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ELISA Project and Linux Foundation Community Shine at FOSDEM 2025

By Ambassadors, Blog, Critical Software Summit, Industry Conference

Written by Ramon Roche, Dronecode Foundation General Manager and member of Space Grade Linux

Members and collaborators from the ELISA Project and the broader Linux Foundation community were excited to participate in FOSDEM 2025, joining thousands of open source enthusiasts in Brussels for a weekend dedicated to advancing open technology. For those who haven’t yet experienced FOSDEM, it’s difficult to put into words the vibrant, inclusive atmosphere of this registration-free event—it’s something you genuinely have to see and feel for yourself. Imagine developers buzzing between the historic buildings of the Université libre de Bruxelles, eagerly attending talks, sharing ideas, and forging connections over their shared passion for innovation. FOSDEM is more than just a conference; it’s a celebration of open-source collaboration and a testament to the power of community-driven technology.

“FOSDEM is more than just a conference—it’s a cornerstone of the open source world. From discovering new projects in various fields like open source scorecards and NGO-focused CRMs to engaging in critical discussions around the EU’s Cyber Resilience Act, FOSDEM offers unmatched opportunities for learning and collaboration. The hallway track, packed sessions, and the growing interest in AI and open hardware all underscore its role as a vital hub for innovation and community building. It’s where the open source ecosystem thrives, connects, and evolves.”

— Philipp Ahmann, Sr. OSS Community Manager at ETAS GmbH

Exhibits from Sponsors

One of the highlights of FOSDEM 2025 was the lively exhibit area, where attendees flocked to engage with some of the most influential projects and foundations in the open-source ecosystem. The halls were abuzz with energy, making it nearly impossible to walk through without getting swept up in the excitement! Zephyr RTOS had a standout presence among the many exhibits, drawing attention with its innovative real-time operating system solutions. Members of the ELISA community were also actively involved throughout the exhibits, connecting with attendees and sharing insights on safety-critical systems and open-source collaboration.

The FOSDEM community’s love for swag was on full display, with attendees proudly sporting T-shirts, stickers, and other goodies collected from various booths. A major crowd favorite was the Linux Foundation Europe booth, which attracted a steady stream of visitors with its impressive lineup of CNCF project merchandise and exclusive discounts on Linux Foundation training and certifications available only to FOSDEM attendees. The vibrant atmosphere and enthusiasm around the exhibits perfectly captured the spirit of innovation and community that defines FOSDEM.

 

 

Kate Stewart’s Zephyr Open Source Project Best Practices Over Time Presentation

Another highlight of FOSDEM 2025 was Kate Stewart’s talk titled Zephyr: Open Source Project Best Practices Over Time, where she shared insights into how Zephyr RTOS has evolved into a robust and widely adopted platform, now surpassing 100,000 commits in its main repository. Drawing on lessons from the Linux Kernel Community, she emphasized the importance of embedding best practices early on to ensure long-term sustainability and scalability. A key focus of her leadership has been security, which was integrated from the start rather than treated as an afterthought. With Zephyr advancing toward formal safety certification, Stewart’s vision continues to drive the project forward, solidifying its position as a trusted solution for embedded systems and safety-critical applications. Her meticulous attention to governance, security, and collaboration has been instrumental in taking Zephyr to new heights.

Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) devroom

The SBOM devroom at FOSDEM 2025 was a focal point for discussions on the growing importance of Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) in ensuring transparency and security across the open-source ecosystem. A standout session was Luigi Pellecchia’s talk on BASIL, an innovative open-source tool designed to simplify the creation and maintenance of traceability matrices for safety-critical applications. Pellecchia demonstrated how BASIL leverages the Software Package Data Exchange (SPDX) standard to integrate quality-related work items into SBOMs, enhancing consistency and reliability across complex toolchains. His presentation highlighted the critical role of SBOMs in fostering trust and compliance, making it clear that tools like BASIL are essential for modern software development workflows. The devroom’s sessions collectively underscored the value of SBOMs in building secure and sustainable software supply chains.

