# Use BitBake OVERRIDES in Qualcomm Linux metadata layers

The Qualcomm Linux metadata layers use the OVERRIDES mechanism of BitBake to implement two
distinct BSP variants referred to as `base` and `custom`.

To familiarize yourself with BitBake OVERRIDES, see
[Conditional syntax (Overrides)](https://docs.yoctoproject.org/bitbake/2.8/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-metadata.html#conditional-syntax-overrides)
and [Yocto Project documentation](https://docs.yoctoproject.org/singleindex.html#term-OVERRIDES).

When initiating Qualcomm Linux builds, set the `QCOM_SELECTED_BSP` variable to either
`custom` or `base`. This variable is defined in
`conf/machine/include/qcom-base.inc` and is set to `custom` by default as follows:

QCOM_SELECTED_BSP ??= "custom"
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The value set for `QCOM_SELECTED_BSP` translates into two BitBake OVERRIDES.
The following is a mapping table of `QCOM_SELECTED_BSP` to the corresponding BitBake OVERRIDE:

| `QCOM_SELECTED_BSP` value | Corresponding BitBake OVERRIDE |
| --- | --- |
| `base` | `qcom-base-bsp` |
| `custom` | `qcom-custom-bsp` |

The effective value of the BitBake OVERRIDE sets variables selectively,
resulting in inclusion of packages in the image.

To use the `base` variant of the BSP and set `QCOM_SELECTED_BSP` at build time,
see [Build base image](https://docs.qualcomm.com/bundle/publicresource/topics/80-70029-254/github_workflow_unregistered_users.html#build-base-image).

Note

In this release, the `base` BSP supports Qualcomm reference devices for building with `qcs8300-ride-sx.conf`,
`qcs9075-ride-sx.conf`, and `qcs9100-ride-sx.conf`.

## Next steps

- The final image composition depends on whether you choose `base` or `custom` value for the
`QCOM_SELECTED_BSP` variable, for more information, see [Qualcomm Linux Yocto Overview](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70029-27/topic/qualcomm_linux_yocto_overview.html#yocto-overview).
- To find examples of how these OVERRIDES select the software components
to be built, search the `meta-qcom-hwe` codebase using `qcom-base-bsp` and `qcom-custom-bsp`.

Last Published: Mar 16, 2026

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