Open Source vs. proprietary software for toolchains for embedded software development

Combining open source and proprietary software for embedded software development Peter Vandenabeele, TASS Belgium 10 June 2008, Veldhoven

TASS in a nutshell

formerly part of Philips, standalone since April 2007

embedded software consulting

30-year track record

200+ embedded software professionals

150 TASS BV (Netherlands, HQ Eindhoven)‏

50 TASS Belgium NV (HQ/TASS East, Leuven; TASS West, Gent)‏

20+ MEUR revenues

local player Benelux & Aachen region

Open source and proprietary

open source, “BSD” style

freedom to see source, copy, modify, redistribute (& use)‏

can be redistributed as and linked with proprietary

open source, “GPL” style (aka “free software”)‏

modified SW and linked SW can only be redistributed as GPL

 “ viral” for linking with prop. SW (“copyleft”)‏

 ” using” it is not affected (e.g. “using” linux, MySQL)‏

proprietary

does not offer freedoms of “GPL” or “BSD”

money/price

not relevant for definition of open source vs. proprietary

all combinations possible (e.g. “selling” Linux, “freeware”)‏

Development set-up development system target system 1 target system 2

Tools:

compilers

debuggers

version ctrl

IDE

test

Code:

application

libraries

kernel

boot loader

TPM

Data:

communication

storage

open/closed standards !

Host: compilers (e.g. C/C++)‏

Proprietary

IBM: Visual Age

Sun: Sun Studio

Intel: Intel C++

ARM: RealView

MS: Visual Studio

Green Hills: MULTI

Wind River compiler

IAR Embedded Workb.

Open Source

gcc

Portable C compiler

Tiny C compiler

Local C

Host: version control

Proprietary

IBM Rational ClearCase

MS Team Foundation Server

BitKeeper

...

Open Source

CVS

SVN (subversion)‏

git

Host: IDE (Integrated Development Environment)‏

Proprietary

ARM: RealView*

MS: Visual Studio

Green Hills: MULTI

Wind River: Workbench*

Montavista: DevRocket*

IAR: Embedded Workb.

Adobe Flex builder*

(*) based on Eclipse

Open Source

Eclipse (+CDT)‏

NetBeans

KDevelop

make/vi/gcc/gdb/git

buildroot

emacs

Host: selection criteria

many proprietary and open source options

for the development system, the 1 time fee of proprietary solutions can be acceptable

choices based on performance, features, integration with existing solutions and IDE’s

“ best of breed” solutions are possible

Code:

application

libraries

kernel

boot loader

TPM

Target: TPM (Trusted Platform Module)‏

TPM allows “locking” of phones, game consoles, ... (e.g. TiVo, iPhone, Xbox)‏

developing for iPhone costs 99 USD + 30% of revenue

TiVo uses Linux (GPL v2) but hardware refuses to run changed versions

 flies in the face of “freedom to modify”

 Richard Stallman was “not pleased” : GPL v3

TPM can also protect against unauthorized copying/alteration of your design

GPL v3 code requires the recipient to receive the “keys” to modify the GPL v3 piece of code

Target: boot loader + kernel

Proprietary

many board-specific boot loaders

BIOS

VxWorks

Windows Embedded CE

... (hundreds more)‏

Open Source

uboot (GPL style)‏

Redboot (GPL style)‏

Linux (GPL style)‏

eCos (GPL style)‏

RTEMS (BSD style)‏

All common boot loaders and kernels allow other licenses for middleware and applications.

Target: libraries

Proprietary

Qt: for proprietary apps

audio/video libraries

run-time environments for Flash/Flex*, Silverlight**

wireless communication stacks (WiFi, gsm, 3G) .

(*) Adobe opened Flash/Flex 

(**) Moonlight is Open Source, but behind the MS implementation

Open Source

Qt: GPL library

Gtk+ : BSD library

thousands of libraries with LGPL style license

run-time environments for Perl, Python, Ruby, Java, JavaFX, JavaScript (AJAX)‏

Target: your application

In all practical scenarios you can choose to keep code proprietary or to make it open

Qt forces buying a proprietary license to allow linking with proprietary code or to opensource the applications

OpenMoko is an example of an open source application (open phone), with FIC selling the hardware ...

Target: selection criteria

avoiding per-unit license fee on target

for many “low-level” features on the target, mature open source solutions exist

for “higher-level” features (graphics, Flash, wireless stacks) mainly proprietary solutions  strongly related with data standards

choices based on performance, features, flexibility, cost per device  drive to more open source on the target

Data:

communication

storage

open/closed standards !

Open standards: definition

From Fedict (Belgian federal admin for ICT):

open specification: full description

free specification: free to implement

open standard: free specification that is accepted by international standards body with an open governance process (e.g. ISO/IEC, OASIS, IETF, W3C)‏

Open standards: importance

proprietary and open source implementations are possible and can be mixed

open standards allow choice of implementation

 keep your options open for long term evolution

 far reaching consequences

historic examples: tcp/ip, http, html, SQL, ...

future: xml, microformats, ...

test against multiple implementations

Open standards: good news

Adobe “Open Screen Project”

remove license restrictions on .swf format

(  free spec, allows competing implementations)‏

players become zero-cost (0$), also for embedded (not fundamental, but easy)‏

Microsoft accepts ODF v 1.1

Existing XML based document format will be supported (also for machine to machine document exchange, a lot easier)‏

Tools:

compilers

debuggers

version ctrl

IDE

test

Code:

application

libraries

kernel

boot loader

TPM

Data:

communication

storage

open/closed

standards !

Conclusions

all combinations are possible

host: many options, choose best of breed

target: bias towards open source (cost)‏

target: certain dedicated stacks can require proprietary (graphics, wireless, audio/video)‏

data: favor open standards to keep your options open (that’s the real vendor lock-in)‏

Open Source vs. proprietary software for toolchains for embedded software development

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