2.6 [BuildOptions] Section

Content in the [BuildOptions] section defines module specific tool chain flags that must be used as the default flags for a module. These flags are appended to any standard flags that are defined by the build process. In order to replace the standard flags that are defined by the build process, an alternate assignment operator must be used; "==" is used for replacement, while "=" is used to append the flag lines. Flags specified in this section can either be appended to the standard flags (defined in the Conf/tools_def.txt) or replace the standard flags. In addition to flags, other tool attributes may have the item either appended or replaced.

The left side content of a statement may appear in both common and architectural sections. For example, MSFT:DEBUG_*_*_CC_FLAGS may be listed in a common section, while MSFT:DEBUG_*_IA32_CC_FLAGS may be listed in the architectural section. If the operator is a single "=" character, the flags from the architectural section are appended to the flags from the common section. Using this section may limit the ability of a module to be compiled with different tool chains or with different build systems and is therefore, discouraged.

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

Table 2 EDK II [BuildOptions] Section Elements
Tag Value Notes
${FAMILY}:${TARGET}_${TAGNAME}_ ${ARCH}_${TOOLCODE}_FLAGS Flags for specific tool codes for this module Used to specify module specific flags of the module that will use the driver.
${FAMILY}:${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.

In this section, the following table describes each of the variables that are shown above.

Table 3 EDK II [BuildOptions] Variable Descriptions
Variable Required Wildcard Source
FAMILY NO No Conf/tools_def.txt defines the FAMILY values, for example: 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 at least four architectures: IA32, X64 and EBC. This tag must use all capital letters for the tag. Additional Architectures, such as PPC or ARM 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 or HOST_APPLICATION, 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.

Developers should 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.

Note: The lines are shown with the backslash "\" character to indicate a line continuation, they are not allowed in the actual INF file.

[BuildOptions.common]
  MSFT:DEBUG_*_IA32_DLINK_FLAGS = /out:"$(BIN_DIR)SecMain.exe"/base:0x10000000 /pdb:"$(BIN_DIR)SecMain.pdb"/LIBPATH:"$(VCINSTALLDIR)Lib"/LIBPATH:"$(VCINSTALLDIR)PlatformSdkLib"/NOLOGO /SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE /NODEFAULTLIB /IGNORE:4086/MAP /OPT:REF /DEBUG /MACHINE:I386 /LTCG Kernel32.lib MSVCRTD.lib Gdi32.lib User32.libWinmm.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

For [BuildOptions] sections in the INF file, the entries with a common left side (of the "=") will be either appended or replace previous entries based on the "==" replace or "=" append assignment character sequence. Sections with identical architecture modifiers are appended to each other.

Common Section + Architectural Section

Example:

[BuildOptions.Common]
  MSFT:*_*_*_CC_FLAGS = /nologo

[BuildOptions.Common]
  MSFT:*_*_*_CC_FLAGS = /Od

[BuildOptions.IA32]
  MSFT:*_*_IA32_CC_FLAGS = /D EFI32

For IA32 architecture builds of an EDK II INF file would logically be:

MSFT:*_*_IA32_CC_FLAGS = /nologo /Od /D EFI32

For X64 architecture builds of an EDK II INF file would logically be:

MSFT:*_*_IA32_CC_FLAGS = /nologo /Od