We are pleased to announce the release of Zephyr kernel version 1.8.0.
Major enhancements with this release include:
- Tickless kernel
- IP Stack improvements
- Bluetooth 5.0 features
- Ecosystem: Tracing, debugging support through third-party tools (openocd,
Segger Systemview) - Improved build support on Mac and Windows development environments
- Xtensa GCC support
- Initial implementation of MMU/MPU support
- Expanded device support
The following sections provide detailed lists of changes by component.
Kernel
- Use k_cycle_get_32 instead of sys_cycle_get_32 for Kernel
- Added k_panic() and k_oops() APIs for Kernel
- Added k_thread_create() API for Kernel
- Added k_queue API for Kernel
- Add tickless kernel support
Architectures
- arm: Update core to use struct k_thread
- arm: Added ARM MPU support
- dts: Added ARM CMSDK support
- arm: Added Initial support for NXP MPU
- arm: Added Device Tree Support for nRF52832 SoC based boards
- arm: Fixed nRF52840-QIAA SoC support for device tree
- arm: Added Device Tree Support for nRF52840 SoC & boards
- arm: Added Device Tree Support for nRF51822 SoC & boards
- dts: Introduced st/mem.h for FLASH & SRAM sizes
- dts: Put IRQ priority into the interrupt property
- arm: Support for MKL25Z soc
- arm: Added FPU support
- x86: defined MMU data structures
- Support for ARC EM Starter Kit version 2.3 added
Boards
- Added qemu_xtensa board definition
- Added a more informative page fault handler x86 board
- xtensa: build similar to other Zephyr arches
- Define MMU data structures for x86 board
- Added support for board disco_l475_iot1
- Added STM32F413 Nucleo board
- Added support for the CC3220SF_LAUNCHXL board
- Support for new ARM board FRDM-KL25Z
- arduino_101 board enable GPIO by default
- boards: convert to using newly introduced integer sized types
- arm: Added support for Nucleo L432KC board
- arm: Added support for STM32L496G Discovery board
- arm: Added support for STM32F469I-DISCO board
- BBC micro:bit: Added driver & API for the 5x5 LED display
Drivers and Sensors
- UART interrupt-driver API is better defined
- Support for pull-style console API
- nRF5 IEEE 802.15.4 radio driver added
- KW41Z IEEE 802.15.4 radio driver added
- Added MCUX TRNG driver
- Added support for the SiFive Freedom E310 pinmux driver
- drivers/sensor: Convert formatter strings to use PRI defines
- Added lps22hb sensor driver
- Added lsm6dsl sensor driver
- Added heart rate sensor driver
- Added support for max30101 heart rate sensor
- Added support for lis2dh accelerometer
Networking
- HTTPS server support added
- HTTP Basic-Auth support added
- IPv6 fragmentation support added
- Add block wise support to CoAP for well-known response
- Big refactoring of network buffer handling
- Start to collect TCP statistics if enabled in config
- IEEE 802.15.4 security support added
- DNS resolver sample application added
- IPv6 multicast listener (MLDv2) support added
- NATS protocol sample application added
- HTTP client and server connectivity fixes
- Network samples Coverity fixes
- Network samples llvm compiler warning fixes
- MQTT publisher connectivity fixes
- 6lo IPv6 header compression fixes
- CoAP connectivity fixes
- DHCPv4 connectivity fixes
- TCP connectivity fixes
- DNS documentation and connectivity fixes
- IPv6 connectivity fixes
- IPv4 ARP fixes
- IEEE 802.15.4 configuration tweaking fixes
- Remove ORFD (Overly Reduced Function Device) 802.15.4 support
- Network offloading driver fixes
- Fix various memory leaks
- Properly check TCP and UDP checksum before accepting packet
- Start RX and TX network threads in proper order
- Network samples documentation fixes and clarifications
- RPL mesh routing fixes
- Network link (MAC) address fixes
Bluetooth
- Host: Added ATT and SMP packet tracking for flow control enforcement
- Host: GATT database changed to a linked list in preparation for dynamic allocation
- Bluetooth 5.0: The Controller reports itself as 5.0-capable
- Bluetooth 5.0: Introduced Channel Selection Algorithm #2 support
- Bluetooth 5.0: Added Multiple PHY support, both 2Mbit/s and long-range coded
- Bluetooth 5.0: Integrated Scan Request notifications
- Controller: Added Low Duty Cycle Directed Advertising support
- Controller: Added Scan duplicate filtering support
- Controller: Enforced complete role separation in the controller for smaller builds
- Controller: Introduced Advanced Controller configuration with several new Kconfig options
- Controller: Changed the radio interrupts to direct ISRs to reduce interrupt latency
- Added HCI Controller to Host flow control support in both Host and Controller
- BR/EDR: Added HFP (e)SCO audio channel establishment support
- BR/EDR: Added support for a functional SDP server
Build and Infrastructure
- Support building host tools
- Added separate DTS target
- Added support for MSYS2
- Use -O2 instead of -Os for ARC with SDK 0.9
Libraries
- Added library for software driven I2C
- Created a HTTP library
- Added HTTP server library support
- Added minimal JSON library
- Update TinyCrypt to version 0.2.6
- Added minimal JSON library
HALs
- Added Atmel SAM family I2C (TWIHS) driver
- Added Atmel SAM serial (UART) driver
- Added WDT driver for Atmel SAM SoCs
- Added Atmel SAM4S SoC support
- Imported Nordic 802.15.4 radio driver
- Added Initial support for NXP MPU
- Updated QMSI to 1.4 RC4
- Added FPU support
- Added basic support for STM32F413
- Introduced STM32F4x DMA driver
- pinmux: stm32: Added support for Nucleo L432KC
- Added support for STM32L496G Discovery board
- Added dts for STM32F407
- Added support for STM32F4DISCOVERY Board
- Added support for STM32F469XI
- Added support for STM32F469I-DISCO
Documentation
- Board documentation added for new board ports
- Added a board porting guide
- Added security sections to porting and user guides
- Continued migration of wiki.zephyrproject.org material to website and github wiki
- Improved CSS formatting and appearance of generated documents
- Added breadcrumb navigation header with kernel version number
- Updated getting started setup guides for Linux, Windows, and macOS
- Updates and additions to follow new and updated kernel features
- Broken link and spelling check scans
- Removed deprecated kernel documentation (pre 1.6 release) from website (still available in git repo if needed)
Tests and Samples
- Added test to verify same tick timeout expiry order
- Added clock_test for kernel
- Added tickless tests
- Added a simple CC2520 crypto dev test
- Added combined observer & broadcaster app for Bluetooth samples
- Added support to wait both IPv4 and IPv6
- Enabled tickless kernel option in some apps