[Updated Jul. 15, 2003] — The Embedded Linux Consortium (ELC) entered a new phase of its standardization activity today, as it launched three key new initiatives aimed at developing specifications covering user interfaces, real-time performance, and power management for embedded Linux based systems and devices.

The new standards will build on the group's initial standard — the Embedded Linux Consortium Platform Standard (“ELCPS”), released at the end of 2002 — that basically defines an embedded-oriented subset of standard Linux. In contrast, the new initiatives announced today mark an effort to push the ELC's focus beyond foundational technology toward defining portions of the system software stack that satisfy common requirements of specific classes of embedded applications.

According to the ELC, the ratification of the ELCPS last December by its member companies was “the first time global [*] technical consensus had been reached on operating system technology for embedded computing.” But the ELCPS, as it exists today, is limited to providing a generic software foundation that leaves unspecified a number of key functions and application program interfaces (APIs) required by many real-world systems and devices, resulting in a lack of consistency among various embedded Linux implementations and potentially leaving users uncertain about how to implement their systems.

Two significant areas of functionality that are being tackled by the ELC's new initiative — graphics and real-time capabilities — are aspects of embedded Linux that are currently supported via multiple, competing, and occasionally contentious software projects. In fact, the competition among alternatives for both graphics and real-time capabilities is so polarized that achieving consensus within a multivendor organization such as the ELC may turn out to be a significant challenge. Standardizing power management, on the other hand, should prove to be more straightforward.

Project roadmap

As part of today's announcement, the ELC released a preliminary roadmap for the new standardization effort, with the goal of releasing the new specifications within “about a year.” The roadmap defines the following development efforts, each with its own set of milestones leading up to being voted on for inclusion in the ELCPS . . .

• Test suite development (open source based, Common Public License distribution)
  • Now underway (Core Working Group)
  • 1st draft target: December 31, 2003

• Power management API's
  • Now underway (Power Management working group)
  • 1st draft target: May, 2004

• User interface(s) APIs
  • API scope and profiles now being defined (Core working Group)
  • Plan submittal to ELC board by September 1, 2003
  • 1st draft target: May, 2005

• Real time definitions and APIs
  • API scope and profiles now being defined (Core working Group)
  • Plan submittal to ELC board by October 1, 2003
  • 1st draft target: December, 2005

The ELC said each of the above projects has its own working group which is responsible for “studying the API domain, with an emphasis on end users, and setting the scope and milestones of the project with approval by the ELC's Core Working Group and Board of Directors.”

Other standardization areas under consideration

The ELC said it is continuing to evaluate other areas for standardization efforts. Proposals under consideration currently include security, threads APIs, application enablement (development/debug environment), IPv6, dynamic determination of system features, RAS, package management (host and target), file system hierarchy, kernel module APIs, and additional file System APIs.

[*] Note: The ELC initially used the word “broad” instead of “global” in its announcement, but later changed the wording.

 
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