Build system setup

  1. Assuming a GNU/Linux environment, otherwise see alternative guides.
  2. Install Git to download the source code, and your distro's default build tools metapackage to do the cross-compilation process.
  3. You may also need to install Subversion (SVN) or Mercurial to fetch the source-code for some feeds which are not available over Git.
  4. Install other prerequisite packages, as indicated in the table and examples below.
  5. Unset environment variables like SED and GREP_OPTIONS and aliases/functions like which.

This table contains the package name for each build prerequisite in different GNU/Linux and Unix like distributions.

Prerequisite Debian SUSE Red Hat macOS (via MacPorts) Fedora Arch Gentoo
asciidoc asciidoc asciidoc asciidoc asciidoc asciidoc asciidoc app-text/asciidoc
GNU Bash bash bash bash bash bash bash app-shells/bash
GNU Binutils binutils binutils binutils binutils binutils binutils sys-devel/binutils
bzip2 bzip2 bzip2 bzip2 bzip2 bzip2 bzip2 app-arch/bzip2
flex flex flex flex flex flex flex sys-devel/flex
git git git-core git git-core git git dev-vcs/git
GNU C++ Compiler g++ gcc-c++ gcc-c++ ? gcc-c++ gcc sys-devel/gcc
GNU C Compiler gcc gcc gcc ? gcc gcc sys-devel/gcc
GNU Time time ? ? gtime ? time sys-process/time
getopt util-linux util-linux util-linux getopt util-linux util-linux sys-apps/util-linux
GNU awk gawk gawk gawk gawk gawk gawk sys-apps/gawk
gzip gzip gzip gzip gzip gzip gzip app-arch/gzip
help2man help2man ? ? help2man help2man help2man sys-apps/help2man
intltool-update intltool intltool intltool intltool intltool intltool dev-util/intltool
libelf-dev libelf-dev ? ? libelf elfutils-libelf-devel libelf virtual/libelf
libz, libz-dev zlib1g-dev zlib-devel zlib-devel zlib, libzip, libzzip zlib-devel zlib sys-libs/zlib
GNU make make make make gmake make make sys-devel/make
ncurses libncurses-dev ncurses-devel ncurses-devel ncurses ncurses-devel ncurses sys-libs/ncurses
openssl/ssl.h libssl-dev libopenssl-devel openssl-devel openssl openssl-devel openssl dev-libs/openssl
patch patch patch patch patchutils patch patch sys-devel/patch
perl-ExtUtils-MakeMaker perl-modules perl-ExtUtils-MakeMaker perl-ExtUtils-MakeMaker p5-extutils-makemaker perl-ExtUtils-MakeMaker perl-extutils-makemaker virtual/perl-ExtUtils-MakeMaker
perl-Thread-Queue libthread-queue-any-perl ? ? ? perl-Thread-Queue ? virtual/perl-Thread-Queue
python2-dev python2-dev python-devel ? python27 ? python2 dev-lang/python:2
? python3-dev ? ? python310 ? ? ?
unzip unzip unzip unzip unzip unzip unzip app-arch/unzip
GNU Wget wget wget wget wget wget wget net-misc/wget
xgettext gettext gettext-tools gettext gettext gettext gettext sys-devel/gettext
xsltproc xsltproc libxslt-tools ? libxslt libxslt libxslt dev-libs/libxslt
zlib, zlib-static zlib1g-dev zlib-devel-static zlib-devel zlib zlib-devel,zlib-static zlib sys-libs/zlib (USE=static-libs)

Note that the advice above may be somewhat outdated. E.g. python3 is currently the default in OpenWrt master, 22.03 and 21.02, while python2.7 has been removed due its end-of-life.

Unfortunately not all dependencies are checked by make config, especially for packages. You may encounter compile errors because you need a specific library in your system, and the only way is to search the missing library from the compiler error log and see what package contains it in your own distro.

The following table is a partial list of such dependencies:

Package Prerequisite Debian SUSE Red Hat macOS (via MacPorts) Fedora Arch Gentoo
boost bjam / boost-jam libboost-dev boost-jam boost-build boost-jam boost dev-util/boost-build
intltool [Perl] XML::Parser libxml-parser-perl perl-XML-Parser p5.28-xml-parser p5.30-xml-parser perl-XML-Parser intltool dev-perl/XML-Parser
libftdi (aka: libftdi0) libusb-config libusb-dev libusb libusb-devel libusb dev-libs/libusb-compat
lilo as86,ld86 bin86 binutils dev86 bin86 sys-devel/bin86
lilo bcc1 bcc dev86 aur/bcc sys-devel/dev86
lilo uudecode sharutils sharutils sharutils sharutils app-arch/sharutils
luajit,xdp-tools x86 g++ libs on amd64 hosts gcc-multilib
classpath (aka: gnu-classpath) 1 javac, gcj openjdk-7-jdk-headless openjdk7-zulu java-1.8.0-openjdk-devel jdk7-openjdk dev-java/oracle-jdk-bin, sys-devel/gcc[gcj], and one (or both) of dev-java/icedtea-bin:7 and dev-java/icedtea:7
mac80211 b43-fwcutter1 (Broadcom/BCM) b43-fwcutter b43-fwcutter b43-fwcutter net-wireless/b43-fwcutter
jamvm1 zip zip zip zip app-arch/zip

Distribution-specific instructions.

