Build Step: Build OS (Compact 2013)
3/26/2014
The Build OS step is the first and longest step of the Windows Embedded Compact 2013 build process. Fortunately, this step is already completed when Platform Builder is installed. Microsoft compiles this code ahead of time and includes the output libraries and .dll files in Platform Builder. It is these files that take up the gigabytes of space for each CPU architecture that you select during installation.
The Build OS process is as follows:
- For each %_DEPTREES% that wince.bat sets up, build.exe is called on the private tree and then on the public tree.
The result of these build.exe calls are (static) .lib files and .dll files that are created in the following locations:
- %_WINCEROOT%\Public\%_DEPTREE%\Oak\Lib\$(_TGTCPU)\$(_WINCEDEBUG) — contains .lib files that are usable by OEMs
- %_WINCEROOT%\Public\%_DEPTREE%\Oak\Target\$(_TGTCPU)\$(_WINCEDEBUG) — contains .dll files and .exe files that are usable by OEMs
- %_WINCEROOT%\Public\%_DEPTREE%\Sdk\Lib\$(_TGTCPU)\$(_WINCEDEBUG) — contains .lib files that are usable by application developers
After the Build OS step is completed, these directories contain everything that you need for the later build steps. You do not need to run the Build OS step again unless code in the public or private tree is changed.
Important
Because of the danger of build failures, changing this code is advisable only for expert users. If you do change the code, you must run blddemo so that the Build OS step will pick up the changes. Targeted builds of the public/private tree can be much faster. However, that is outside of the scope of this documentation.