Embedded, Mobile, and Automotive devroom

The Embedded, Mobile, and Automotive devroom at FOSDEM 2025 was a hub of innovation, bringing together a vibrant community of developers and enthusiasts to explore the latest in open-source technologies. The program was packed with engaging talks, covering everything from CubeSat communication systems and general-purpose humanoid robotics with dora-rs to dual A/B update solutions for embedded Linux. Standout sessions included Thibault Poncelet’s deep dive into automotive communication systems with Reverse Engineering CAN Communication and Building ECUs Using Elixir and the BEAM, and Florian Limberger’s exploration of Bluetooth Low Energy applications in Developing BLE Host Applications with Zephyr. Attendees also got a closer look at the integration of MicroPython in embedded systems and enjoyed a lively update on the Zephyr RTOS during its dedicated roasting party. With a full house for nearly every session, the devroom highlighted the rapid advancements in embedded technologies and the critical role of open-source collaboration in shaping the future of the industry.

“FOSDEM is one of the most important open-source gatherings in the world, and this year was no exception,” said Walt Miner, AGL Community Manager at the Linux Foundation, devroom co-chair.  “I came to host the Embedded, Mobile, and Automotive devroom, as well as the Automotive BoF, but it’s also the best place to connect with a wide variety of experts across countless projects. What makes FOSDEM so special is its diversity—it’s not tied to a single project or technology, and every year brings new devrooms and discoveries. This year, I was excited to learn more about OpenPilot and meet some of the people using it.”

Miner continued, “In the Embedded, Mobile, and Automotive devroom, Zephyr was a recurring theme, with so many great talks that we could easily justify a dedicated Zephyr devroom next year. The devroom was a huge success—our 210-seat room was packed for every session, and we had three times more talk submissions than we could accommodate. It’s inspiring to see such enthusiasm and expertise in the community, and I’m already looking forward to next year!”

“Expect the unexpected. At FOSDEM, you have the opportunity to see new topics and trends.”

– Jan-Simon Moeller

Featured Talks you should check out:

BASIL an open source tool that supports requirements traceability with design sBOM

Zephyr: Open Source Project Best Practices Over Time

Test and Assurance of Non-Volatile Memory Devices for Space (Video)

By Blog, Space Grade Linux

In the last ELISA Project Workshop, hosted at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, from December 10 to 12, 2024, speaker Ted Wilcox, Radiation Effects Engineer at NASA, gave a presentation, “Test and Assurance of Non-Volatile Memory Devices for Space.”

In this presentation, Ted shard recent results from non-volatile memory device testing will be presented, along with assurance guidance, recommendations, and lessons learned that may provide context for the Space Grade Linux community.

The ELISA Workshop, which had than 30 in-person and 40 virtual attendees, brought together experts from various organizations, including ELISA Project member companies such as Red Hat, and Bosch, as well as representatives from NASA, Wind River, TelePIX, the Linux Foundation and more. This diverse group of professionals engaged in discussions and presentations on advancing Linux systems for space-grade applications.

Check out the ELISA Workshop @ NASA Youtube playlist to watch other videos or access the materials on the ELISA Project’s directory.

Additional Resources:

 

Linux Kernel Design Documentation (Video)

By Blog, Workshop

Kernel design documentation is not just an administrative task—it is essential for ensuring reliability, safety, and compliance in mission-critical systems. It serves as a foundation for certification, debugging, maintenance, and future improvements, ultimately reducing risk and increasing system dependability.

In the last ELISA Project Workshop, hosted at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, from December 10 to 12, 2024, speakers Gabriele Paoloni, Sr Principal Engineer and Open Source Community Technical Leader at Red Hat; Chuck Wolber and Kate Stewart, Vice President of Dependable Embedded Systems at the Linux Foundation, gave a presentation, “Linux Kernel Design Documentation.”

The goals for this session were to:
A) Share the latest findings and ideas from the Safety Architecture WG towards the high level next steps discussed at Linux Plumbers Conference
B) Create more detailed next steps and respective forums

View the video below:

The ELISA Workshop, which had than 30 in-person and 40 virtual attendees, brought together experts from various organizations in person and virtual, including ELISA Project member companies such as Red Hat, and Bosch, as well as representatives from NASA, Wind River, TelePIX, the Linux Foundation and more. This diverse group of professionals engaged in discussions and presentations on advancing Linux systems for space-grade applications.

