GNU Toolchains for Operating System Vendors

If you represent an operating system vendor, you want:

• Toolchains that support all of the processors on which your OS runs.

• Rock-solid reliability so that you can do system bringup.

• Strong optimization capabilities to maximize the performance of your operating system.

• Easy-to-install toolchain binaries that you can provide to your end-users with no royalties.

• The assurance that future versions of the GNU Toolchain to continue to support your operating system.

You've come to the right place.

Cross-Platform Toolchains

CodeSourcery has expertise on a wide variety of popular target processor families, including ARM, IA32, Itanium, MIPS, PowerPC, SH, and SPARC. CodeSourcery has built GNU Toolchains for everything from MMU-less embedded systems to massively parallel supercomputers.

CodeSourcery will build GNU Toolchains for all of your platforms from the same source code so that all target-independent code written for your operating system can expect consistent behavior from the toolchain.

Quality

CodeSourcery does not believe in a one-site-fits-all approach to testing. Every customer has different needs, and CodeSourcery will provide a testing plan that satisfies whatever requirements you may have.

CodeSourcery always suggests that the testing plan include the thousands of tests in the regression testsuites provided with the GNU C Compiler, GNU C++ Compiler, GNU Assembler, and other tools that make up the GNU Toolchain. These tests provide comprehensive coverage of the functionality provided by the GNU Toolchain. CodeSourcery will add new tests as it finds and fixes any problems that arise in supporting your operating system.

CodeSourcery can also run language conformance testsuites (like the Plum-Hall C and C++ Validation Suites) or performance testsuites (including SPEC CPU2000). CodeSourcery can build real-world applications (like the Apache web server) to provide further validation.

Support

For operating system vendors, CodeSourcery recommends a support contract that covers a predetermined number of support incidents at a predetermined price. You can use these support incidents to pass along high-priority problems reported by key customers, or to get assistance with your own internal development.

CodeSourcery can also provided updated releases of the GNU Toolchain for your system on a regular basis (quarterly, semiannually, following FSF releases, or in tandem with updates to your operating system). These releases include updates and improvements to the GNU Toolchain, as well as support for additional chips as they become available. CodeSourcery performs the same quality assurance performed for the original release, and corrects any regressions.

CodeSourcery can also provide support directly to your end-users, with pricing based on the number of developers using the toolchain.