BR2_DL_DIR is not being stored in defconfig with 'make savedefconfig' It is also being ignored when present in a defconfig.
correction: only 'make savedefconfig' is not working. It is pulling in and using the value when already in the defconfig.
This is a recent change done on purpose: https://git.buildroot.org/buildroot/commit/?id=36edacce9c2c3b90f9bb11a5d2208e8edf7bbe63 What is your use case for wanting to store a custom download directory location in the defconfig?
For various projects I set BR2_DL_DIR using menuconfig to point to a central directory for source packages. I use savedefconfig to store the config cause it looks nice and is easier to tell what is going on. Is that commit talking about when BR2_DL_DIR is 'set' as an environment variable or as a value you 'set' in a config using menuconfig? I can understand why you wouldn't want to pull in environment variabless while using savedefconfig. However, I would assume if it's left configurable in the menuconfig that it would be preserved in a minimalized version of that config.
(In reply to Lance Fredrickson from comment #3) > For various projects I set BR2_DL_DIR using menuconfig to point to a > central directory for source packages. I find it dubious that it is used as-is. For example, in a team of many developpers, each working on their own machines, with their own usernames and filesystem layouts, surely a common BR2_DL_DIR does not make sense. For a CI (or any similar build farm), then the CI setup is already taking care of making the shared BR2_DL_DIR mounted (or otherwise available) at that known central directory. It only makes sense that that CI setup also exports BR2_DL_DIR in the environment too. Doing so also ensures that no legacy is stored in a defconfig, so that old commits can still be built in a newer CI setup (e.g. one where the central directory was moved). > Is that commit talking about when BR2_DL_DIR is 'set' as an environment > variable or as a value you 'set' in a config using menuconfig? This was about not saving the Kconfig (menuconfig) variable. The environment variable had never been saved into the saved defconfig. > However, I would assume if it's left configurable in the menuconfig > that it would be preserved in a minimalized version of that config. I believe that this is mostly a historical accident that this is configurable in the menuconfig. Such site-local settings are not really configuration defining the target filesystem; rather, they settings that drive and control how the build is performed, not its output. As such they should not be part of the configuration. However, I've reverted that patch now, with commit 1482ef6bb8. Thanks for the report.