D100 - The pipeline is the only way to build

Status: decided Date: 2026-09-26

Building is one invocation: --input, --target, --format (elf, prx, eboot, title, pkg) and --output, with no stamping or wrapping subcommands. An option reaches only the formats it affects and is refused elsewhere: --privilege and --sdk for the formats that build a container, the title metadata options for title and pkg. A format writes exactly --output; the pipeline takes no directory of extra files.

Why: one path means one set of defaults and checks. An option that silently does nothing is how somebody believes they set it. A caller-prepared directory would break the input-to-output contract that lets builds run in parallel.

Rejected:

• Separate stamp and wrap verbs: a second route with its own defaults.
• Ignoring inapplicable options: silent no-ops.
• A --root directory merged into a title: extra files are copied beside the output instead.