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diff --git a/2009/foss-silicon_manufacturer-elce2008/embedded-openexpo.mgp b/2009/foss-silicon_manufacturer-elce2008/embedded-openexpo.mgp new file mode 100644 index 0000000..700b740 --- /dev/null +++ b/2009/foss-silicon_manufacturer-elce2008/embedded-openexpo.mgp @@ -0,0 +1,517 @@ +%include "default.mgp" +%default 1 bgrad +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +%nodefault +%back "blue" + +%center +%size 7 + +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right + +Infineon / February 2009 + +%center +%size 4 +by + +Harald Welte <laforge@gnumonks.org> + +netfilter.org / openmoko.org / openpcd.org +gpl-violations.org / openezx.org / gnufiish.org +berlin.ccc.de / openBSC.gnumonks.org +deDECTed.org / hmw-consulting.de / viatech.com + + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Introduction + +Who is speaking to you? + an independent Free Software developer, consultant and trainer + 15 years experience using/deploying and developing for Linux on server and workstation + 12 years professional experience doing Linux system + kernel level development + strong focus on network security and embedded + expert in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) copyright and licensing + digital board-level hardware design, esp. embedded systems + active developer and contributor to many FOSS projects + thus, a techie, who will therefore not have fancy animated slides ;) + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Introduction + +Why am I qualified? + The 'Linux community' POV + Former kernel subsystem maintainer (netfilter/iptables) + Initiator of OpenEZX project + Author of various drivers for embedded hardware + The 'embedded Linux done the rigth way' POV + Lead System Architect (SW+HW) at Openmoko, Inc. + Co-creator of Open Hardware + Software for RFID + OpenPCD, OpenPICC, librfid, libmrtd + The 'chip manufacturer' POV + Open Source Liaison at VIA Technologies, Inc. + The 'customer of consumer-grade embedded Linux' POV + Done reverse-engineering on hundreds of devices for gpl-violations.org + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Linux is everywhere! + +%image "linux_netfilter_singapore_entertainment.jpg" + + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Linux is everywhere + + +Linux is everywhere! + Linux mobile phones (Motorola, Openmoko) + In-flight entertainment systems + Embedded networking gear + DSLAMs + rack monitoring + Public payphones + ATM's / PoS / vending machines + Now even Fitness gear (Daum Ergometer) + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Strengths of FOSS [0/4] + + +What are the true strengths of FOSS + Innovative and creative development + Security due to code review / bugreport / patches + Long-term maintainable code + Stable and reliable systems + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Strengths of FOSS [1/4] + + +Innovative and creative development + easy-to-read existing codebase + standard (FOSS) development tools + thus, easy to modify and add features + community will build around great new features/apps + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Strengths of FOSS [2/4] + + +Security due to code review / bugreport / patches + all the code is out there + many people are familiar with existing architecture + code quality requirements usually very high + community process allows quick and fast integration of bugfix + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Strengths of FOSS [3/4] + + +Long-term maintainable code, because + there's a lot of attention on good software architecture + many developers are familiar with the shared/common API's + code quality requirements usually very high + all code in mainline gets maintained and updated + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Strengths of FOSS [4/4] + + +Stable and reliable systems, because + code quality requirements usually very high + kernel releases are quite frequent + all mainline code is automatically ported to new releases + + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Reality Check + + + So we should have the perfect world + tons of embedded Linux products + all of them maitainable, secure, stable + encouraging lots of creative work on top of their codebase + + What is the reality + tons of embedded Linux products + none of the strengths of FOSS present in 99% of them + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Differences to PC Linux + + +Differences to Linux on a PC + In the PC world, I can + download the latest kernel from kernel.org + compile + install it on almost every current+old platform + have an almost 100% chance that it will boot and support all the major peripherals + only some more obscure hardware might not have drivers yet + update at any time to the latest 2.6.x.y maintenance release + update at any time to the next 2.6.