Documentation | Building with read-only rtems source directory (#167)

[Joel Sherrill (@joel)]

Issue created by Joel Sherrill: https://gitlab.rtems.org/rtems/docs/rtems-docs/-/work_items/167

Assignee: Chris Johns

## Summary

RTEMS cannot be built if the source directory is read-only.

I found old notes which included the waf arguments _--no-lock-in-top --no-lock-in-run_ which are part of waf itself. These are not in the _waf --help_ output and are not mentioned in any RTEMS documentation. 

I have attached a simple shell script [ro-out](/uploads/210359148108c3ffd8a98f2a81093904/ro-out) which can help reproduce this along with [config-default.ini](/uploads/8678f6ca3171f8766e29183a2df4125d/config-default.ini). You need an ini file but its precise contents are irrelevant as long as the _waf configure_ step works.

Once this works, documentation and help will need addressing.

## Steps to reproduce

Establish a sandbox directory and work in there.

- mkdir rtems-ro
- cd rtems-ro
- cp ro-out config-default.ini .
- Tailor ro-out to local directories
- Clone rtems repository.
- chmod -R -w rtems
- sh -x ro-out

Without the no lock arguments, waf configure fails. Adding those lets the configure pass but the waf invocation to build fails with this:

```
Checking for cxx flags '-MMD'            : yes 
GCC build key                            : 2026.06.12 
'configure' finished successfully (4.064s)
+ ../rtems/waf --top=/home/joel/rtems-work/rtems-ro/rtems --no-lock-in-run --no-lock-in-top
The project was not configured: run "waf configure" first!
```

This occurs whether the no lock arguments are present or not.

<!-- Pre-set options
- milestone
-->

-- 
View it on GitLab: https://gitlab.rtems.org/rtems/docs/rtems-docs/-/work_items/167
You're receiving this email because of your account on gitlab.rtems.org. Unsubscribe from this thread: https://gitlab.rtems.org/-/namespace/19/sent_notifications/5-2pirapp6ibapjkhlyofkuv2d0-j/unsubscribe | Manage all notifications: https://gitlab.rtems.org/-/profile/notifications | Help: https://gitlab.rtems.org/help


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.rtems.org/pipermail/bugs/attachments/20260916/66cfb281/attachment-0001.htm>