The xPack QEMU Arm history

This project began in August 2015 as one of the support tools for the GNU Arm Eclipse plug-ins, which were later rebranded as GNU MCU Eclipse plug-ins and are now integrated into the Eclipse Embedded CDT.

The initial name of the package was GNU MCU Eclipse QEMU GCC and was first published on npmjs.com as @gnu-mcu-eclipse/qemu.

April 2015

The first xPack QEMU Arm release was v2.2.92-20150404.

July 2019

The project was renamed xPack QEMU Arm and the npm scope was changed from @gnu-mcu-eclipse to @xpack-dev-tools (in v2.8.0-7).

July 2020

Support for 32/64-bit Arm GNU/Linux platforms (like Raspberry Pi) was added (in v2.8.0-9).

October 2021

In the Windows binaries, the MSVC runtime was replaced with the newer Universal C Runtime (UCRT) (in v2.8.0-13).

December 2021

Support for Apple Silicon macOS was added (in v6.2.0-1).

January 2022

Support for x86 Windows and x86 GNU/Linux (32-bit) was discontinued (in v6.2.0-1).

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.