Zephyr Kernel 1.6.0

We are pleased to announce the release of Zephyr kernel version 1.6.0. This release introduces the unified Kernel replacing the separate nano- and micro-kernels and simplifying the overall Zephyr architecture and programming interfaces. Support for the ARM Cortex-M0/M0+ family was added and board support for Cortex-M was expanded. Additionally, this release adds many improvements for documentation, build infrastructure, and testing.

Major enhancements included with the release:

Introduced the Unified Kernel; the nano and micro kernel were removed.
The legacy API is still supported but deprecated.
Legacy tests and samples were moved to tests/legacy and samples/legacy.
Unified kernel documentation was added and legacy nanokernel/microkernel documentation was removed.
Added support for several ARM Cortex-M boards
Added support for USB mass storage and access to the filesystem.
Added native Bluetooth Controller support. Currently nRF51 & nRF52 are supported.

A detailed list of changes since v1.5.0 by component follows:

Kernel

Introduced the unified kernel.
Removed deprecated Tasks IRQs.
Removed deprecated dynamic interrupt API.
Added DLIST to operate in all elements of a doubly-linked list.
SLIST: Added sys_slist_get() to fetch and remove the head, also Added append_list and merge_slist.
Added nano_work_pending to check if it is pending execution.
Unified: Added support for k_malloc and k_free.
Renamed kernel objects event to alert and memory map to memory slab.
Changed memory pool, memory maps, message queues and event handling APIs.

Architectures

ARC: Removed CONFIG_TIMER0_CLOCK_FREQ.
ARC: Unified linker scripts.
ARC: Removed dynamic interrupts.
ARM: Added choice to use floating point ABI.
ARM: Added NXP Kinetis kconfig options to configure clocks.
ARM: Removed dynamic interrupts and exceptions.
ARM: Atmel: Added constants and structures for watchdog registers.
ARM: Added support for ARM Cortex-M0/M0+.
x86: Removed dynamic interrupts and exceptions.
x86: Declared internal API for interrupt controllers.
x86: Changed IRQ controller to return -1 if cannot determine source vector.
x86: Grouped Quark SoC’s under intel_quark family.
x86: Optimized and simplified IRQ and exception stubs.

Boards

Renamed board Quark SE devboard to Quark SE C1000 devboard.
Renamed board Quark SE SSS devboard to Quark SE C1000 SS devboard.
Quark SE C1000: Disabled IPM and enabled UART0 on the Sensor Subsystem.
Removed basic_cortex_m3 and basic_minuteia boards.
Arduino 101: Removed backup/restore scripts. To restore original bootloader use flashpack utility instead.
Renamed nRF52 Nitrogen to 96Boards Nitrogen.
Added ARM LTD Beetle SoC and V2M Beetle board.
Added Texas Instruments CC3200 LaunchXL support.
Added support for Nordic Semiconductor nRF51822.
Added support for NXP Hexiwear board.

Drivers and Sensors

SPI: Fixed typos in SPI port numbers.
Pinmux: Removed Quark dev unused file.
I2C: Added KSDK shim driver.
Ethernet: Added KSDK shim driver.
Flash: Added KSDK shim driver
I2C: Changed config parameters to SoC specific.
QMSI: Implemented suspend and resume functions QMSI shim drivers
Added HP206C sensor.
Changed config_info pointers to const.
Added support for SoCWatch driver.
Added FXOS8700 accelerometer / magnetometer sensor driver.

Networking

Minor fixes to uIP networking stack (This will be deprecated in 1.7)

Bluetooth

Added native Bluetooth Controller support. Currently nRF51 & nRF52 are supported.
New location for Controller & Host implementations: subsys/bluetooth/
Added raw HCI API to enable physical HCI transport for a Controller-only build.
Added sample raw HCI apps for USB and UART.
Added cross-transport pairing support for the Security Manager Protocol.
Added RFCOMM support (for Bluetooth Classic)
Added basic persistent storage support (filesystem-backed)
Renamed bt_driver API to bt_hci_driver, in anticipation of Bluetooth radio drivers.

Build Infrastructure

Makefile: Changed outdir into board-specific directory to avoid build collisions.
Makefile: Changed to use HOST_OS environment variable.
Makefile: Added support for third party build systems.
Sanity: Added support to filter using environment variables.
Sanity: Added support for multiple toolchains.
Sanity: Added ISSM and ARM GCC embedded toolchains to the supported toolchains.
Sanity: Added extra arguments to be passed to the build.
Sanity: Removed linker VMA/LMA offset check.
Sysgen: Added –kernel_type argument.
Modified build infrastructure to support unified kernel.
SDK: Zephyr: Added check for minimum required version.
Imported get_maintainer.pl from Linux kernel.