Please note that OpenWrt master, 22.03 and 21.02 branches do not need python2.7 any more. Python3 should be your default.

apk add argp-standalone asciidoc bash bc binutils bzip2 cdrkit coreutils \
  diffutils elfutils-dev findutils flex musl-fts-dev g++ gawk gcc gettext git \
  grep gzip intltool libxslt linux-headers make musl-libintl musl-obstack-dev \
  ncurses-dev openssl-dev patch perl python3-dev rsync tar \
  unzip util-linux wget zlib-dev
 
# python2-dev required for OpenWrt 19.07 and earlier is not available on Alpine Linux 3.16 and newer 
 
# missing dependency workaround (libtinfo is not installable by any APK package,
# but can be simulated via libncurses (see: https://stackoverflow.com/a/41517423 )
# w/o this - ERROR: package/boot/uboot-mvebu failed to build (build variant: clearfog)
ln -s /usr/lib/libncurses.so /usr/lib/libtinfo.so 

Arch users may install the openwrt-devel meta-package from the AUR or alternatively, manually install the build dependencies as follows:

# Essential prerequisites
pacman -S --needed base-devel autoconf automake bash binutils bison \
bzip2 fakeroot file findutils flex gawk gcc gettext git grep groff \
gzip libelf libtool libxslt m4 make ncurses openssl patch pkgconf \
python rsync sed texinfo time unzip util-linux wget which zlib
 
# Optional prerequisites, depend on the package selection
pacman -S --needed asciidoc help2man intltool perl-extutils-makemaker swig
sudo dnf --setopt install_weak_deps=False --skip-broken install \
bash-completion bzip2 gcc gcc-c++ git make ncurses-devel patch \
rsync tar unzip wget which diffutils python2 python3 perl-base \
perl-Data-Dumper perl-File-Compare perl-File-Copy perl-FindBin \
perl-IPC-Cmd perl-JSON-PP perl-Thread-Queue perl-Time-Piece

Modernized set for Ubuntu 22.04 for OpenWrt master, 22.03 and 21.02 branches that do not need python2.7 any more. Python3 is installed by default in Ubuntu 22.04.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential clang flex bison g++ gawk \
gcc-multilib g++-multilib gettext git libncurses-dev libssl-dev \
python3-distutils rsync unzip zlib1g-dev file wget

Older advice:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential ccache ecj fastjar file g++ gawk \
gettext git java-propose-classpath libelf-dev libncurses5-dev \
libncursesw5-dev libssl-dev python python2.7-dev python3 unzip wget \
python3-distutils python3-setuptools python3-dev rsync subversion \
swig time xsltproc zlib1g-dev 
echo \
app-arch/{bzip2,sharutils,unzip,zip} sys-process/time \
app-text/asciidoc \
dev-libs/{libusb-compat,libxslt,openssl} dev-util/intltool \
dev-vcs/{git,mercurial} net-misc/{rsync,wget} \
sys-apps/util-linux sys-devel/{bc,bin86,dev86} \
sys-libs/{ncurses,zlib} virtual/perl-ExtUtils-MakeMaker \
| sed "s/\s/\n/g" \
| sort \
| sudo tee /etc/portage/sets/openwrt-prerequisites \
&& sudo emerge -DuvNa "@openwrt-prerequisites"
sudo zypper install --no-recommends asciidoc bash bc binutils bzip2 \
fastjar flex gawk gcc gcc-c++ gettext-tools git git-core intltool \
libopenssl-devel libxslt-tools make mercurial ncurses-devel patch \
perl-ExtUtils-MakeMaker python-devel rsync sdcc unzip util-linux \
wget zlib-devel
sudo xbps-install -Su asciidoc bash bc binutils bzip2 cdrtools \
coreutils diffutils findutils flex gawk gcc gettext git grep intltool \
libxslt linux-headers make ncurses-devel openssl-devel patch perl \
pkg-config python-devel python3-devel rsync tar unzip util-linux \
wget zlib-devel

macOS distribution-specific instructions. macOS uses Darwin unix as its core. Xcode/CLT toolchain, & 3rd-party package-manager tool allows to load various common build tools.
More info: buildroot.exigence.macosx.

sudo port install libiconv gettext-runtime coreutils findutils gwhich \
gawk zlib pcre bzip2 ncurses grep getopt gettext-tools-libs gettext \
diffutils sharutils util-linux libxslt libxml2 help2man readline gtime \
gnutar unzip zip lzma xz libelf fastjar libusb libftdi0 expat sqlite3 \
openssl3 openssl kerberos5 dbus lz4 libunistring nettle icu gnutls \
p11-kit wget quilt subversion gmake pkgconfig libzip cdrtools ccache \
curl xxhashlib rsync libidn perl5 p5.28-xml-parser p5.30-xml-parser \
p5-extutils-makemaker p5-data-dumper boost-jam boost boost-build bash \
bash-completion binutils m4 flex intltool patchutils swig git-extras \
git openjdk17 openjdk7-zulu luajit libtool glib2 file python27 \
python310 libzzip mercurial asciidoc sdcc gnu-classpath

Distribution-specific instructions.

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  • Last modified: 2024/03/13 15:08
  • by sixx