Add a menu template command

[adri1mart1]

Hello there :)

I am starting a brand new project using cooker. Initial repo README suggest to start with cooker cook MENU or cooker init MENU.
I didn't found an easy way to get a menu template. I think at the moment, we need to pick up a random recipe in the sample dir and remove / add what we need ?

2 suggestions to ease starting:

• A template file commited to the repository.
• A command such as cooker menutemplate that output to stdout the template

The template I'm expected to get would be:

{
	"sources" : [
		{ "url": "git://git.yoctoproject.org/poky", "branch": "xxx", "rev": "xxx" },
                { "url": "git://git.openembedded.org/meta-openembedded", "branch": "xxx", "rev": "xxx" }
	],

	"layers" : [
		"poky/meta",
		"poky/meta-poky",
		"poky/meta-yocto-bsp",
		"meta-openembedded/meta-oe"
	],

	"builds" : {
		"xxx": {
			"target" : "xxxx",

			"layers" : [],

			"local.conf": [
				"MACHINE = 'xxx' "
			]
		}
	}
}

This template should have basically the minimum required for 90% of menus like the 3 json main nodes (sources / layers / builds), Some common basic layers (poky and openembedded), and a single build target named xxx.

What is your point of view ?

[cpb-]

Fun fact, I suggested quite the same feature last week during a meeting with Patrick :-)

[pboettch]

Good idea create empty template, maybe based on supported variants (and branches ?) Maybe using jinja2 for templates? Overkill?

cooker create-menu -b kirkstone -r openembedded/poky <path/to/newly-created-menu-file.json>

[adri1mart1]

I would say maybe overkill because to me, the point of this command is only to save time from creating the correct json template. Add the -b branch_name just to put the correct branch name in the menu doesn't same much time.
I believe once you have a full empty template, it's really easy to find where to fill up things,

[pboettch]

I was referring to your prefilled source poky and openembedded. There are other bitbake-based distributions we are supporting which are using other based repositories. We should support them and then user should be able to select them. That's why my complex example.

[adri1mart1]

Yes I think I understood well what you suggest. I think the functionality "create-menu" is needed but the key is to have an idea of what it does in details. Few questions I'm asking to myself but maybe you can share your point of view ?

• if we provide a -b arg (I suppose for branch), the next argument is just a string with no constraints ? you can write -b banana ?
• if we provide a -r arg (I suppose for remote), it means (as per your example) that you provide a key string such as "openembedded" and yocto-cooker internally knows which URL to set. What happens if this URL changes ? yocto-cooker deployed versions needs an update :x You also have multiple variants (ssh / http / https), which one do you choose ?
• Would it be possible to use -r arg with un full URL ?

[pboettch]

No, -r stands for release; maybe it would be better to name it -d for distribution. -b can be any arbitrary.

[adri1mart1]

Alright, well that was ambiguous this -r. My last 2 interogations above remains unanswered :x

[pboettch]

• I'd used the https one by default, up to you to change.
• Now that '-r' has no more the meaning of remote but rather -d for distribution your question concerning the usage of an URL can be answered with No.

[adri1mart1]

Makes sense then ! If you give me some days I can try to add this feature ? or do you want to do it yourself ?