Libraries

libc: Added subset of standard types in inttypes.h.
libc: Added support for ‘z’ length specifier.
libc: Removed stddef.h which is provided by the compiler.
libc: printf: Improved code for printing.
printk: Added support for modifiers.
Added CoAP implementation for Zephyr.
File system: Added API to grow or shrink a file.
File system: Added API to get volume statistics.
File system: Added API to flush cache of an opened file.

HALs

QMSI: Updated to version 1.3.1.
HAL: Imported CC3200 SDK.
Imported Nordic MDK nRF51 files.
Imported Kinetis SDK Ethernet phy driver.
Imported SDK RNGA driver.

Documentation

Drivers: Improved Zephyr Driver model.
Updated device power management API.
Unified Kernel primer.
Moved supported board information to the wiki.zephyrproject.org site.
Revised documentation for Kernel Event logger and Timing.

Test and Samples

Fixed incorrect printk usage.
Removed test for dynamic exceptions.
Added USB sample.
Added tests and samples for CoAP client and server.
Added philosophers unified sample.
Removed printf/printk wrappers.
Added Unified kernel API samples.
Imported TinyCrypt test cases for CTR, ECC DSA and ECC DH algorithm.

Deprecations

Deprecated microkernel and nanokernel APIs.
Removed dynamic IRQs and exceptions.
Removed Tasks IRQs.

