Red Hat has published Draft Version 1.1 of EL/IX, a proposed embedded Linux API. The draft spec is currently available for download and comment (PDF file).

EL/IX is described by Red Hat as “an embedded application programming interface (API) that makes it possible to use desktop Linux systems for application development and then easily recompile and deploy those applications across the complete spectrum of post-PC devices.”

Red Hat says Version 1.1 of EL/IX is a draft document that is being distributed to gather public comments. Comments should be sent to the EL/IX discussion list at sourceware.cygnus.com/elix. Red Hat's EL/IX website (sourceware.cygnus.com/elix/) also provides access to other documents about EL/IX and archives of the mailing lists.

As stated in the EL/IX specification, the goals for the EL/IX API are:

1. Support development of embedded applications using the Linux desktop environment as both host and target platforms.
   
2. Provide scalability of that functionality according to the requirements of the embedded application.
   
3. Provide portability of applications between operating systems that provide the same levels of API functionality.
   
4. Provide real time functionality on real time operating systems.
   
5. Respect existing standards by adopting their APIs and functionality where appropriate.
   
6. EL/IX achieves these goals by identifying a subset of the POSIX.1 and ISO C99 standards, together with some extensions gleaned from Linux/GNU, BSD and SYSV, that are applicable to embedded applications. The result is an API that is somewhat smaller than the union of those standards that eliminates unnecessary or duplicated functionality fairly ruthlessly.

 
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