Yocto Project 1.4 "Dylan" Release

The Yocto Project Release 1.4 has just been announced. This release codenamed “Dylan” and based on Poky 9.0.0 is the sixth release of the project. The Yocto Project is a framework that creates embedded Linux distributions, and has been getting more and more traction with silicon vendors such as Intel, Freescale and Texas Instruments.

Yocto Project 1.4 bring the following new features and updates:

Major performance improvements – The overall build time has been reduced by more than 10%. Kernel build time is reduced by about 25%. With rm_work enabled, 40% less storage will be used for the tmp directory.
Smart, a replacement for zypper
Support for read-only rootfs
Wayland support, an X replacement.
Systemd support, a replacement for the system V init daemon.
Usability improvements to HOB, bitbake, yocto-bsp and other tools, including UI improvements, new features and bug fixes.
Documentation improvement/update and a new kernel development manual and profiling manual.
A complete rewrite of the yocto-autobuilder to allow for easier configuration, faster build times, and easier to maintain code
Support for postinstall scripts to run at roofs creation time, which will reduce image boot time.
Support for both the Linux 3.8 kernel and LTSI (3.4) kernel
Over 400 bugs fixed

You can download The Yocto Project 1.4 to give it a try. Alternatively, you can also retrieve the code via git:

git clone -b dylan git://git.yoctoproject.org/poky.git

1	git clone -b dylan git://git.yoctoproject.org/poky.git

For further details, you can visit Yocto Project 1.4 Features page.

The next version (The Yocto Project 1.5) will be released in October 2013, as the project follows a 6-month release schedule. Yocto Project 1.5 Features page is still work in progress, but the next release will focus on improving developer experience, validation automation, and further performance improvement. A list of bugs and enhancements is also available.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.