Supported operating systems

Bridle supports Linux, macOS, and Microsoft Windows for development. In the Requirements section you will find a detailed list of the operating system support levels (Tier 1 to 3).

However, there are some Zephyr features that are currently only available on Linux, including:

Native host execution:

• Networking with the host system (net-tools)

Native host simulation:

• Native simulator - native_sim

• Networking with native_sim board – virtual network between host and multiple simulations (net-tools)

• Ethernet bridge with native_sim board – bridged Ethernet network between multiple simulations (net-tools)

• Bsim boards – BabbleSim – BLE stack and IEEE 802.15.4 radio protocol simulation (2.4GHz ISM band)

  • NRF52 simulated board (BabbleSim)

  • NRF5340 simulated boards (BabbleSim)

  • NRF54L15 simulated board (BabbleSim)

• Using BlueZ with Zephyr – BlueZ

• Running on QEMU or native_sim – BlueZ – real Bluetooth controller exported from host into QEMU runtimes

  • Using the Host System Bluetooth Controller

  • Using a Zephyr-based BLE Controller

  • HCI Tracing

• Running on a Virtual Controller and native_sim – BlueZ – virtual Bluetooth controller connected over an HCI TCP server

  • Android Emulator

• Using Zephyr-based Controllers with BlueZ – BlueZ – use Zephyr Bluetooth controller on host (simulated or emulated)

Native host emulation:

• QEMU boards for emulation

• Networking with QEMU

• Networking with QEMU Ethernet – virtual network between host and multiple QEMU runtimes

• Networking with QEMU User – SLiRP user network backend

• Networking with QEMU and IEEE 802.15.4 – IEEE 802.15.4 link layer over UART between multiple QEMU runtimes

Common host networking:

• Networking with multiple Zephyr instances – virtual network between multiple Zephyr instances (simulated or emulated)

Test framework:

As a result of native execution, simulation and emulation as listed above, the Zephyr built-in test environment can only be reasonably used on Linux.

• Test Framework

  • Zephyr Test Framework (Ztest)

    • Integration testing

    • Unit testing

  • Zephyr stress test framework (Ztress)

  • Shuffling Test Sequence

  • Mocking via Fake Function Framework

• Test Runner (Twister)

Note

Before you start setting up the toolchain, install available updates for your operating system.

Comment and position statement

We recommend that you use Linux as your development platform of choice.

MacOS is still a good alternative. However, with Microsoft Windows you will find a development environment that is extremely sluggish and complicated to maintain. Replication on a second or third system is extremely difficult and may even be impossible. There are no reliable tools for this and the behavior of Microsoft Windows cannot be predicted. In addition, Microsoft Windows currently still harbors the highest security risks in the area of cyber security – time to switch!