Informational 15 Bitcoin Committed Jun 25, 2026 · 08:21 UTC

build: Add option for building for bare metal envs

a9a1d92a View source ↗

Public commit record

What the developer wrote

Authored by TheCharlatan

85/100 · Strong

build: Add option for building for bare metal envs

A bare metal build is now supported by setting CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=Generic

Skip the platform-dependent feature checks, such as threads and atomics,
which are typically not available on bare metal. Also only make the
boost headers mandatory if they exist for the target.

Also exclude aes from the crypto library, since that requires the secure
allocator, which uses more advance features, such as mutexes.

✓ Specific, descriptive subject✓ Names a concrete action or component✓ Uses a recognizable type or scope✓ Provides detailed explanatory context

The short version

What changed, and why it matters

This commit adds a new build option for Bitcoin Core that lets developers compile for 'bare metal' environments (systems without a full operating system). It only changes build configuration files to skip features like threads, atomics, and certain crypto components when the special CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=Generic setting is used. There is no change to the actual Bitcoin protocol code or to how normal builds work, and nothing in the commit suggests a security vulnerability or fix.

Recommended action

No security action required. Treat as a normal build-system feature addition. If reviewing further, verify that Generic builds do not accidentally weaken security assumptions in production code paths, but that is outside the scope of this commit.

Security signals we found

No strong security signals were identified.

Technical analysis

Evidence from the diff

The commit introduces conditional CMake logic keyed on CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL ‘Generic’. When this bare-metal target is selected, it skips PIE linker checks, the Threads package, Boost header dependency, atomic library introspection, and excludes aes.cpp and lockedpool.cpp from the bitcoin_crypto static library. For non-Generic builds, behavior is unchanged. The change is purely build-system scaffolding for an unsupported/experimental target.

Changed components

CMakeLists.txtcmake/introspection.cmakesrc/CMakeLists.txtsrc/crypto/CMakeLists.txtsrc/test/util/CMakeLists.txt

Inspect captured patch +12 / −4

diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 69db01f2..f09cec1b 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -204,22 +204,28 @@ endif()
 # Check and set PIC/PIE
 #=============================
 set(configure_warnings)
+if(NOT CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Generic")
 include(CheckLinkerSupportsPIE)
 # Set CMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE early so it applies to all
 # subsequent checks, including dependency packages and tool flags.
 check_linker_supports_pie(configure_warnings)
+endif()
 
 #=============================
 # Find dependencies
 #=============================
+if(NOT CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Generic")
 set(THREADS_PREFER_PTHREAD_FLAG ON)
 find_package(Threads REQUIRED)
 target_link_libraries(core_interface INTERFACE
   Threads::Threads
 )
+endif()
 
+if(NOT CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Generic")
 include(AddBoostIfNeeded)
 add_boost_if_needed()
+endif()
 
 if(ENABLE_WALLET)
   if(VCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET)
diff --git a/cmake/introspection.cmake b/cmake/introspection.cmake
index d2257633..d6083f52 100644
--- a/cmake/introspection.cmake
+++ b/cmake/introspection.cmake
@@ -17,7 +17,9 @@ if(NOT WIN32)
 endif()
 
 include(TestAppendRequiredLibraries)
+if(NOT CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Generic")
 test_append_atomic_library(core_interface)
+endif()
 
 # Even though ::system is part of the standard library, we still check
 # for it, to support building targets that don't have it, such as iOS.
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 8c0977f0..47266dcf 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ target_link_libraries(bitcoin_node
     leveldb
     minisketch
     univalue
-    Boost::headers
+    $<TARGET_NAME_IF_EXISTS:Boost::headers>
     $<TARGET_NAME_IF_EXISTS:USDT::headers>
 )
 if(WITH_EMBEDDED_ASMAP)
diff --git a/src/crypto/CMakeLists.txt b/src/crypto/CMakeLists.txt
index 4dc84664..e1993a7f 100644
--- a/src/crypto/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/crypto/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # file COPYING or https://opensource.org/license/mit/.
 
 add_library(bitcoin_crypto STATIC EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL
-  aes.cpp
+  $<$<NOT:$<STREQUAL:${CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME},Generic>>:aes.cpp>
   chacha20.cpp
   chacha20poly1305.cpp
   hex_base.cpp
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ add_library(bitcoin_crypto STATIC EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL
   sha512.cpp
   siphash.cpp
   ../support/cleanse.cpp
-  ../support/lockedpool.cpp
+  $<$<NOT:$<STREQUAL:${CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME},Generic>>:../support/lockedpool.cpp>
 )
 
 target_link_libraries(bitcoin_crypto
diff --git a/src/test/util/CMakeLists.txt b/src/test/util/CMakeLists.txt
index 5d9832fc..2658809d 100644
--- a/src/test/util/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/test/util/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ add_library(test_util STATIC EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL
 target_link_libraries(test_util
   PRIVATE
     core_interface
-    Boost::headers
+    $<TARGET_NAME_IF_EXISTS:Boost::headers>
     $<$<BOOL:${ENABLE_WALLET}>:SQLite3::SQLite3>
   PUBLIC
     univalue

Risk score

Why this scored 15/100

Our methodology →

Potential impact 0/30

Exploitability 0/25

Stealth signal 0/15

Affected reach 0/15

Confidence 10/10

Evidence quality 5/5

Human-validated context

Community notes

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What the developer wrote

What changed, and why it matters

Security signals we found

Evidence from the diff

Changed components

Why this scored 15/100

Community notes

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