Check out the ELISA Workshop @ NASA Youtube playlist to watch other videos or access the materials on the ELISA Project’s directory.

Additional Resources:

Recap of the ELISA Workshop at NASA Goddard: Advancing Space Grade Linux

By Blog, Space Grade Linux, Workshop

Written by Ramon Roche, Dronecode Foundation General Manager and member of Space Grade Linux

The ELISA Project hosted an in-person workshop at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, from December 10 to 12, 2024. This event marked the launch of Space Grade Linux, a Special Interest Group (SIG) aiming to address the unique challenges of deploying Linux in space environments. We are happy to share we had a very successful workshop with more than 30 in-person and 40 virtual attendees, with the majority finding the workshop highly educational and relevant.

The workshop brought together experts from various organizations in person and virtual, including ELISA Project member companies such as Red Hat, and Bosch, as well as representatives from NASA, Wind River, TelePIX, the Linux Foundation and more. This diverse group of professionals engaged in discussions and presentations on advancing Linux systems for space-grade applications. We want to extend our gratitude to the 20 speakers responsible for the 18 sessions in total during the two days of the event.

The workshop featured a series of sessions including:

  • Space Grade Linux Introduction: Michael Monaghan from NASA provided an overview of the Space Grade Linux initiative, outlining its objectives and significance.
  • Lessons from Automotive Grade Linux: Walt Miner of the Linux Foundation shared experiences from the automotive industry that could be applied to space-grade Linux development.
  • Verification and Validation of the OS and Certification Package: Scott Tashakkor from NASA discussed methods for ensuring the reliability and safety of operating systems in space applications.
  • Containerization in Space: Douglas Schilling Landgraf and Dan Walsh of Red Hat demonstrated the use of Podman for mission-critical operations, emphasizing resilience and efficiency. 

Notes from TSC Chair

Philipp Ahmann, Sr. OSS Community Manager at ETAS GmbH and Chair of the ELISA Project Technical Steering Committee, offers insight:

A recurring theme throughout the workshop was the importance of collaboration and open-source principles in addressing the complexities of space-grade software. The round table discussions were especially enlightening, revealing key takeaways from the participants:

  • Requirement Management: The volume of NASA software requirements presents a significant challenge in the usage of Open Source Software. The community emphasized the need for clear, concise, and easily accessible best practices and requirements for space applications. New, open-source processes for demonstrating compliance with these requirements were also discussed and will be a major topic for ELISA in 2025.
  • Long-Term Sustainability: Maintaining systems over extended periods, sometimes spanning decades, is a critical challenge in space. Creative solutions for software updates and long-term support are essential, especially in light of missions that outlive their initial planned lifespan.
  • Leveraging Existing Tools and Hardware: The workshop highlighted the value of utilizing readily available emulation like QEMU and hardware like Raspberry Pi for development and testing. This approach lowers the barrier to entry for academia and other organizations interested in contributing to SGL.
  • Collaboration and Community Building: Bringing together space vendors and fostering a strong community around SGL is crucial for its continued development. The workshop itself served as a testament to the power of collaboration, with experts from various backgrounds sharing their knowledge and insights.
  • Demonstrating Value and Addressing Concerns: While the potential of Linux in space is evident, there’s a need to convincingly demonstrate its capabilities, especially in areas like real-time performance. Building a strong evidence base through research papers and practical demonstrations is key to wider adoption.

Testimonials from the Community

  • 37% of attendees are ready to roll up their sleeves and help define the project.
  • 57% think the content was exceptional and would recommend our next events to a friend or colleague.

“I attended the SGL Workshop at NASA Goddard Space Center, and was quite happy to exchange information between Space professionals and Linux professionals. NASA was a great host, giving us a tour of facilities, with a particular focus on the ongoing Hubble Space Telescope hardware, and the upcoming Roman space telescope project.  Learning about the hardware NASA uses, and plans to use, the challenges imposed by the space environment, and the constraints and requirements placed on hardware and software for space vehicles and missions, was extremely useful.  I look forward to continuing productive discussions and work as Linux and other open source is adapted and utilized in the space sector.               — Tim Bird, Principal Software Engineer, Sony

Access to Materials

For those interested in the workshop’s content, video recordings of the talks are available at the ELISA Project’s YouTube channel as a playlist:

Presentation materials and further details about the sessions can be found on the ELISA Project’s directory:

We hope you can join us on the next one!