JIRA Related Items

JIRA #ZEP-308 - Build System cleanup and Kernel / Application build separation
JIRA #ZEP-334 - Unified Kernel
JIRA #ZEP-766 - USB Mass Storage access to internal filesystem
JIRA #ZEP-1090 - CPU x86 save/restore using new QMSI bootloader flow
JIRA #ZEP-1173 - Add support for bonding remove
JIRA #ZEP-48 - define API for interrupt controllers
JIRA #ZEP-181 - Persistent storage APIs
JIRA #ZEP-233 - Support USB mass storage device class
JIRA #ZEP-237 - Support pre-built host tools
JIRA #ZEP-240 - printk/printf usage in samples
JIRA #ZEP-248 - Add a BOARD/SOC porting guide
JIRA #ZEP-342 - USB DFU
JIRA #ZEP-451 - Quark SE output by default redirected to IPM
JIRA #ZEP-521 - ARM - add choice to floating point ABI selection
JIRA #ZEP-546 - UART interrupts not triggered on ARC
JIRA #ZEP-584 - warn user if SDK is out of date
JIRA #ZEP-592 - Sanitycheck support for multiple toolchains
JIRA #ZEP-605 - SMP over BR/EDR
JIRA #ZEP-614 - Port TinyCrypt 2.0 test cases to Zephyr
JIRA #ZEP-622 - Add FS API to truncate/shrink a file
JIRA #ZEP-627 - Port Trickle support from Contiki into current stack
JIRA #ZEP-635 - Add FS API to grow a file
JIRA #ZEP-636 - Add FS API to get volume total and free space
JIRA #ZEP-640 - Remove dynamic IRQs/exceptions from Zephyr
JIRA #ZEP-653 - QMSI shim driver: Watchdog: Implement suspend and resume callbacks
JIRA #ZEP-654 - QMSI shim driver: I2C: Implement suspend and resume callbacks
JIRA #ZEP-657 - QMSI shim driver: AONPT: Implement suspend and resume callbacks
JIRA #ZEP-661 - QMSI shim driver: SPI: Implement suspend and resume callbacks
JIRA #ZEP-688 - unify duplicated sections of arch linker scripts
JIRA #ZEP-715 - Add K64F clock configurations
JIRA #ZEP-716 - Add Hexiwear board support
JIRA #ZEP-717 - Add ksdk I2C shim driver
JIRA #ZEP-718 - Add ksdk ethernet shim driver
JIRA #ZEP-721 - Add FXOS8700 accelerometer/magnetometer sensor driver
JIRA #ZEP-737 - Update host tools from upstream: fixdep.c
JIRA #ZEP-740 - PWM API: Check if ‘flags’ argument is really required
JIRA #ZEP-745 - Revisit design of PWM Driver API
JIRA #ZEP-750 - Arduino 101 board should support one configuration using original bootloader
JIRA #ZEP-758 - Rename Quark SE Devboard to its official name: Quark SE C1000
JIRA #ZEP-767 - Add FS API to flush cache of an open file
JIRA #ZEP-775 - Enable USB CDC by default on Arduino 101 and redirect serial to USB
JIRA #ZEP-783 - ARM Cortex-M0/M0+ support
JIRA #ZEP-784 - Add support for Nordic Semiconductor nRF51822 SoC
JIRA #ZEP-850 - remove obsolete boards basic_minuteia and basic_cortex_m3
JIRA #ZEP-906 - [unified] Add scheduler time slicing support
JIRA #ZEP-907 - Test memory pool support (with mailboxes)
JIRA #ZEP-908 - Add task offload to fiber support
JIRA #ZEP-909 - Adapt tickless idle + power management for ARM
JIRA #ZEP-910 - Adapt tickless idle for x86
JIRA #ZEP-912 - Finish renaming kernel object types
JIRA #ZEP-916 - Eliminate kernel object API anomalies
JIRA #ZEP-920 - Investigate malloc/free support
JIRA #ZEP-921 - Miscellaneous documentation work
JIRA #ZEP-922 - Revise documentation for Kernel Event Logger
JIRA #ZEP-923 - Revise documentation for Timing
JIRA #ZEP-924 - Revise documentation for Interrupts
JIRA #ZEP-925 - API changes to message queues
JIRA #ZEP-926 - API changes to memory pools
JIRA #ZEP-927 - API changes to memory maps
JIRA #ZEP-928 - API changes to event handling
JIRA #ZEP-930 - Cut over to unified kernel
JIRA #ZEP-933 - Unified kernel ARC port
JIRA #ZEP-934 - NIOS_II port
JIRA #ZEP-935 - Kernel logger support (validation)
JIRA #ZEP-954 - Update device PM API to allow setting additional power states
JIRA #ZEP-957 - Create example sample for new unified kernel API usage
JIRA #ZEP-959 - sync checkpatch.pl with upstream Linux
JIRA #ZEP-966 - need support for EM7D SOC on em_starterkit
JIRA #ZEP-975 - DNS client port to new IP stack
JIRA #ZEP-981 - Add doxygen documentation to both include/kernel.h and include/legacy.h
JIRA #ZEP-989 - Cache next ready thread instead of finding out the long way
JIRA #ZEP-993 - Quark SE (x86): Refactor save/restore execution context feature
JIRA #ZEP-994 - Quark SE (ARC): Add PMA sample
JIRA #ZEP-996 - Refactor save/restore feature from i2c_qmsi driver
JIRA #ZEP-997 - Refactor save/restore feature from spi_qmsi driver
