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The Yocto Project, a working group of the Linux Foundation, is likely something most of you have never heard of. It’s “an open source collaboration project that provides templates, tools and methods to help you create custom Linux-based systems for embedded products regardless of the hardware architecture.” The Yocto Project has been compatible with OpenEmbedded, “the build framework for embedded Linux,” and today comes the announcement that Yocto is aligning more closely with OpenEmbedded, including shared governance.

The Linux Foundation will continue to provide support and guidance to the newly merged efforts, and today’s announcement comes with an impressive list of companies committed to the technology. It’s no surprise that MontaVista Software, Texas Instruments and Intel are involved: they’re established players in the embedded Linux world. But to see folks like Dell and LSI in the list is interesting, and says a lot about the health and success of Linux in embedded devices.

For those of you, like me, who recall that the Linux Foundation is also shepherding Meego and a number of other large-scale open source initiatives, it might help to understand a little more about what, exactly, the Linux Foundation is (and isn’t) doing. According to a Linux Foundation spokesperson,

We host projects and help advance work where members and developers need a neutral, central place to collaborate. We’re focused on efforts that align existing and new resources to advance Linux overall… Companies cannot collaborate together in a transparent, efficient way without a third-party like The Linux Foundation.

With that, it’s a little easier to see how the Linux Foundation’s involvement in all of these projects is a good thing. They’re not specifically invested in whether Meego succeeds to beat out Android, for example, so much as they’re helping ensure that the larger Linux ecosystem remains healthy and functional. Similarly, Intel’s involvement with Yocto/OpenEmbedded only serves to benefit their existing efforts with Meego, while also helping reduce costs and complexity for developing other, custom embedded Linux solutions.

Read more at:http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/03/02/linux-foundations-yocto-project-to-join-forces-with-openembedded-to-advance-embedded-linux/