source: rtems-docs/user/hardware/targets.rst @ 12dccfe

.. comment SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0

.. Copyright (C) 2016 Chris Johns <chrisj@rtems.org>

.. _targets:

Targets
=======
.. index:: Targets

Hardware that can run RTEMS is often referred to as a *target* because RTEMS is
specifically aimed at that hardware or target. An RTEMS executable is
statically linked and executes in a single address space on the target
hardware. A statically linked executable means the RTEMS Kernel, drivers, third
party packages and application code is linked into a single executable image. A
single address space means no virtual memory and no memory protected process
address space is running within the RTEMS arena and the RTEMS Kernel, drivers
and application have unprotected access to the whole address space and all
hardware.

Target hardware supported by RTEMS has a Board Support Package or BSP. A BSP is
a specific instance of an RTEMS architecture that allows the creation of an
RTEMS executable. You can view the layering as:

.. comment Build image with:
.. comment  aafigure hw-layers.txt --textual --type png --option
.. comment    font=/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/webfonts/arialbd.ttf --background
.. comment    '#dbe5c6' --scale 1.5 -o ../../images/user/hw-layers.png

.. figure:: ../../images/user/hw-layers.png
  :align: center
  :alt:  Software Layers on Hardware

RTEMS Targets are grouped by architectures and within an architecture there are
a number of Board Support Packages or BPSs. An architecture is a specific class
or family of processors and can be large such as ARM or specific such as the
NIOS-II or Microblaze.

RTEMS is designed to be ported to new target hardware easily and efficiently.