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The history of xPack GNU RISC-V Embedded GCC

2017​

The initial name of the package was GNU MCU Eclipse RISC-V Embedded GCC and was first published on npmjs.com as @gnu-mcu-eclipse/riscv-none-gcc.

The early releases followed the SiFive releases and used the SiFive forks of GCC/GDB/etc.

July 2017​

The first GNU MCU Eclipse RISC-V Embedded GCC release was v7.1.1-1-20170702.

July 2019​

The project was renamed xPack GNU RISC-V Embedded GCC and the npm scope was changed from @gnu-mcu-eclipse to @xpack-dev-tools (in v8.2.0-3.1).

July 2020​

Support for 32/64-bit Arm GNU/Linux platforms (like Raspberry Pi) was added (in v8.3.0-1.2).

October 2020​

After extensive experimentation, support for Python scripting was added to GDB, using an embedded Python 3 instance (in v8.3.0-2.2).

October 2021​

In the Windows binaries, the MSVC runtime was replaced with the newer Universal C Runtime (UCRT) (in v10.1.0-1.2).

May 2022​

The projects switched from the SiFive forks to the official GNU sources (in v11.3.0-1).

Support for Apple Silicon macOS was added (in v11.3.0-1).

Support for x86 Windows and x86 GNU/Linux (32-bit) was discontinued (in v11.3.0-1).

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.