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The history of xPack OpenOCD

2014​

This project commenced in 2014 as one of the support tools for the GNU Arm Eclipse plug-ins, which were subsequently rebranded as GNU MCU Eclipse plug-ins and are now integrated into the Eclipse Embedded CDT.

The initial name of the project was GNU ARM Eclipse OpenOCD and was first published on npmjs.com as @gnu-mcu-eclipse/openocd.

January 2015​

The first GNU ARM Eclipse OpenOCD release was v0.8.0-20150119.

The next few releases provided only *-setup.exe binaries for x86 Windows.

May 2015​

Support for x64 Windows (64-bit), macOS and x86/x64 GNU/Linux was added (in v0.9.0-20150519).

August 2017​

Standard .zip archives were added in parallel with Windows setup files (in v0.10.0-3).

January 2018​

To enhance flexibility and permit multiple versions of a tool to be installed on the same system, the Windows setup format was discontinued. From version v0.10.0-6 onwards, for Windows, only a standard .zip archive is distributed.

April 2019​

The xPack metadata has been added, and the package can now be more conveniently installed via xpm. It is available from npmjs.com as @gnu-mcu-eclipse/openocd (in v0.10.0-7).

July 2019​

The project was renamed xPack OpenOCD and the npm scope was changed from @gnu-mcu-eclipse to @xpack-dev-tools (in v0.10.0-13).

June 2020​

Support for 32/64-bit Arm GNU/Linux platforms (like Raspberry Pi) was added (in v0.10.0-14).

October 2021​

In the Windows binaries, the MSVC runtime was replaced with the newer Universal C Runtime (UCRT) (in v0.11.0-2).

December 2021​

Support for Apple Silicon macOS was added (in v0.11.0-3).

March 2022​

Support for x86 Windows and x86 GNU/Linux (32-bit) was discontinued (in v0.11.0-4).

December 2022​

The project received a significant update by transitioning the build scripts from the unwieldy 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 utilising existing binary packages, eliminating the need for bespoke Docker images or other compiled tools.

August 2024​

The project underwent comprehensive restructuring. To streamline the top-level package.json by presenting only user-related definitions whilst 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.