[ale] OE project approaching 1.0 status

[Dow Hurst]

As I hoped OE is close to 1.0 status. Those interested in Embedded 
Development ought to take at look at this build system. It is tuned for 
several devices based on the ARM line of processors. To find out more, 
go to http://openembedded.org/oe_wiki/index.php and read in the wiki to 
get started. This environment has a prebuilt tool chain for 
crosscompiling and contains the almost entire Opie ready to go. It pulls 
the current code down as needed to build the whatever you've specified, 
for example:

For my SL5600, I downloaded and installed BitKeeper on my Athlon system. 
Pulled down the oe and packages repositories. Downloaded the toolchain 
and gunzipped and untarred it. Customized a startup script that sets up 
the OE build environment, configured the local.conf file, and issued the 
"oemake opie-image" command. OE pulled the source for every part of the 
OpenZaurus distribution, including the kernel and built it all. Ran all 
evening working it's way thru all the packages, but in the end, I had a 
kernel and rootfs image to flash with. For a complete coding newbie this 
was very exciting!

At the ALE-NW meeting this past Thursday, Ray Knight went thru how a 
crosscompile environment worked and how to build a crosscompiling 
environment by using CrossTool. The OE environment already has this 
prebuilt as a tarball that you install as part of your instructions for 
installing OE. Supported devices are HP iPAQ, the Siemens SIMpad, and 
the M&N Ramses, and Sharp Zaurii plus many others. Opie and GPE 
graphical environments are each supported to certain degree. Kernel 
development has the 2.6 kernel being worked on but not used yet, AFAIK, 
for most devices. If you have a Sharp SL5500 or older your in excellent 
shape for using the output of OE. If you have a newer SL5600, C750, 
C860, or SL6000 then there is less support for those. You'd need to 
delve into the info in handhelds.org, openembedded.org, and openzaurus 
mailing list archives to find out more specific info.

I recommend starting here:
http://openembedded.org/oe_wiki/index.php/GettingStarted
http://openembedded.org/oe_wiki/index.php/DirectoryStructure


Here are the current reasons a newer OpenZaurus hasn't been released:
http://openembedded.org/oe_wiki/index.php/OzTODO3.5.1
http://openembedded.org/oe_wiki/index.php/OzTODO3.6.0

And, finally here is a call for help in getting past the 1.0 barrier for OE!

(forwarded from oe at handhelds.org on behalf of Chris)
----------------------------------------
Greetings,

This is the first of the emails I am sending out to request assistance
from the community. OpenEmbedded, the build infrastructure used by the
OpenZaurus project, among others, is in need of some assistance as it
approaches the 1.0 release.

Our major needs are:

* Documentation
- Users manual (reference material and background)
- HOWTOs and tutorials

* Website
- Establish a content management system for openembedded.org,
either the custom php+mysql solution
being used by openzaurus.org, or something else
entirely.

In addition, we can always use more people to work on the core. The 
current implementation requires python skill to help maintain. The 
upcoming rewrite (2.0) will be in C.

If anyone is interested in helping out, please reply to the OE mailing 
list, or contact one of the core developers on the #oe channel
on IRC, at irc.freenode.net.

Thanks,

Chris Larson
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Hope this encourages everyone to check out the project! Thanks for your 
time,
Dow