Meanwhile, be sure to subscribe to the SGL SIG mailing list and to join the public calls. The successful collaboration between ELISA and Space community members at this workshop signifies a significant step forward in developing robust, reliable Linux systems for space exploration.

The formation of the Space Grade Linux SIG is expected to foster an ecosystem of supported platforms and a collaborative community dedicated to advancing Linux in space-grade applications.

Want to know more about SGL?

Make sure you browse through the ELISA website. There, you can find information on all the project initiatives and how to contribute to the wider adoption of open source for safety-critical systems. Click here for more details about SGL.

Stay tuned by subscribing to the ELISA Project newsletter or connect with us on LinkedIn or subscribe to the mailing lists to talk with community and TSC members.

Cross Industry Demands and Collaboration Opportunities in Open Source for Safety Critical Systems (Video)

By Blog, Critical Software Summit

The increasing computation power of embedded CPUs has revolutionized industries such as Automotive, Aerospace, or Industrial by enabling centralized and enhanced use cases, software-defined functionalities, and increased automation. The challenges of this increased complexity are often addressed by incorporating Open Source Software, particularly Linux, virtualization and RTOS. As these industries are heavily regulated by quality and safety-integrity standards, the certification of these highly complex systems becomes crucial.

Starting from the similarities and overlaps in system architecture design across use cases, this video explores the demands imposed by safety integrity standards in various industries. To develop these systems and adhere to required processes, the integration of tools and a high degree of automation is essential.

Philipp Ahmann, Sr. OSS Community Manager at Etas GmbH (BOSCH), and Olivier Charrier,  Principal Technologist – Functional Safety at Wind River, gave a presentation, “Cross Industry Demands and Collaboration Opportunities in Open Source for Safety Critical Systems” at the Critical Software Summit, which took place at Open Source Summit Europe in September. They discuss how open source projects bridge the gap between open source and safety-criticality, introducing tools and processes, and showcasing collaborative efforts in creating reproducible example system architectures. These systems can serve as a foundation for companies and projects adopting Open Source in safety-critical applications.

Check out the slides or watch the video below.

Watch the other sessions from the Critical Software Summit on the ELISA Youtube Channel here.

Stay tuned by subscribing to the ELISA Project newsletter or connect with us on LinkedIn or subscribe to the mailing lists to talk with community and TSC members.

Traceability and Automation With Basil (Video)

By Blog, Critical Software Summit

In Safety Critical applications it is mandatory to ensure Sw Requirements traceability to Sw Specifications, Test Cases, Test Results, Bugs and more. The process leading to this goal is usually complex and time-consuming and it is essential to understand the state step by step and highlight what remains to be done. Moreover, for the intrinsic nature of a software project, we need to ensure traceability and test verification following any evolution in the ecosystem of the project.

BASIL The FuSa Spice, is an open source sw that provides a quality management solution aimed to address the above mentioned challenges for SW developments that are code driven and equally for the ones requirements driven.

We will see how to implement in BASIL Sw Requirements traceability to the source Code and to existing upstream Test Cases, how to execute them, how to navigate Test Results and artifacts and how to link failures to a bug in a bug tracking system.

We will also go into the details of a pipeline implementation based on the BASIL HTTP Api to understand how changes in one or more work items can be managed through automation with the goal of implementing a continuous certification framework.

Red Hat’s Luigi Pellecchia, Principal Quality Software Engineer, and Gabriele Paoloni, Senior Principal Engineer and Open Source Community Technical Leader, gave a presentation, “Traceability and Automation Examples with Basil an Open Source Software for Quality Management ” at the Critical Software Summit, which took place at Open Source Summit Europe in September.  Check out the presentation here or watch the video below.

Watch the other sessions from the Critical Software Summit on the ELISA Youtube Channel here.

Stay tuned by subscribing to the ELISA Project newsletter or connect with us on LinkedIn or subscribe to the mailing lists to talk with community and TSC members.

