Bridging the Gap Between Developer Agility and Production-Ready Embedded Linux

NASHVILLE, Tenn.: Peridio, the platform for building and maintaining advanced embedded products, today announced Avocado OS, its groundbreaking open-source Embedded Linux distribution designed to reshape the embedded product development lifecycle. Avocado OS delivers a seamless developer while providing robust security, reliability, and deterministic performance essential for complex embedded products.

Solving the Embedded Linux Dilemma

Traditional embedded Linux development often forces teams into a difficult compromise: choose between development-focused distributions that enable rapid iteration, or production-oriented systems with complex tools that limit flexibility. This frequently leads to fragmented workflows, steep learning curves, significant integration challenges later in the cycle, and difficulties implementing critical security features.

"Avocado OS addresses a critical need we've seen across the industry," said Bill Brock, CEO of Peridio. "Embedded systems are exploding in complexity and connectivity, demanding faster innovation cycles coupled with uncompromising security and reliability. Avocado OS provides the framework for companies to achieve both, accelerating their time-to-market for more secure, robust products."

Interviews with countless developers across various industries, combined with Peridio’s extensive embedded systems experience, validated the critical need for a solution that bridges this gap. Avocado OS delivers critical capabilities without forcing tradeoffs: immutable and deterministic runtimes, fault-tolerance, modular update mechanisms, simplified secure boot implementation, full disk encryption, and boot modes for manufacturing, recovery, and testing.

Unique Advantages for Embedded Developers

Avocado OS achieves its unique value proposition through several key differentiators:

• Seamless Developer Experience: Avocado OS dramatically accelerates workflows. Features like live NFS-mounted extensions allow code changes to be reflected instantly on target hardware without lengthy rebuilds or flashing cycles. Integrated tooling, containerized SDKs with declarative package selection, and hardware-in-the-loop debugging capabilities provide an interactive, efficient environment more akin to modern software development.
• Production-Ready Security & Reliability: Built on a foundation of Yocto and leveraging modern Linux capabilities like systemd, btrfs, Avocado OS provides an immutable core system. Its composable architecture utilizes system and configuration extensions (sysext/confext) that can be cryptographically verified using dm-verity. It offers simplified, cross-platform tooling for implementing secure boot and LUKS full-disk encryption, simplifying security integration from day one rather than treating it as a late-stage hurdle.
• Composable Architecture: Unlike traditional monolithic systems, Avocado OS organizes functionality into distinct layers. The Core OS Layer provides an immutable, secure foundation, while Extension Layers enable modular functionality additions without compromising system integrity. Multiple boot modes (development, manufacturing, recovery, test) are supported via extension composition on a single base image.

"As embedded engineers ourselves, we built Avocado OS to solve the frustrations we repeatedly encountered," said Justin Schneck, CPO at Peridio. "Developers shouldn't have to rebuild entire systems just to test a small change, add debug tools and symbols, or struggle with vendor-specific tools to implement secure boot. Avocado OS abstracts that complexity. Our layered architecture using system extensions enables modularity and deterministic builds without requiring deep Yocto expertise for everyday development, integrating easily into CI/CD workflows. Features like the hardware-in-the-loop development environment fundamentally change how quickly teams can iterate. We're incredibly excited to share Avocado OS and see what the community builds with it."

Open Source Community Commitment

Avocado OS is available as an open-source project created in collaboration with the Linux Foundation. Peridio, an active member of the Linux Foundation and The Yocto Project, views Avocado OS as an investment in the community. The company maintains active participation in technical working groups and contributes meaningful code to core projects, ensuring that Avocado OS remains aligned with industry standards.

Current Status and Roadmap

Avocado OS is currently in private alpha and beta testing with select Peridio customers who are already realizing significant improvements in development efficiency and security implementation. The platform is set to officially launch at the Open Source Summit in June 2025, with initial hardware support for key platforms including:

• NXP FRDM development boards
• NVIDIA Jetson Orin
• Raspberry Pi CM via OnLogic industrial PCs

"The feedback from our alpha and beta testers has been instrumental in refining Avocado OS," said Justin Schneck. "We've seen teams scale more efficiently and cut development cycles by up to 70% while simultaneously improving their security posture. Having validated the platform with these early adopters, we're eager to make Avocado OS available to the broader community."

Avocado OS functions as a complete embedded product development framework, bridging the gap between development agility and production requirements. Its binary distribution model allows teams to compose systems from pre-built packages, upstream and custom extensions, and system configurations—while remaining fully extensible via Yocto for teams needing unique hardware support.

To learn more about Avocado OS, access preview documentation, and join the growing community, please visit: https://www.avocadolinux.org/

Fonte: Business Wire