2.4 [BuildOptions] Section

Content in the [BuildOptions] section is used to define module specific tool chain flags rather than use the default flags for a module. These flags are appended to any standard flags that are defined by the build process. They can be applied for any modules or those modules on the specific ARCH or those modules with the specific EDKII module style. In order to replace the standard flags that are defined by the build process, an alternate assignment operator is used; "==" is used for replacement, while "=" is used to append the flag lines. In addition to flags, other tool attributes may have the item either appended or replaced.

Valid content is within this section is limited to the following description.

Table 7 EDK II [BuildOptions] Section Elements: Optional Tags
Tag Value Notes
${FAMILY}:${TARGET}_${TAGNAME}_ ${ARCH}_${TOOLCODE}_FLAGS Flags for specific tool codes for this module Used to specify module specific flags.
${FAMILY}:${TARGET}_${TAGNAME}_ ${ARCH}_${TOOLCODE}_PATH The fully qualified path an executable Used to replace a specific command, such as forcing the ASL to be iasl, instead of asl.
${FAMILY}:${TARGET}_${TAGNAME}_ ${ARCH}_${TOOLCODE}_DPATH A fully qualified path A path that will be added to the system Environment's PATH variable prior to executing a command.
${FAMILY}:${TARGET}_${TAGNAME}_ ${ARCH}_${TOOLCODE}_${ATTRIBUTE} Attribute specific string This permits overriding other attributes if required.
Table 8 EDK II [BuildOptions] Variable Descriptions
Variable Required Wildcard Source
FAMILY NO No Conf/tools_def.txt defines FAMILY as one of MSFT, INTEL or GCC. Typically, this field is used to help the build tools determine whether the line is used for Microsoft style Makefiles or the GNU style Makefiles.
By not specifying the FAMILY, the tools assume the flags are applicable to all families.
TARGET YES Yes = * Conf/tools_def.txt file defines two values:
DEBUG and RELEASE. Developers may define additional targets.
TAGNAME YES Yes = * Conf/tools_def.txt file defines several different tag names - these are defined by developers; the default tag name, MYTOOLS, is provided in the template for tools_def.txt and set in the Conf/target.txt file.
ARCH YES Yes = * Conf/tools_def.txt defines six architectures:
ARM, AARCH64, IA32, X64 and EBC. This tag must use all capital letters for the tag. Additional Architectures, such as PPC may be added as support becomes available.
TOOLCODE YES NO The tool code must be one of the defined tool codes in the Conf/tools_def.txt file. The flags defined in this section are appended to flags defined in the tools_def.txt file for individual tools.
EXCEPTION: If the INF MODULE_TYPE, defined in the [Defines] section is USER_DEFINED, then the flags listed in this section are the only flags used for the
TOOLCODE command specified in Conf/tools_def.txt`.
ATTRIBUTE YES NO The attribute must be specific to the tool code and must be a valid attribute handled by the build system. For the reference build, a valid rule must be included in the build_rule.txt.

Developers must use extreme caution when specifying items in this section. The EDK II build is designed to support multiple compilers and tool chains, expecting that code is written in ANSI C. If custom tool flags are required by a module, developers must make sure that all consumers of the module are aware of the specific tools and tag names required.

The following examples show the usage of the [BuildOptions] section. Note that the lines show use of the "\" line continuation character.

[BuildOptions.common]
  MSFT:DEBUG_*_IA32_DLINK_FLAGS = /out:"$(BIN_DIR)\SecMain.exe"     \
              /base:0x10000000 /pdb:"$(BIN_DIR)\SecMain.pdb"        \
              /LIBPATH:"$(VCINSTALLDIR)\Lib"                        \
              /LIBPATH:"$(VCINSTALLDIR)\PlatformSdk\Lib"            \
              /NOLOGO /SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE /NODEFAULTLIB /IGNORE:4086 \
              /MAP /OPT:REF /DEBUG /MACHINE:I386                    \
              /LTCG Kernel32.lib MSVCRTD.lib Gdi32.lib User32.lib   \
              Winmm.lib
  MSFT:DEBUG_*_IA32_CC_FLAGS = /nologo /W4 /WX /Gy /c /D UNICODE  \
              /D EFI32 /Od /DSTRING_ARRAY_NAME=SecMainStrings     \
              /FI$(DEST_DIR_DEBUG)/AutoGen.h /EHs-c- /GF /Gs8192  \
              /Zi /Gm

The following examples show how [BuildOptions] sections can be merged, as well as how the content in those sections can be merged.

It is appropriate to use a DEFINE statement in the [Defines] section; for example 1:

DEFINE MSFT_COMMON_DEBUG_FLAGS = /Od

Then the macro, $(MSFT_COMMON_DEBUG_FLAGS) can be used in statements in any of the [BuildOptions.*] sections, as in:

[BuildOptions.X64]
  MSFT:DEBUG_*_*_CC_FLAGS = /nologo /c $(MSFT_COMMON_DEBUG_FLAGS)

[BuildOptions.IA32]
  MSFT:DEBUG_*_*_CC_FLAGS = /nologo /c $(MSFT_COMMON_DEBUG_FLAGS)

It is also permissible to have a [BuildOptions.<arch>] section that can be shared be used for different statements that are not duplicate content from the [BuildOptions.<arch>.EDKII] sections. For example:

[BuildOptions.Common]
  MSFT:*_*_*_ASL_OUTFLAGS = /Fo=

[BuildOptions.Common.EDKII]
  MSFT:DEBUG_*_*_CC_FLAGS = /nologo /c /D UNICODE

[BuildOptions.IA32.EDKII]
  MSFT:DEBUG_*_IA32_CC_FLAGS = /W4 /WX /Gy