Safe Systems with Linux (Video)

By Ambassadors, Blog, Industry Conference, Linux Foundation

As Linux is increasingly deployed in systems with varying criticality constraints, distro providers are expected to ensure that security fixes in their offerings do not introduce regressions for customer products that have safety considerations. The key question arises:

  • How can they establish consistent linkage between code, tests, and the requirements that the code satisfies?
  • Which open source tools and specifically for Linux exist to support traceability in order to comply with standards such as ASPICE, ISO26262 or ISO21434?

This video from Open Source Summit Japan – presented by Philipp Ahmann, Sr. OSS Community Manager, Etas GmbH; and Kate Stewart, Vice President of Dependable Embedded Systems at the Linux Foundation – addresses critical challenges in requirements tracking, documentation, testing, and artifact sharing within the Linux kernel ecosystem. Functionality has historically been added to the kernel with requirements explained in the email justifications for adding, but not formalized as “requirements” in the kernel documentation. While tests are contributed for the code, the underlying requirement that the tests satisfies is likewise not documented in a consistent manner. This and further topics will be discussed. Additionally, the results from the “Safe Systems with Linux” micro conference at Linux plumbers will be summarized.

 

You can watch more ELISA-related talks on the Open Source Summit Japan Playlist on the ELISA Youtube Channel.

Application of the Upcoming SPDX Safety Profile (Video)

By Blog, Critical Software Summit

Creating and maintaining a safety critical project comes with a lot of challenges. A central issue is keeping your documentation, starting from planning and guideline documents, down to requirements, safety analysis, reviews and tests, consistent and up to date. These artefacts often have their own lifecycle and are natively managed in different tools, with usually great traceability capabilities regarding dependencies between these artefacts as long as you stay within one tool or within a (usually propriety) tool family of one single tool vendor. Currently the resulting traceability gaps between these tools are handled either by the popular engineering tools like MS Excel or methods like “search for identical names”, depending highly on manual maintenance.

Using SPDX relationships, the upcoming Safety Profile in SPDX 3.1 will provide a model to represent all these dependencies as a knowledge model that can be used both to analyze possible impacts after a change (be it because of a security update or functional variants of your product), provide evidence of completeness and compliance as a Safety SBOM or simply keep track of your product variants.

Nicole Pappler, Senior Safety Expert at AlektoMetis, gave a presentation, “Application of the Upcoming SPDX Safety Profile,” at the Critical Software Summit, which took place at Open Source Summit Europe in September.  Check out the presentation here.

Watch the other sessions from the Critical Software Summit on the ELISA Youtube Channel here.

Stay tuned by subscribing to the ELISA Project newsletter or connect with us on X, LinkedIn or mailing lists to talk with community and TSC members.

Join the in-person ELISA Workshop on December 10-12 at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

By Blog, Space Grade Linux, Workshop

The ELISA Project is hosting its next workshop on December 10-12 at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. This event, which is free to attend and open to any interested participants, will provide more details about the formation of a new Space Grade Linux Special Interest Group (SIG)

The Space Grade Linux SIG will address the challenges of space, which often includes a long lifespan for robotic or human-based missions. From development to deployment there are multiple considerations that need to be considered. This new SIG is the initial step towards creating an ecosystem of supported platforms and a collaborative community. Hosted under the ELISA Project, the Space Grade Linux SIG is currently seeking feedback about Linux in Space in a survey and recruiting more members. Click here to provide your feedback. 

With NASA’s leadership in this area, the three-day workshop is designed to facilitate an exchange of ideas and hands-on collaboration that will drive the future of Linux systems in space-grade applications. Speakers inlcude representatives from ELISA Project member companies including Boeing, Red Hat and Bosch as well as NASA, CesiumAstro, TelePIX, the Linux Foundation and more. Attendees will engage in a series of panel discussions, and presentations focused on the unique challenges and opportunities of deploying Linux in space environments, including considerations for safety, reliability, and sustainability. 

