WCE : Build process

Build process

BSP top Folder

BSP Folder	Description
CATALOG	BSP's catalog file (.pbcxml)
CESYSGEN	BSP's makefile
FILES	Files to be copied to the final image (nk.bin). Here are the main BSP configuration files. See What is a BSP ?
SRC	Files needed to build the BSP

BSP SRC Folder

BSP Folder	Description
INC	BSP global header files
BOOT	Bootloader's build directory
BOOTLOADER	Networked bootloader's build directory
COMMON	Code that is common to all components of the BSP
DRIVERS	Target board's specific drivers
KITL	KITL build directory
OAL	OAL build directory

Build sequence

The build consists of 4 phases.

Phase	Type	Description
1	Compile phase	Source and resource files are compiled into binaries. You should never need to recompile Windows CE sources.
2	Sysgen phase	According to catalog items and dependenciy trees, SYSGEN variables are set. These variables act then as filters in header files to build a specific BSP.
3	Release copy phase	The OS run-time files are copied to release directory.
4	Make run time image phase	project.bib and project.reg are copied to release directory and according to their settings, the final run-time image is generated. Configuration files are merged: for instance, registry configuration file are merged into reginit.ini before being compiled in the final registry file.

The following diagram gives an overview of the build tools and how they interact with each other.

Behind the scene, Platform Builder relies on a set of batch scripts to compile the code. Build action calls buildemo.bat which in turn calls cebuild.bat, buildrel.bat and finally makeimage.exe.

Cem SOYDING

Author & Editor

Senior software engineer with 12 years of experience in both embedded systems and C# .NET