Propelant, PRogrammable One-step Preparation of Embedded Linux using ANT, is a lightweight and extensible tool that helps you build Linux from scratch for an embedded system.
The popularity of Linux for embedded devices is still growing, yet the process of getting a bootable kernel onto such a device remains much too difficult. Some device vendors try to ease the pain by offering development kits for their boards, but these are usually very expensive and may lock you into a specific kernel version and toolchain.
For the ultimate in freedom and flexibility, you can build Linux from scratch, tailoring the kernel, the toolchain, and its libraries to your particular needs. But there's a problem: Building Linux from scratch is hard! And cross-compiling Linux for an embedded system can be a nightmare.
Propelant helps make this process easier. In most cases, you only need to supply a kernel configuration file and a few other settings (depending on your device), and Propelant takes care of the rest. It can build a complete Linux system, including extra libraries, utilities, init scripts, and whatever else you need.
Designed to be simple, lightweight, and easy to understand, Propelant offers several key benefits for embedded Linux developers:
Building Embedded Linux Systems- This book describes a manual approach to building Linux for embedded systems. It focuses on Linux 2.4 and has not been updated for Linux 2.6.
Propelant was created by Trevor Harmon.