Workshop Topics and Speakers include:

  • The ELISA Systems Working Group – is it ready for space? – Philipp Ahmann,  ETAS
  • Lessons from Automotive Grade Linux – Walt Miner, The Linux Foundation
  • Linking external test results to test cases in BASIL to support preexisting test infrastructure – Luigi Pellecchia, Red Hat
  • How to use ks-nav for a feasible and meaningful test campaign in the kernel – Alessandro Carminati, Red Hat
  • Space Grade Linux interest survey results – Ramon Roche, Dronecode Foundation, and Kate Stewart, The Linux Foundation
  • Verification and validation of the OS and “certification package” – Scott Tashakkor, NASA
  • Test and assurance of non-volatile memory devices for space – Ted Wilcox,  NASA
  • Addressing security topics for future space systems using Linux – Joshua Krage, NASA
  • Linux Kernel design documentation – Gab Paoloni, Red Hat; Kate Stewart, The Linux Foundation; and Chuck Wolber, Boeing
  • Space ROS – Matt Hansen, Space ROS maintainer
  • cFS overview – Richard Landau, NASA; and Ashok Prajapati, NASA
  • Deploying NASA cFS with Yocto – Mark Senofsky, CesiumAstro
  • Investigating implementation of Linux-based payload computers: a review of in-orbit demonstrations for Edge AI in space missions – Dongshik Won,  TelePIX Co., Ltd.
  • Container and immutable patterns for operating systems and wordloads – Michael Epley, Red Hat
  • Containerization in space: Podman for mission-critical operations and resilience – Douglas Schilling and Dan Wash, Red Hat
  • Real Time Linux update – Steve Rostedt, Google
  • Linux in automotive on safety applications – Naresh Ravuri, Magma Electronics

You can find the complete schedule here. Register for the workshop here.  

This event represents a significant step toward making Linux a trusted, robust platform for safety-critical applications. As part of the ELISA Project’s mission, this workshop aims to foster the development of open source solutions that meet the rigorous demands of aerospace, driving innovation that will ultimately benefit a variety of safety-critical fields. 

If interested participants are unable to join the workshop, ELISA Project encourages participation through joining the mail list or formation calls. Learn more here

A recap of Open Source Summit Europe (Vienna)

By Blog, Industry Conference

Written By Will Stonier, Content Marketing Executive at Codethink and Paul Albertella, ELISA Project TSC member, Chair for Open Source Engineering Process Working Group and Consultant at Codethink

This blog originally ran on the Codethink website. For more content like this, click here

Vienna hosted this year’s European Open Source Summit (OSSEU). Several team members travelled to the ‘City of Music’ to participate in talks and discussions, eat traditional Austrian food, and discuss the future of open source and Linux. The venue was the Austria Center, located in the city’s North East.

OSSEU is one of the bigger events in the open source calendar, with thousands of attendees and a wide array of talks and vendor stands. Moreover, there is a growing number of micro-conferences focussing on topics and domains under the open source umbrella.

Two Codethings presented at OSSEU. Ben Dook’s talk, ‘Real-time Scheduling Fault Simulation,’ examined some methods Codethink has used for fault injection via both user and kernel space in our client work. As part of our work within critical safety, questions frequently arise on how to test processes that rely on real-time scheduling.

Sudip Mukherjee’s talk, ‘Testing, a Journey from Testing Kernels to Testing Debian and Yocto,’ focused on how Sudip started testing the Linux Kernel in a personal capacity and the status of kernel testing as part of his role at Codet hink. You can watch Sudip’s talk here:

 

However, the conference had something for everyone. For those of the team who focus on open source software in safety and security systems, there was the Critical Software Summit on the first day, and relevant talks on the Embedded Linux track, including one on ‘Linux in Space’ and another on spatial safety in Linux (two very different topics!).

The conference also provided an excellent opportunity for team members to explore Linux kernel topics more deeply. Paul Albertella noted that a talk about power management features was especially helpful, as it drew his attention to the power management of individual devices at runtime as distinct from the system as a whole, helping him navigate tricky nuances of his own laptop!

Here’s what Joshua Zivkovic had to say about Open Source Summit Europe:

“Linux Foundation events, like Open Source Summit EU, provide a way for every corner of the open source world to come together to share innovations, expertise, and experiences amongst the endless number of microcosms of open source.”

Finally, the conference caught the headlines (and caused chatter in the Codethink office) with the announcement that real-time Linux is now officially part of the kernel. This is exciting news, and we’ll be watching how this progresses.

We’ll see you next year!

If you’d like to learn more about the events Codethink attends, please visit our events page.

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