1// -*- mode:doc; -*- 2// vim: set syntax=asciidoc: 3 4== About Buildroot 5 6Buildroot is a tool that simplifies and automates the process of 7building a complete Linux system for an embedded system, using 8cross-compilation. 9 10In order to achieve this, Buildroot is able to generate a 11cross-compilation toolchain, a root filesystem, a Linux kernel image 12and a bootloader for your target. Buildroot can be used for any 13combination of these options, independently (you can for example use 14an existing cross-compilation toolchain, and build only your root 15filesystem with Buildroot). 16 17Buildroot is useful mainly for people working with embedded systems. 18Embedded systems often use processors that are not the regular x86 19processors everyone is used to having in his PC. They can be PowerPC 20processors, MIPS processors, ARM processors, etc. 21 22Buildroot supports numerous processors and their variants; it also 23comes with default configurations for several boards available 24off-the-shelf. Besides this, a number of third-party projects are based on, 25or develop their BSP footnote:[BSP: Board Support Package] or 26SDK footnote:[SDK: Software Development Kit] on top of Buildroot. 27