The MCST company, known for developing Elbrus processors, has made an exciting announcement regarding the distribution of Elbrus Linux components. They have opened up the Linux kernel modifications and the standard Glibc C library code that support the Elbrus architecture. Additionally, a collection of patches for various packages used in the Elbrus Linux distribution, created using Debian GNU/Linux projects and the LFS project, have been made available. The code is open under licenses of the original projects (GPL) or under the MIT license.
Along with releasing the code, MCST has launched a developer portal called DEV.MCST.ru. This portal hosts documentation and educational materials, including GIT repositories with the Elbrus Linux Code and an online version of the book “Guide to Effective programming on the Elbrus platform.” Developers can also apply for remote access to servers based on Elbrus processors through the portal.
The published source code and patches have been formatted for use without requiring access to internal resources or tools of the MCST. However, it is important to note that they are provided “as is,” without any guarantee of suitability for third-party assembly systems or compatibility with other versions of the original source texts. Nonetheless, interested parties can use the code and patches to add support for the Elbrus platform to other Linux distributions.
The Elbrus developers are committed to actively maintaining the published code and patches, as well as regularly publishing changes related to adapting new packages for the platform. They are also working on developing tools to further support this initiative. The ultimate goal of this effort is to establish Elbrus as one of the world’s processor architectures supported by the global open-source community.