Consortium pursues embedded Linux standard

By Tim Sullivan
Embedded.com
(03/14/02, 08:51:19 PM EDT)

San Francisco, CA - The Embedded Linux Consortium (ELC), whose bylaws once prohibited the creation of intellectual property, moved closer to establishing an embedded Linux standard. At its most recent technical meeting, the consortium unveiled an intellectual property (IP) agreement that will govern any IP it creates. This agreement, board members said, paves the way for a standard embedded Linux specification. The ELC believes such a standard is the key to the future of Linux in the world of embedded systems.

"The action is shifting from desktop to post-PC devices," said Inder Singh, chairman of the consortium and CEO of LynuxWorks, in an address to consortium members. "There is a battle for the next platform. Because no standard platform exists, application designers mostly start from scratch, so there's no real market for embedded software. I believe Linux can provide the standard platform. That is its exciting potential."

Singh later expressed his desire to have version 1.0 of the specification finished by the end of the year, although he acknowledged that this might be an over-optimistic deadline. Other consortium board members concurred, but approved of Singh's ambition. Numerous declarations were made that, based on Linux's remarkable growth in recent times and the amorphous nature of the embedded appliance market, the embedded Linux community is facing an opportunity that must be aggressively pursued.

However, some contend that the consortium has not moved quickly enough. A recent article on www.eetimes.com reports that Tim Byrd, chief technology officer at Lineo, is "skeptical that any useful progress will be made in a reasonable amount of time." The article also contains the responses of several board members.

At the meeting, Inder Singh also pointed out that the consortium has made an effort to make sure the standard and the IP agreement are open-source friendly. To this end, Larry Rosen, an attorney with the open-source initiative, is vetting the agreement.

"We wanted this agreement to be consistent with the open-source spirit," said Singh.

After Singh spoke, Rick Lehrbaum, the founder of the Linux-Devices web site, gave a short speech explaining the state of embedded Linux. While embedded Linux has experienced an impressive ascent in its short existence, its newfound prominence has made it a target, Lehrbaum said. Competing players are trying to identify Linux's weaknesses as an embedded operating system, Lehrbaum explained. He then enumerated some potential weaknesses and how he thought the consortium could address them. The principal weakness, Lehrbaum stated, is the lack of a single source for embedded Linux, a problem that would be ameliorated by the standard the consortium is currently pursuing.

A Japanese consortium is also pursuing a standard embedded Linux platform. Tatsuo Nakajima, a representative of EmbLix, the Japanese organization promoting embedded Linux addressed the ELC on the state of embedded Linux in Japan. Nakajima revealed that EmbLix was already working on a standard specification. Murry Shohat, the consortium's executive director, said that a meeting would take place the following morning to resolve any issues.

According to the board members, anyone would be able to use the specification, but corporations, organizations, and individuals who wanted to participate in working groups (which would address standardizing aspects and potential applications of embedded Linux, such as real-time concerns or web-services, beyond the basic OS specification), license the spec commercially, or participate in a branding program would have to sign the IP agreement.