A new software layer can be created in the same way we did for a BSP layer in the previous chapter. We can, for example, create a new meta-custom layer using the yocto-layer command as we learned in the Creating a custom BSP layer recipe in Chapter 2, The BSP Layer. From the sources directory, execute the following command:

$ yocto-layer create custom

As already mentioned, the yocto-layer tool will add the meta prefix to the layer.

Don't forget to add the layer to your project's conf/bblayers.conf file and to your template's conf directory to make it available for all new projects.

The default conf/layer.conf configuration file is as follows:

# We have a conf and classes directory, add to BBPATH 
BBPATH .= ":${LAYERDIR}" 
 
# We have recipes-* directories, add to BBFILES 
BBFILES += "${LAYERDIR}/recipes-*/*/*.bb   
        ${LAYERDIR}/recipes-*/*/*.bbappend" 
 
BBFILE_COLLECTIONS += "custom" 
BBFILE_PATTERN_custom = "^${LAYERDIR}/" 
BBFILE_PRIORITY_custom = "6" 

We discussed all the relevant variables in this snippet in the Creating a custom BSP layer recipe in Chapter 2, The BSP Layer.