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Linaro Release Specification (May 2010 - November 2010) |
Document Number: |
Preliminary |
Status: |
[Preliminary (Pre LDS) | Mature (Post LDS) | Final (Feature Freeze)]. |
Last Edit |
26th August 2010 |
Abstract This document describes the release specification for work that will be undertaken by Linaro during the May 2010 to November 2011 development cycle. This is a live document, visit http://wiki.linaro.org/TSC/RequirementsSpecifications/Nov2010/Specification for the latest status. Hint: to print this, choose print view from the more actions menu above.
Keywords VFP, ARMv7A, SMP, SIMD, Neon, UEFI, Device Tree, SFI, uboot, Thumb 2, ITM, STM, OCD, gcc, gas, gld, gdb
Contents
Contents
About this Document
The following pages outline the key areas of development, drilling into each to provide feature level visibility, the targets sought for each feature and the relative priority attributed by the TSC.
Edit History and Expected Changes
Date |
Editor |
Description |
26-Aug-2010 |
David Rusling |
First version, based on existing documents |
26-Aug-2010 |
Ben Cade |
Review and final edits |
We expect this document to change as deliverables complete during the remainder of the cycle.
Terms and Abbreviations
Term |
Meaning |
ARMv7A |
ARM Architecture V7, A profile |
Device Tree |
Data structure describing system device topology. Passed at boot time from the boot firmware to the kernel. |
ITM |
Instrumentation Trace Macrocell |
LP |
Launchpad. |
LDS |
Linaro Developer Summit – the place where plans for a release are formalised |
Neon |
ARM floating point vector processing engine |
PPA |
Personal Package Archive. |
SIMD |
Single Instruction, multiple data |
SMP |
Symetric multiprocessing |
Thumb 2 |
ARM Thumb 2 instruction set |
TSC |
Linaro Technical Steering Committee |
VFP |
Vector Floating Point |
High Level Objectives
The overarching objective for Linaro is to provide a foundation of work that downstream distributions can leverage to deliver their unique user experience on a broad selection of hardware platforms. In doing so, Linaro is aiming to cut the time and risk associated with OEM and ODM companies producing innovative devices seeking to leverage both innovative Linux distributions and cutting edge ARM architecture silicon. To achieve this, Linaro will:
- Consolidate a wide variety of ARM hardware-related patches into a unified source tree.
- Integrate and optimize the Linux development toolchain for ARM, including compiler, linker, debugging and profiling tools.
- Ensure relevant graphics rendering pipelines are optimized for OpenGLES/2.0, and that drivers are integrated.
- Provide tools that allow developers to customize and validate the reference OS components to their needs, possibly including proprietary extensions.
WARNING: Broken Links below, see kiko for information
Development Process
Linaro engineering follows a date driven engineering process to ensure the various parallel development projects occurring within the working groups are brought together in a cohesive system level validation, applied across qualified hardware platforms.
To become a qualified hardware platform, a vendors hardware must have achieved the relevant requirements for inclusion in the official mainline as set by Linaro engineering on a release by release basis. Linaro uses a function called “landing teams” to manage this process on a vendor specific basis.
The diagram above outlines the approximate time lines associated with a generic Linaro development process from initial requirements and planning which occurs during the N-1 release cycle, and concluding with delivery on a specific day.
TSC/RequirementsSpecifications/Nov2010/Specification (last modified 2010-09-10 16:58:02)