JIRA #ZEP-998 - Refactor save/restore feature from uart_qmsi driver
JIRA #ZEP-999 - Refactor save/restore feature from gpio_qmsi driver
JIRA #ZEP-1000 - Refactor save/restore feature from rtc_qmsi driver
JIRA #ZEP-1001 - Refactor save/restore feature from wdt_qmsi driver
JIRA #ZEP-1002 - Refactor save/restore feature from counter_qmsi_aonpt driver
JIRA #ZEP-1004 - Extend counter_qmsi_aon driver to support save/restore peripheral context
JIRA #ZEP-1005 - Extend dma_qmsi driver to support save/restore peripheral context
JIRA #ZEP-1006 - Extend soc_flash_qmsi driver to support save/restore peripheral context
JIRA #ZEP-1008 - Extend pwm_qmsi driver to support save/restore peripheral context
JIRA #ZEP-1023 - workq in Kernel primer for unified kernel
JIRA #ZEP-1030 - Enable QMSI shim drivers of SoC peripherals on the sensor subsystem
JIRA #ZEP-1043 - Update QMSI to 1.2
JIRA #ZEP-1045 - Add/Enhance shim layer to wrap SOC specific PM implementations
JIRA #ZEP-1046 - Implement RAM sharing between bootloader and Zephyr
JIRA #ZEP-1047 - Adapt to new PM related boot flow changes in QMSI boot loader
JIRA #ZEP-1106 - Fix all test failures from TCF
JIRA #ZEP-1107 - Update QMSI to 1.3
JIRA #ZEP-1109 - Texas Instruments CC3200 LaunchXL Support
JIRA #ZEP-1119 - move top level usb/ to sys/usb
JIRA #ZEP-1120 - move top level fs/ to sys/fs
JIRA #ZEP-1121 - Add config support for enabling SoCWatch in Zephyr
JIRA #ZEP-1140 - Add a unified kernel version of power_mgr sample app for testing PM code with the new kernel
JIRA #ZEP-1188 - Add an API to retrieve pending interrupts for wake events
JIRA #ZEP-1191 - Create wiki page for Hexiwear board
JIRA #ZEP-1235 - Basic shell support for file system browsing
JIRA #ZEP-1245 - ARM LTD V2M Beetle Support
JIRA #ZEP-1313 - porting and user guides must include a security section
JIRA #ZEP-1386 - Revise power management document to reflect latest changes
JIRA #ZEP-199 - Zephyr driver model is undocumented
JIRA #ZEP-436 - Test case tests/kernel/test_mem_safe fails on ARM hardware
JIRA #ZEP-471 - Ethernet packet with multicast address is not working
JIRA #ZEP-472 - Ethernet packets are getting missed if sent in quick succession.
JIRA #ZEP-517 - build on windows failed “zephyr/Makefile:869: *** multiple target patterns”
JIRA #ZEP-528 - ARC has 2 almost identical copies of the linker script
JIRA #ZEP-577 - Sample application source does not compile on Windows
JIRA #ZEP-601 - enable CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO
JIRA #ZEP-602 - unhandled CPU exceptions/interrupts report wrong faulting vector if triggered by CPU
JIRA #ZEP-615 - Un-supported flash erase size listed in SPI flash w25qxxdv driver header file
JIRA #ZEP-639 - device_pm_ops structure should be defined as static
JIRA #ZEP-686 - docs: Info in “Application Development Primer” and “Developing an Application and the Build System” is largely duplicated
JIRA #ZEP-698 - samples/task_profiler issues
JIRA #ZEP-707 - mem_safe test stomps on top of .data and bottom of .noinit
JIRA #ZEP-724 - build on windows failed: ‘make: execvp: uname: File or path name too long’
JIRA #ZEP-733 - Minimal libc shouldn’t be providing stddef.h
JIRA #ZEP-762 - unexpected “abspath” and “notdir” from mingw make system
JIRA #ZEP-777 - samples/driver/i2c_stts751: kconfig build warning from “select DMA_QMSI”
JIRA #ZEP-778 - Samples/drivers/i2c_lsm9ds0: kconfig build warning from “select DMA_QMSI”
JIRA #ZEP-779 - Using current MinGW gcc version 5.3.0 breaks Zephyr build on Windows
JIRA #ZEP-845 - UART for ARC on Arduino 101 behaves unexpectedly
JIRA #ZEP-905 - hello_world compilation for arduino_due target fails when using CROSS_COMPILE
JIRA #ZEP-940 - Fail to get ATT response
JIRA #ZEP-950 - USB: Device is not listed by USB20CV test suite
JIRA #ZEP-961 - samples: other cases cannot execute after run aon_counter case
JIRA #ZEP-967 - Sanity doesn’t build ‘samples/usb/dfu’ with assertions (-R)
JIRA #ZEP-970 - Sanity doesn’t build ‘tests/kernel/test_build’ with assertions (-R)
JIRA #ZEP-982 - Minimal libc has EWOULDBLOCK != EAGAIN
JIRA #ZEP-1014 - [TCF] tests/bluetooth/init build fail
JIRA #ZEP-1025 - Unified kernel build sometimes breaks on a missing .d dependency file.
JIRA #ZEP-1027 - Documentation for GCC ARM is not accurate
JIRA #ZEP-1031 - qmsi: dma: driver test fails with LLVM
