either a directory under a subst drive in Windows (s:/build as an example) or be located in either the /opt directory or in the user's / home/username directory for Linux and OS/X._