board support package
In embedded systems, a Board Support Package (BSP) is implementation specific support code for a given board that conforms to a given operating system. It is commonly built with a bootloader that contains the minimal device support to load the operating system and device drivers for all the devices on the board.
Some suppliers also provide a root file system, a toolchain for making programs to run on the embedded system (which would be part of the architecture support package), and configurators for the devices (while running).
History
This term has been in use since about 1988. The origin of the phrase is most commonly attributed to Wind River Systems for its VxWorks embedded operating system, but it is in wider use in the industry now. For example, QNX Software Systems also distributes BSPs, as does Microsoft (for its Windows CE operating system).
Example
The Wind River board support package for the ARM Integrator 920T board contains, among other things, the following elements:
- A config.h file, which defines constants such as ROM_SIZE and RAM_HIGH_ADRS.
- A Makefile, which defines binary versions of VxWorks ROM images for programming into flash
memory.
- A bootrom file, which defines the boot line parameters for the board.
- A target.ref file, which describes board-specific information such as switch and jumper settings, interrupt levels, and offset
bias.
- A VxWorks image.
- Various C files, including:
- flashMem.c -- the device driver for the board's flash memory
- pciIomapShow.c -- mapping file for the PCI bus
- primeCellSio.c -- TTY driver
- sysLib.c -- system-dependent routines specific to this board
- romInit.s -- ROM initialization module for the board; contains entry code for images that start running from ROM
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