Each supported architecture and compiler combination is considered to be a separate FreeRTOS port.
A demo application is a project that runs a specific port on a specific hardware platform.
The microcontroller architecture specific part of a FreeRTOS port is called the port layer. Each port layer is either
'officially supported' or 'contributed'. This page explains the differences between the two.
Officially Supported Ports
Officially supported ports:
Are included in the main FreeRTOS .zip file release (contributed ports having now been moved to the
FreeRTOS Interactive site for FreeRTOS releases 6.0.4 and later).
Include at least one demo application that is documented on the FreeRTOS.org site.
A demo application is a pre-configured project that targets a specific development board and uses a specific
tool chain. It is intended to allow ‘out of the box’ usage even for new users, and includes many examples of
how the FreeRTOS API can be used. Some official ports include multiple such demo projects to provide users a
choice of both hardware and build environments.
Are of known origin, removing doubt as to their intellectual property ownership. This in turn allows commercial
licenses and support contracts to be (optionally) supplied by WITTENSTEIN high integrity systems under the
OpenRTOS brand. WITTENSTEIN are a global engineering company who license the rights to sell commercial versions
of FreeRTOS from the FreeRTOS owners, Real Time Engineers Ltd. WITTENSTEIN and Real Time Engineers Ltd. are
therefore separate legal entities.
Have been written and/or fully inspected and tested by Real Time Engineers ltd. or a completely trusted partner.
Are, in general and where possible, maintained and updated as new versions of the core FreeRTOS source code or
new versions of the relevant build tools are released.
Can normally be supported on the freely accessible and monitored
support forum.
Contributed Ports
Contributed ports:
Are provided by FreeRTOS community users, rather than Real Time Engineers Ltd. directly.
Copyright (C) 2004-2010 Richard Barry. Copyright (C) 2010-2013 Real Time Engineers Ltd.
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See the files license.txt (included in the distribution) and this copyright notice for more information. FreeRTOSTM and FreeRTOS.orgTM are trade marks of Real Time Engineers Ltd.