The RISC-V Software Ecosystem
Jeremy Bennett, Embecosm, UK
Abstract
In this talk, I shall provide a survey of the RISC-V Software Ecosystem, both proprietary and open source. I shall look at software tools, system libraries, operating systems, IDEs and models. I shall then explore the open source ecosystem in more detail.
I shall look at the approach taken by the Open Hardware Group to grow the RISC-V open source software ecosystem away from being a part time activity by volunteers, to becoming a robust commercial ecosystem, where work is done by full-time professional specialist engineers. This transition to what Mark Himelstein, CTO of RISC-V International, has described as the "Linux model" of development, is a vital step if RISC-V is to succeed in the market place.
Finally I shall return to engineering, and consider the importance of measurement in evaluating systems. I shall share my experience of Embench and how modern benchmarking is an essential tool for hardware designers, compiler developers and system library writers.