1 files changed, 146 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/documentation/dev-manual/creating-fragments.rst b/documentation/dev-manual/creating-fragments.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7f437d7c94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documentation/dev-manual/creating-fragments.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,146 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-2.0-UK
+
+Creating New Configuration Fragments In Your Build
+**************************************************
+
+:term:`Configuration Fragments <Configuration Fragment>` define top level build
+configuration features that can be independently enabled and disabled using
+standard tooling. Such features are made of one or several build configuration
+statements that are either contained in a fragment file, or are set indirectly
+using the :term:`Built-in Fragment` mechanism.
+
+This section will describe how to create new fragments for your builds.
+
+There are two kinds of configuration fragments:
+
+-  Standard :term:`Configuration Fragments <Configuration Fragment>` which a
+   stored in a file. These fragments include a summary and a description,
+   following by configuration statements.
+
+-  :term:`Built-in Fragments <Built-in Fragment>` which can be used to assign a
+   value to a single variable and do not require a separate definition file.
+   They are especially useful when a list of possible values is very long (or
+   infinite).
+
+Creating A Standard Configuration Fragment
+==========================================
+
+By default, all configuration fragments are located within the
+``conf/fragments`` directory of a :term:`layer`. This location is defined by the
+:term:`OE_FRAGMENTS_PREFIX` variable which, in turn, is used as a parameter in an
+:ref:`addfragments <bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-metadata:\`\`addfragments\`\`
+directive>` directive in :oe_git:`bitbake.conf </openembedded-core/tree/meta/conf/bitbake.conf>`.
+
+You can create one or more :term:`configuration fragment` files in your
+:term:`layer` in this directory. Let's take the following example, where
+``custom-fragment.conf`` is our custom fragment file::
+
+   meta-custom
+   ├── conf
+   │   ├── fragments
+   │   │   └── custom-fragment.conf
+   │   └── layer.conf
+   ...
+
+For our ``custom-fragment.conf`` file, the following variables **must** be set
+for our fragment to be considered a valid fragment by the :term:`OpenEmbedded
+Build System`:
+
+-  :term:`BB_CONF_FRAGMENT_SUMMARY`: a one-line summary of this fragment.
+
+-  :term:`BB_CONF_FRAGMENT_DESCRIPTION`: a description of this fragment.
+
+.. note::
+
+   The :term:`BB_CONF_FRAGMENT_SUMMARY` and :term:`BB_CONF_FRAGMENT_DESCRIPTION`
+   variables are also passed as parameters in an :ref:`addfragments
+   <bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-metadata:\`\`addfragments\`\`
+   directive>` directive in :oe_git:`bitbake.conf
+   </openembedded-core/tree/meta/conf/bitbake.conf>`.
+
+After creating these variables, our custom fragment should look like the
+following:
+
+.. code-block::
+   :caption: custom-fragment.conf
+
+   BB_CONF_FRAGMENT_SUMMARY = "This fragment sets a limit of 4 bitbake threads and 4 parsing threads"
+   BB_CONF_FRAGMENT_DESCRIPTION = "This fragment is useful to constrain resource consumption when the Yocto default \
+   is causing an overload of host machine's memory and CPU resources."
+
+For now, our fragment does not have any additional configuration statement.
+Let's add the following assignments to our fragment:
+
+.. code-block::
+   :caption: custom-fragment.conf (continued)
+
+   BB_NUMBER_THREADS = "4"
+   BB_NUMBER_PARSE_THREADS = "4"
+
+This means that our fragment can be enabled to set a limit on the number of
+threads :term:`BitBake` will use with the :term:`BB_NUMBER_THREADS` and
+:term:`BB_NUMBER_PARSE_THREADS` variables.
+
+For now, our fragment exists and is listed by the
+:ref:`ref-bitbake-config-build-list-fragments` command, but is not enabled. To
+enable this fragment, use the :ref:`ref-bitbake-config-build-enable-fragment`
+command::
+
+   bitbake-config-build enable-fragment meta-custom/custom-fragment
+
+.. note::
+
+   The ``meta-custom`` prefix in the above command depends on the name of your
+   layer. This name is defined by the :term:`BBFILE_COLLECTIONS` variable in
+   the ``conf/layer.conf`` file of your layer.
+
+Standard Configuration fragments can be organized in a more complex way. For
+example, it's possible to create sub-directories to organize your fragments::
+
+   meta-custom
+   ├── conf
+   │   ├── fragments
+   │   │   ├── networking
+   │   │   │   └── mirrors.conf
+   │   │   └── resources
+   │   │       └── numberthreads.conf
+   │   └── layer.conf
+   ...
+
+In the above example, the ``meta-custom/networking/mirrors`` and
+``meta-custom/resources/numberthreads`` fragments will be available in your
+build.
+
+Creating A Built-in Fragment
+============================
+
+Within the :term:`OpenEmbedded Build System`, Built-in Fragments are defined
+with the :term:`OE_FRAGMENTS_BUILTIN` variable, which is passed as a
+parameter in an :ref:`addfragments <bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-metadata:\`\`addfragments\`\`
+directive>` directive in :oe_git:`bitbake.conf </openembedded-core/tree/meta/conf/bitbake.conf>`.
+
+Adding new :term:`Built-in Fragments <Built-in Fragment>` can be done by
+appending the :term:`OE_FRAGMENTS_BUILTIN` variable from your :term:`layer`
+configuration file:
+
+.. code-block::
+   :caption: layer.conf
+
+   OE_FRAGMENTS_BUILTIN:append = " custom-builtin-fragment:CUSTOM_VARIABLE"
+
+.. warning::
+
+   Make sure to use the ``:append`` override in the above assignment, as using
+   ``+=`` can lead to unexpected behavior.
+
+.. warning::
+
+   Due to the way :term:`BitBake` parses files, it is not possible to modify
+   :term:`OE_FRAGMENTS_BUILTIN` from any kind of :term:`configuration file`.
+   Setting it from the :term:`layer` configuration file (``conf/layer.conf``) is
+   the retained solution to create new built-in fragments.
+
+You can then use the :ref:`ref-bitbake-config-build-enable-fragment` command to
+set a value to the ``CUSTOM_VARIABLE`` variable::
+
+   bitbake-config-build enable-fragment custom-builtin-fragment/somevalue