(x+1) release + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Differences to PC Linux + + +Differences to Linux on a PC + In the PC world, I can + take about any major Linux distribution, based on my own preference + install and run that very distribution on about any hardware + distribution kernels are very close to mainline these days + benefit of regular security updates by distributions + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Differences to PC Linux + + +Differences to Linux on a PC + In the Embedded world + every CPU/SoC maker runs their own kernel tree + often one kenrel tree per product, based on different mainline versions + ages-old base revisions + a neverending security nightmare + no benefit from recent new features in mainline + non-standard subsystems (e.g. different USB device or SDIO stack) + proprietary drivers cause lock-in to old kernels + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Differences to PC Linux + + +Differences to Linux on a PC + In the Embedded world + I often do not have a choice of which distro to run + There might actually be no distribution + No regular security updates + Often no package management for deploying those updates + If there are distributions, they either need to use the kernel from the BSP (which is ages old) or creare yet another custom off-mainline branch/port + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Differences to PC Linux + + + + +%center +THIS SUCKS! + + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +What does the vendor get + + +So what do the embedded vendors get? + unstable software + security nightmares + unmaintainable code + no innovation + no user-contributed bug fixes + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +What does the vendor get + + +unstable software + because the code really sucks in many cases + because they patch around problems rather than solving them + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +What does the vendor get + + +security nightmares + because they use stoneage forks of the kernel + because they never contributed their code mainline + because those forks can never be merged back with mainline again + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +What does the vendor get + + +unmaintainable code + because they have one fork of the code per device (product) + because their code quality sucks + + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +What does the vendor get + + +no innovation + because they try to hide their code (gpl-violations.org) + because their R&D environment is non-standard + weird cross-toolchains that nobody has seen before + weird filesystems with custom patches that nobody knows + because they add proprietary components to lock developers from adding features + e.g. the entire web-based UI for embedded networking gear + binary-only kernel modules that force people to use old kernels with no interesting new features + because it is, overall, way too hard to develop on/for their platform + because they don't disclose serial console and/or JTAG access + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Reality Check + + +So why do they still do it? + there can only be one conclusion: + they never understood the real potential of FOSS! + all they do is try to compete with what proprietary competitors do + they never think about creating platforms, every product is distinct/separate + they have no interest in improving their products + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +What does the community get + + +So what does the community get? + products that run some crappy fork of Linux somewhere under the hood + but which we cannot really touch/modify without a lot of effort + we face opposition from the product maker if we want to help him to improve + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +TODO (devica maker) + + +What should the device vendor do? + stop thinking in terms of selling black boxes + defining products that take advantage of the true strength of FOSS + compete against the proprietary competition on a level that they can't match + give up the idea of defining all aspects of an appliance + rather think of building an extensible platforms and let community innovate + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +A note to chip vendors + + +There are two types of customers + The Linux-aware customer + understands FOSS much better than you do + will share the criticism of this talk + will likely go to a competitor who understands Linux better + The Linux-unaware customer + who just uses Linux to save per-unilt OS royalties + who doesn't really care about most issues presented here + who will create inferior products + Linux-awareness is increasing, not decreasing + now is already late, but if you don't have proper FOSS support on your agenda now, you will likely loose the "openness competition" + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +TODO (chip maker) + + +What should the chip vendors do? + engange in "sustainable development" + develop against latest mainline + make your development trees public (use git!), don't just release stable snapshots as BSP to your tier-one customers + actively interact with the community + learn how to play by the rules (coding style, use common interfaces, no proprietary drivers) + don't just do big code drops every now and then + since most of your customers' skill is very low + they cannot tell you what they actually want/need on a technical level + you have to understand Linux better than them, and better than the competition + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +TODO (chip maker) + + +What should the chip vendors do? + Externally + Don't mistake FOSS as just a technology. It is a R&D philosophy! + Provide public reference manuals with no NDA + If you have to resort to NDA, make sure they are FOSS friendly + Ensure you don't license IP cores that conflict with FOSS + Internally + Draft a proper in-house FOSS strategy with clear goals + Don't expect your product mangers or engineers to know everything about FOSS without