JIRA #ZEP-1048 - grove_lcd sample: sample does not work if you disable serial
JIRA #ZEP-1051 - mpool allocation failed after defrag twice…
JIRA #ZEP-1062 - Unified kernel isn’t compatible with CONFIG_NEWLIB_LIBC
JIRA #ZEP-1074 - ATT retrying misbehaves when ATT insufficient Authentication is received
JIRA #ZEP-1076 - “samples/philosophers/unified” build failed with dynamic stack
JIRA #ZEP-1077 - “samples/philosophers/unified” build warnings with NUM_PHIL<6
JIRA #ZEP-1079 - Licensing not clear for imported components
JIRA #ZEP-1097 - ENC28J60 driver fails on concurrent tx and rx
JIRA #ZEP-1098 - ENC28J60 fails to receive big data frames
JIRA #ZEP-1100 - Current master still identifies itself as 1.5.0
JIRA #ZEP-1101 - SYS_KERNEL_VER_PATCHLEVEL() and friends artificially limit version numbers to 4 bits
JIRA #ZEP-1124 - tests/kernel/test_sprintf/microkernel/testcase.ini#test failure on frdm_k64f
JIRA #ZEP-1130 - region ‘RAM’ overflowed occurs while building test_hmac_prng
JIRA #ZEP-1138 - Received packets not being passed to upper layer from IP stack when using ENC28J60 driver
JIRA #ZEP-1139 - Fix build error when power management is built with unified kernel
JIRA #ZEP-1141 - TinyCrypt SHA256 test fails with system crash using unified kernel type
JIRA #ZEP-1144 - TinyCrypt AES128 fixed-key with variable-text test fails using unified kernel type
JIRA #ZEP-1145 - system hang after TinyCrypt HMAC test
JIRA #ZEP-1146 - zephyrproject.org home page needs technical scrub for 1.6 release
JIRA #ZEP-1149 - port ztest framework to unified kernel
JIRA #ZEP-1154 - tests/samples failing with unified kernel
JIRA #ZEP-1155 - Fix filesystem API namespace
JIRA #ZEP-1163 - LIB_INCLUDE_DIR is clobbered in Makefile second pass
JIRA #ZEP-1164 - ztest skip waiting the test case to finish its execution
JIRA #ZEP-1179 - Build issues when compiling with LLVM from ISSM (icx)
JIRA #ZEP-1182 - kernel.h doxygen show unexpected “asm” blocks
JIRA #ZEP-1183 - btshell return “panic: errcode -1” when init bt
JIRA #ZEP-1195 - Wrong ATT error code passed to the application
JIRA #ZEP-1199 - [L2CAP] No credits to receive packet
JIRA #ZEP-1219 - [L2CAP] Data sent exceeds maximum PDU size
JIRA #ZEP-1221 - Connection Timeout during pairing
JIRA #ZEP-1226 - cortex M7 port assembler error
JIRA #ZEP-1227 - ztest native testing not working in unified kernel
JIRA #ZEP-1232 - Daily build is failing asserts
JIRA #ZEP-1234 - Removal of fiber* APIs due to unified migration breaks USB mass storage patchset
JIRA #ZEP-1247 - Test tests/legacy/benchmark/latency_measure is broken for daily sanitycheck
JIRA #ZEP-1252 - Test test_chan_blen_transfer does not build for quark_d2000_crb
JIRA #ZEP-1277 - Flash driver (w25qxxdv) erase function is not checking for offset alignment
JIRA #ZEP-1278 - Incorrect boundary check in flash driver (w25qxxdv) for erase offset
JIRA #ZEP-1287 - ARC SPI 1 Port is not working
JIRA #ZEP-1289 - Race condition with k_sem_take
JIRA #ZEP-1291 - libzephyr.a dependency on phony “gcc” target
JIRA #ZEP-1293 - ENC28J60 driver doesn’t work on Arduino 101
JIRA #ZEP-1295 - incorrect doxygen comment in kernel.h:k_work_pending()
JIRA #ZEP-1297 - test/legacy/kernel/test_mail: failure on ARC platforms
JIRA #ZEP-1299 - System can’t resume completely with DMA suspend and resume operation
JIRA #ZEP-1302 - ENC28J60 fails with rx/tx of long frames
JIRA #ZEP-1303 - Configuration talks about >32 thread prios, but the kernel does not support it
JIRA #ZEP-1309 - ARM uses the end of memory for its init stack
JIRA #ZEP-1310 - ARC uses the end of memory for its init stack
JIRA #ZEP-1312 - ARC: software crashed at k_mbox_get() with async sending a message
JIRA #ZEP-1319 - Zephyr is unable to compile when CONFIG_RUNTIME_NMI is enabled on ARM platforms
JIRA #ZEP-1341 - power_states test app passes wrong value as power state to post_ops functions
JIRA #ZEP-1343 - tests/drivers/pci_enum: failing on QEMU ARM and X86 due to missing commit
JIRA #ZEP-1345 - cpu context save and restore could corrupt stack
JIRA #ZEP-1349 - ARC sleep needs to pass interrupt priority threshold when interrupts are enabled
JIRA #ZEP-1353 - FDRM k64f Console output broken on normal flash mode

Known Issues

JIRA #ZEP-1405 - function l2cap_br_conn_req in /subsys/bluetooth/host/l2cap_br.c references uninitialized pointer