What is eCos?
[top] eCos is an open source real-time operating system (RTOS)
for deeply embedded applications. It is not Linux nor is it a
derivative of Linux. You can find an detailed description here.
What is RedBoot?
[top] RedBoot is complete bootstrap
environment for embedded systems. It also incorporates a debug-agent for remote debugging of embedded applications.
You can find a detailed overview here.
What is eCosPro®?
[top] eCosPro is the commercial version of eCos provided
by eCosCentric. It is a stable, fully tested, and professionally supported version of
eCos. It includes additional features, drivers and board ports
that are not available in the public version.
What about licensing?
[top]
The core eCos and RedBoot
sources are freely available under a modified
version of the GPL (GNU Public License).
Under the terms of this license, no license fees are payable and your application and middleware
sources remain confidential. You are only required to make available the original sources along with any
modifications to, or components derived from, the sources.
This allows your application to remain proprietary and protects your IP. Portions of eCosCentric's
eCosPro distributions are licensed under an eCosPro specific license.
The eCosPro license is similar to open source licenses in the commercial freedoms it provides, but does not allow
redistribution to other companies and individuals that have not also licensed the software.
The eCos network stacks and some other elements are licensed under the BSD license.
The BSD license does not require any source code to be made public.
More information on the eCos licenses may be found here.
If you are creating a product based on eCos or eCosPro and require information or further explanation
of your obligations regarding the eCos license or how we can help you protect your IP, contact
info@ecoscentric.com.
Who owns eCos and RedBoot?
[top]
The copyright of the eCos and RedBoot source code is owned by the
Free Software Foundation.
The original copyright interest that was owned by Red Hat, eCosCentric, the eCos maintainers,
and eCos contributors was assigned to the FSF in 2007.
The eCos trademark is owned by eCosCentric.
Who maintains eCos and RedBoot?
[top]
eCos and RedBoot are maintained by a group of individuals. Contrary to popular
belief, they are not maintained by any commercial organisation, including eCosCentric
and Red Hat. However, some of the maintainers may work for these commercial
organisations.
The maintainers are:
John Dallaway
Nick Garnett
Jonathan Larmour (Chief maintainer)
Andrew Lunn
Mark Salter
Gary Thomas
Bart Veer
There are also additional package maintainers who only look after certain eCos
packages:
David Woodhouse - JFFS2
Jani Monoses - lwIP
Please do not contact the maintainers individually. Instead, you will find
these maintainers supporting the public community on
ecos-discuss
which is the best place to contact them. Before emailing the list
or the maintainers, we also suggest you first check the
list archives
to see if your problem or question has not already been addressed or answered.
Where can I download the free versions of eCos and RedBoot?
[top] eCos and
RedBoot are freely available
for download via anonymous CVS
or from one of the weekly snapshots.
The eCos 2.0 final is also available for download or may be purchased on CD-ROM,
complete with all development tools, from eCosCentric for a nominal charge.
The CD-ROM is not recommended however as it is very out of date compared to the latest
version of eCos available via anonymous CVS.
What is the relationship between eCosCentric, eCos/RedBoot and the maintainers?
[top]
eCosCentric was established in April 2002 by the original eCos and RedBoot developers
and maintainers while employed at Red Hat to provide commercial support and
development of eCos and RedBoot. The maintainers have since left Red Hat and the majority
now work for eCosCentric where they continue to develop and contribute to the eCos and
RedBoot projects as part of eCosCentric.
