diff --git a/handbook/extendpoky.xml b/handbook/extendpoky.xml
index 9d98a3bcca..9c672ec7f5 100644
--- a/handbook/extendpoky.xml
+++ b/handbook/extendpoky.xml
@@ -825,7 +825,7 @@ SRC_URI += "file://NAME-OF-PATCH.patch;patch=1"
- configuring the LIC_FILES_CHKSUM variable
+ Configuring the LIC_FILES_CHKSUM variable
The changes in the license text inside source code files is tracked
using the LIC_FILES_CHKSUM metadata variable.
@@ -885,7 +885,50 @@ specify "beginline" and "endline" parameters.
+
+ Configuring the DISTRO_PN_ALIAS variable
+
+Sometimes the names of the same packages are different in different
+linux distributions; and that can becomes an issue for the distro_check
+task to check if the given recipe package exists in other linux distros.
+This issue is avoided by defining per distro recipe name alias:
+DISTRO_PN_ALIAS
+
+
+
+ Specifying the DISTRO_PN_ALIAS variable
+
+
+DISTRO_PN_ALIAS = "distro1=package_name_alias1; distro2=package_name_alias2 \
+ distro3=package_name_alias3; \
+ ..."
+
+
+Look at the meta/packages/xorg-app/xset_1.0.4.bb recipe file for an example.
+
+
+
+The current code can check if the src package for a recipe exists in the latest
+releases of these distributions automatically.
+
+
+Fedora, OpenSuSE, Debian, Ubuntu, Mandriva
+
+
+For example, this command will generate a report, listing which linux distros include the
+sources for each of the poky recipe.
+
+
+bitbake world -f -c distro_check
+
+
+The results will be stored in the build/tmp/log/distro_check-${DATETIME}.results file.
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/handbook/ref-variables.xml b/handbook/ref-variables.xml
index b4d5639ec1..7bbcdb81f0 100644
--- a/handbook/ref-variables.xml
+++ b/handbook/ref-variables.xml
@@ -216,6 +216,19 @@
+ DISTRO_PN_ALIAS
+
+ Alias names of the recipe in various Linux distributions.
+ See the "meta/package/xorg-app/xset_1.0.4.bb" file for an example
+ More information in
+
+ Configuring the DISTRO_PN_ALIAS variable section
+
+
+
+
+
DISTRO_VERSIONVersion of distribution
@@ -406,6 +419,10 @@
This is an optional variable now. And the plan is to make
it a required variable in the future See the "meta/package/zlib/zlib_${PV}.bb" file for an example
+
+ More information in
+ Configuring the LIC_FILES_CHKSUM variable section
diff --git a/handbook/ref-varlocality.xml b/handbook/ref-varlocality.xml
index f8cfc4fad4..fb5679499a 100644
--- a/handbook/ref-varlocality.xml
+++ b/handbook/ref-varlocality.xml
@@ -187,6 +187,10 @@
Recipe Variables - Extra Build Information
+
+ DISTRO_PN_ALIAS
+ EXTRA_OECONF