Linux 3.7 Kernel To Support Multiple ARM Platforms 82
hypnosec writes with news that the Linux 3.7 kernel will support multiple ARM-based System on Chip platforms (Git commit page), writing "Up until now there has been a separate Linux kernel build for each of the ARM platforms or SoCs, which is one of the several problems when it comes to ARM based Linux. The merging of ARM multi-platform support into Linux 3.7 will put an end to this problem, enabling the new kernel to not only target multiple platforms but also be more in line with its x86 counterpart."
Re:Unified platform? (Score:5, Insightful)
A Device Tree description is a helluva easier to roll out than a newly compiled kernel for every device. I agree it's not ideal, but the ARM ecosystem is a bloody complicated one, and it's likely the best we can expect until that little piece of the Wild West is tamed. And maybe it never will be, as the attraction of ARM is precisely in its non-one-size-fits-all way of doing things.
If I'm looking at porting my kernel and software stack to some new ARM device, I'll take some comfort in the fact that the bulk of getting it running will be a spec file, and not having to do a kernel configure and compile. I've wasted enough hours of my life doing that sort of thing.