OpenEmbedded

OpenEmbedded

Developer(s)	above 75 developers[1]
Development status	Active
Operating system	Linux
Platform	Cross-platform
Type	Build automation
License	MIT
Website	www.openembedded.org

OpenEmbedded is a software framework to create Linux distributions aimed for, but not restricted to, embedded devices. The build system is based on BitBake recipes^[2], which behave similar to Gentoo's ebuilds.

Recipes in the old OpenEmbedded-Classic were all found in one place, in the new OpenEmbedded-Core the structure has changed into meta layers^[3][4] to make it easier to add custom recipes.

OpenEmbedded can be installed and automatically updated via Git.^[2]

History

The OpenEmbedded Project (OE for short, but mostly called OE-dev, following the name of the mailing list^[5]) was created by Chris Larson, Michael Lauer, and Holger Schurig, merging the achievements of OpenZaurus with contributions from projects like Familiar Linux and OpenSIMpad into a common codebase. OpenEmbedded superseded these projects and was used to build any of them from the same code base. Stable maintenance builds exist for the old OpenEmbedded-Classic^[6], although most development is, or will be based, on the new OpenEmbedded-Core in the future.

The OpenEmbedded-Core Project (OE-Core for short) resulted from the merge of the Yocto Project with OpenEmbedded.^[7] This is the most recent version of OpenEmbedded and many of the OE-dev recipes are available in OE-Core. Newer versions of package recipes may only get ported for OpenEmbedded-Core

Layer organisation

OpenEmbedded-Core has adapted this layered structure in the merge with Yocto and new layer entries were added over time.^[3][4]

The Layers represent a structure which is only of declarative nature. The specific entries are stricter in the scope of deciding which entry provides which packages.

Developer layer

The user defined layer for custom Bitbake recipes. Embedded system software developers would place their recipe here if the software would not fit the commercial or base layer.

Commercial layer

Packages, plugins and configurations from open source vendors go in this layer.

UI-specific layer

Layers currently present within the meta-openembedded layer:

• meta-efl (Enlightenment window manager)
• meta-gnome (GNOME window manager)
• meta-gpe (GPE window manager)
• meta-xfce (Xfce window manager)

Hardware-specific layer

• meta-efikamx (Efika devices)
• meta-intel (Intel embedded devices)
• meta-nslu2 (NSLU2 devices)
• meta-openpandora (Openpandora device layer)
• meta-smartphone (various smartphone devices)
• meta-texasinstruments (Texas Instruments devices)
• meta-xilinx (Xilinx devices)
• (Others)

Yocto layer

• meta-yocto (Yocto Project layer ^[7][3])

OpenEmbedded-Core layer

• openembedded-core
• meta-openembedded

Distributions supported

In OpenEmbedded the configurations from Base- to the UI-Layer can be supplemented by various Linux distributions. The following list is available for OpenEmbedded:

• Ångström distribution
• KaeilOS
• Openmoko
• SHR ^[8]
• SlugOS
• WebOS ^[9]
• Others^[4]

Supported hardware

It supports various devices.^[10]

Boards and processors

The BeagleBoard and Gumstix^[11][12] boards from Texas Instruments and several I.MX devices (for example the I.MX28 series^[13]) from Freescale are supported.^{[citation needed]}

Other well known boards like the PandaBoard are also supported ^[14][15] along with other hardware.

Some devices of the IBM PowerPC series are supported by OpenEmbedded ^[16]

Smartphones

Smartphones like the Nokia N800 and Neo FreeRunner are supported.

Porting to new hardware

The constellation of OpenEmbedded, especially the open design, allows it to get OpenEmbedded to adapt new hardware fairly easy.^[17][18]

See also

• Familiar Linux
• Openpandora
• OpenZaurus
• Poky Linux^[19]
• Yocto Project^[7]

References

1. ^ OpenEmbedded developers
2. ^ ^{a b} Official website
3. ^ ^{a b c} Yocto & OpenEmbedded Core Layers
4. ^ ^{a b c} OpenEmbedded Core Layer Index
5. ^ OpenEmbedded mailing list
6. ^ Maintenance branch
7. ^ ^{a b c} Linux Foundation Yocto Project and Openembedded merged
8. ^ SHR Project
9. ^ Ben Combee on Palm Developer Forum - Fri Jul 16, 2010. Building static libs
10. ^ Overview of OpenEmbedded supported machines
11. ^ Using OpenEmbedded build system for Gumstix
12. ^ TI Gumstix OpenEmbedded development environment
13. ^ Unofficial OpenEmbedded I.MX28 support
14. ^ OMAPpedia Pandaboard info
15. ^ OMAPpedia Angstrom Openembedded setup
16. ^ Power.org devcon 07 OpenEmbedded presentation
17. ^ Yocto Project Bord Support Package guide
18. ^ Poky handbook porting to new machines guide
19. ^ Poky handbook

External links

• Official OpenEmbedded website and wiki
• FOSDEM'05 presentation of OpenEmbedded
• FOSDEM'07 presentation of OpenEmbedded
• ELC'08 presentation of OpenEmbedded
• OpenEmbedded User Manual