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The xPack Binary Development Tools history

May 2019

The xpack-dev-tools GitHub organization, established in May 2019, hosts the xPack Binary Development Tools.

However, the initial projects date back several years earlier, originally forming part of the GNU ARM Eclipse project:

  • openocd, qemu-arm date from 2015
  • arm-none-eabi-gcc dates from 2016
  • riscv-none-elf-gcc dates from 2017

December 2022

The project received a significant update by transitioning the build scripts from the cumbersome monolithic XBB Docker images to the more flexible and modular xpm packages. XBB version 5.0.0 marked a major milestone for the xPack project, as it was the first self-sustained release. This version enabled the creation of new binary packages using existing binary packages, eliminating the need for custom Docker images or other compiled tools.

August 2024

The project underwent a comprehensive restructuring. To streamline the top package.json by showcasing only user-related definitions and concealing build-related ones, all build-related files were relocated to the build-assets folder. Furthermore, the development Git branch was renamed to xpack-development for enhanced clarity.