Document use of local sources for packages

index cfcee8c..918580e 100644
@@ -156,13 +156,18 @@ The list of variables that can be set in a +.mk+ file to give metadata
   package directory inside Buildroot will be applied to the package
   after extraction.
 
-* +LIBFOO_SITE+ may contain the Internet location of the package. It
-  can either be the HTTP, FTP or SCP location of a tarball, or the URL
-  of a Git, Subversion, Mercurial or Bazaar repository (see
-  +LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD+ below). +
-  SCP URLs should be of the form +scp://[user@]host:filepath+. Note
-  that filepath is relative to the user's home directory, so you may want
-  to prepend the path with a slash for absolute paths:
+* +LIBFOO_SITE+ provides the location of the package, which can be a
+  URL or a local filesystem path. HTTP, FTP and SCP are supported URL
+  types for retrieving package tarballs. Git, Subversion, Mercurial,
+  and Bazaar are supported URL types for retrieving packages directly
+  from source code management systems. A filesystem path may be used
+  to specify either a tarball or a directory containing the package
+  source code. See +LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD+ below for more details on how
+  retrieval works. +
+  Note that SCP URLs should be of the form
+  +scp://[user@]host:filepath+, and that filepath is relative to the
+  user's home directory, so you may want to prepend the path with a
+  slash for absolute paths:
   +scp://[user@]host:/absolutepath+. +
   If +HOST_LIBFOO_SITE+ is not specified, it defaults to
   +LIBFOO_SITE+. If none are specified, then the location is assumed

@@ -172,6 +177,8 @@ The list of variables that can be set in a +.mk+ file to give metadata
     +LIBFOO_SITE=http://www.libfoosoftware.org/libfoo+ +
     +LIBFOO_SITE=http://svn.xiph.org/trunk/Tremor/+ +
     +LIBFOO_SITE=git://github.com/kergoth/tslib.git+
+    +LIBFOO_SITE=/opt/software/libfoo.tar.gz+
+    +LIBFOO_SITE=$(TOPDIR)/../src/libfoo/+
 
 * +LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD+ may contain the method to fetch the package
   source code. It can either be +wget+ (for normal FTP/HTTP downloads

index 918580e..b296ac4 100644
@@ -180,23 +180,35 @@ The list of variables that can be set in a +.mk+ file to give metadata
     +LIBFOO_SITE=/opt/software/libfoo.tar.gz+
     +LIBFOO_SITE=$(TOPDIR)/../src/libfoo/+
 
-* +LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD+ may contain the method to fetch the package
-  source code. It can either be +wget+ (for normal FTP/HTTP downloads
-  of tarballs), +scp+ (for downloads over SSH with scp), +svn+, +git+,
-  +hg+ or +bzr+.  When not specified, it is guessed from the URL given
-  in +LIBFOO_SITE+: +scp://+, +svn://+, +git://+ and
-  +bzr://+ URLs will use the +scp+, +svn+, +git+ and +bzr+ methods
-  respectively. All other URL-types will use the +wget+ method. So for
-  example, in the case of a package whose source code is available
-  through a Subversion repository on HTTP, one 'must' specifiy
-  +LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD=svn+. Similarly, for Mercurial repositories, one
-  'must' specify +LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD=hg+. For +svn+, +git+, +hg+ and
-  +bzr+ methods, what Buildroot does is a checkout/clone of the repository
-  which is then tarballed and stored into the download cache. Next
-  builds will not checkout/clone again, but will use the tarball directly.
-  When +HOST_LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD+ is not specified, it defaults to the value
-  of +LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD+. See +package/multimedia/tremor/+ for an
-  example.
+* +LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD+ determines the method used to fetch or copy the
+  package source code. In many cases, Buildroot guesses the method
+  from the contents of +LIBFOO_SITE+ and setting +LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD+
+  is unnecessary. When +HOST_LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD+ is not specified, it
+  defaults to the value of +LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD+. +
+  The possible values of +LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD+ are:
+  ** +wget+ for normal FTP/HTTP downloads of tarballs.  Used by
+     default when +LIBFOO_SITE+ begins with +http://+, +https://+ or
+     +ftp://+.
+  ** +scp+ for downloads of tarballs over SSH with scp.  Used by
+     default when +LIBFOO_SITE+ begins with +scp://+.
+  ** +svn+ for retrieving source code from a Subversion repository.
+     Used by default when +LIBFOO_SITE+ begins with +svn://+.  When a
+     +http://+ Subversion repository URL is specified in
+     +LIBFOO_SITE+, one 'must' specify +LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD=svn+.
+     Buildroot performs a checkout which is preserved as a tarball in
+     the download cache; subsequent builds use the tarball instead of
+     performing another checkout.
+  ** +git+ for retrieving source code from a Git repository.  Used by
+     default when +LIBFOO_SITE+ begins with +git://+. The downloaded
+     source code is cached as with the +svn+
+     method.
+  ** +hg+ for retrieving source code from a Mercurial repository. One
+     'must' specify +LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD=hg+ when +LIBFOO_SITE+
+     contains a Mercurial repository URL. The downloaded source code
+     is cached as with the +svn+ method.
+  ** +bzr+ for retrieving source code from a Bazaar repository. Used
+     by default when +LIBFOO_SITE+ begins with +bzr://+. The
+     downloaded source code is cached as with the +svn+ method.
 
 * +LIBFOO_DEPENDENCIES+ lists the dependencies (in terms of package
   name) that are required for the current target package to

index b296ac4..84cf06b 100644
@@ -209,6 +209,14 @@ The list of variables that can be set in a +.mk+ file to give metadata
   ** +bzr+ for retrieving source code from a Bazaar repository. Used
      by default when +LIBFOO_SITE+ begins with +bzr://+. The
      downloaded source code is cached as with the +svn+ method.
+  ** +file+ for a local tarball.  One should use this when
+     +LIBFOO_SITE+ specifies a package tarball as a local filename.
+     Useful for software that isn't available publicly or in version
+     control.
+  ** +local+ for a local source code directory.  One should use this
+     when +LIBFOO_SITE+ specifies a local directory path containing
+     the package source code.  Buildroot copies the contents of the
+     source directory into the package's build directory.
 
 * +LIBFOO_DEPENDENCIES+ lists the dependencies (in terms of package
   name) that are required for the current target package to