Re: [Xenomai] about Xenomai in Debian and Ubuntu

[Roland Stigge <stigge@antcom.de>]

Hi,

On 06/03/13 04:36, Tom Z wrote:
> I noticed that Debian and Ubuntu desktop distro's have included Xenomai, 
> and I can "install" Xenomai through the software center in these 
> distro's.

I can only speak for Debian here. We deliberately don't promote it as
"desktop distro". Rather as "Universal OS", to underline its use in the
Server, Embedded, Realtime areas, etc.

> But after I "installed" Xenomai in Ubuntu, executing  "dmesg | grep xenomai" showed nothing, so I am wondering if I still need to 
> patch and compile the kernels before using the Xenomai features? If so, 
> what benefits does it have to include Xenomai in these distro's.

First, you still have to compile the Xenomai-enabled kernel yourself
(but this might change in the future). This is supported by the
Debian-included package linux-patch-xenomai. The file

/usr/share/doc/linux-patch-xenomai/README.Debian

gives instructions how to prepare the kernel as a Debian package.

Second, Debian ships Xenomai's userland programs and libraries, so you
can use them directly, without compiling.

Since Debian derived distros (as you mentioned one) typically copy the
Xenomai packages from Debian, much of this should apply there also, but
I can't guarantee this.

HTH,

Roland