RISC-V Software Ecosystem in 2020

Explore the evolution and current state of the RISC-V software ecosystem in this conference talk from linux.conf.au 2020. Gain insights into the rapid growth of RISC-V hardware designs and the need for accelerated software development to make RISC-V a competitive alternative to mainstream ISAs. Learn about major software projects, future goals, and areas requiring community contribution. Discover the status of key components including the Linux kernel, RTOS, QEMU, toolchains, boot loaders, hypervisors, and various Linux distributions supporting RISC-V. Understand the importance of open-source software in driving RISC-V's success and find guidance on how to contribute to this growing ecosystem.

Syllabus

Western Digital
Software Ecosystem Overview Linux kernel, RTOS, QEMU, Applications, Toolchain
Linux Ecosystem: Status At-a-glance Fast progress but more work needed
Toolchain: Compilers and Core Libraries Compilers OK, libraries need work
RISC-V Boot Flow Follows commonly used multiple boot stages model
OpenSBI open-source implementation of SBI specifications
Boot Loaders
Linux kernel Support added with kernel 4.15
Hypervisors Type-1/Type-2 hypervisor support available on RISC-V
Linux Distributions Fedora, Debian and OpenSuse are very active Fedora: stage 4 disk images released
Non-Linux distributions Slow progress