Isar Buildsystem

Isar is a framework for creating product firmware based on Debian-compatible Linux distributions.

• Create complete firmware images

Today's products consist of hundreds to thousands of software components. Bringing them together is a time-consuming task that doesn't add value to the product. Isar provides a standard, proven way of building products while keeping 100% flexibility of a custom build system.

Isar creates complete, bootable firmware images for the target hardware -- with one command, on demand. It uses BitBake, the build system behind OpenEmbedded / Yocto. The images contain everything -- from boot loader, OS kernel and system files to product applications and data. Images are built and work out of the box; the base image and build rules can be re-used in your product.

• Build your software

The value of any product lies in its applications that have to be built from the source code. Besides, third-party software almost always needs to be modified to meet product requirements; that software also has to be built.

Isar builds custom software and modified third-party components and installs them into the firmware image. The source code is structured in layers according to the maintenance lifecycle (e.g., company common components, third-party components, product-specific components).

• Single code base, multiple products

Products are constantly evolving, leading to changes in software. Older products have to be supported along with the newer ones. Or, several products share the same code base. Whatever the reason -- code re-use is a must nowadays.

Isar creates as many applications, packages, images as necessary for one or more products. Those artifacts can be similar or disparate, for the same CPU architecture or for different ones. Isar makes sharing components and managing differences easy and efficient. The tools fit particularly well into continuous integration infrastructure.

• Solid base system

Time to market is essential in today's competitive environment. Developing everything in-house is not anymore an option for many industries.

Isar offers Debian as its default base system. Debian features pre-tested binary software, security updates, and long-term maintenance. It scales from small products to product lines. Debian follows a strict licensing process, which is important for building a product with open-source components.