proper training + Hire people with strong community background into your R&D and managemnt to facilitate the know-how transfer + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Lessons Learnt (chip maker) + + + Chip Product Managers need to learn + There's more Linux use with their chips than they ever learn + Their customers are not just the tier-one customers + If you want to support Linux, do it the mainline way. If you support only N number of distributions, your 'N' will be growing and you'll be wasting R&D resources to support each one of them + That there is no single 'contact window' / entity for Linux + The big change is the FOSS development model, not the Linux API's + Linux-aware customers care not only about performance+price, but also about the quality of the Linux port code + + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Lessons Learnt (chip maker) + + + BSP R&D Managers need to learn + Linux is not just a set of API's for their developers to learn + Linux is FOSS. The FOSS R&D model is different + Their engineers need to be encouraged to communicate + and thus, need real internet (git, mailing lists, ..) + have to get clear indication what is confidential and what not + FOSS is about cooperation. You don't need to reinvent the wheel + don't include your own 802.11 stack in your wifi driver + If you do not merge your code mainline, you end up in a maintenance nightmare + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Lessons Learnt (chip maker) + + + BSP Software Engineers need to learn + Linux is not just a set of API's + How and where to ask the right kind of questions + How and where to look for the latest code + Code is written to be read by other people, not just to execute + + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +TODO (community) + +What should the community do + Provide non-partisan documentation + on FOSS advantages, proper FOSS development + hardware companies are intrested to learn, but don't know who to ask. If they ask a commercial distributor, then they get in bed with them, which is not the same as working with the mainline development community + Something like a mentoring program + take software/driver R&D by their hand and walk them through the mainline merge + Don't scare them away + They have to be taught about the communication / review culture + Your valid criticism to patches has to be explained + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Problems (chipmaker) + + Patent licensing schemes + e.g. MPEG patent license doesn't at all work in a FOSS model + Technology licensing schemes + e.g. Sony Memorystick. Impossible for a chip maker to provide FOSS driver + Everyone in the industry has those very same problems + Chip makers should cooperate to present their case together to the respective licensors + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Problems (chipmaker) + + Patent trolls + openly accessible documentation invites patent trolls + Why? + patent trolls rarely read+understand FOSS code + thus, open documentation increases the risk to be hit + However + this is a by-product of how the patent system currently works + if there is a patent violation in the product, then it exists whether or not there is documentation + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Outlook + +Outlook + We will see even more embedded Linux, e.g. Mobile phones + We will see even more restricted devices (Tivo-ization, DRM for code) + which go on _very_ thin ice even with GPLv2 + which almost completely remove all freedoms of FOSS + We have some faint dim light at the end of a very far tunnel + e.g. projects like Openmoko, who truly see openness as a feature + e.g. chip makers who slowly open up a bit more + on the PC side, Intel defiitely is setting the best overall example + on the Embedded side, I see some - but way too small - imovement in major players (TI, Marvell, Samsung, Infineon, ...) + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +The Embedded SoC market + +In the Embedded SoC market + your typical customer is a chinese company with very limited technical skill and resources + almost all products are equal, market extremely competitive + thus, licensing proprietary OS or software stack is not feasible + thus, SoC makers get pushed to provide not only base OS/drivers, but full 'turnkey solution' reference design + which also means + your actual SoC customer does not understand Linux, neither technically nor the Open Source model (and its benefits) + if you are the first to provide a solution that fully embraces Open Source, your products will be more stable and feature-rich than the competition + +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Questions + + Questions to the audience: + Do you really enter a legal grey area and make life hard for yourself and your customers/users by doing binary-only kernel modules? + Do you want to ignore the security benefits from open source? + Can you really afford to not tap into the creative power and workforce of the FOSS community? + Do you really want to use Linux just as a cheap replacement for other OS, or do you want to embrace its true strength? + + Competing with openness against proprietary competitors is competing at a level they can never match! +%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +%page +How to do Embedded Linux [not] right +Thanks + + Thanks for your attention. + + Some Time left for Q&A + + Feel free to mail me at laforge@gnumonks.org |