Linux Foundation - The Yocto Project
Securing the future of embedded systems and industrial IoT: the Linux Foundation entrusts the keys to Yocto LTS to Smile's expertise
The need
Ensuring the long-term viability of the standard tool for creating Linux distributions for embedded systems
The Yocto project is a major collaborative open-source initiative, hosted by the Linux Foundation. Its goal is to provide standardized tools for creating custom Linux distributions, an essential standard for embedded systems and the IoT.
Maintaining Long Term Support (LTS) versions is a critical role. Unlike traditional stable releases (supported for six months), an LTS commits the community for four years (as has been the case since Kirkstone ). Until now, this activity was handled by Steve Sakoman, who is retiring. The Linux Foundation therefore needed to find a partner capable of taking over this responsibility with the same level of commitment.
"I'd like to announce that Yoann Congal, supported by others at Smile, is becoming our new LTS maintainer as Steve Sakoman takes a well-deserved retirement. Yoann and Smile have done an excellent job on meta-openembedded with our various metrics and tracking tools, while also being active in various project meetings, including bug fixes, so many of you already know him."
Richard Purdie
Yocto Project Architect, Linux Foundation
The Challenge
A key role for a vast ecosystem and major challenges
The complexity of the role lies in the rigorous filtering of contributions. The LTS maintainer must guarantee absolute stability: only security patches (CVEs) and bug fixes are acceptable. Any new features, general version updates, or API/ABI breaks are prohibited.
Furthermore, the technical challenge is twofold:
- Regulatory compliance: with the arrival of the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), the accurate monitoring of CVEs has become a major issue, while public data (NVD) is sometimes unreliable.
- Managing moving components: it is necessary to know how to manage updates of specific components (like the Kernel or Rust) via "Mixin layers" without destabilizing the core of the system.
2
per year (April/October) and 4 years of support for LTS versions of Yocto
Top 10%
Among the most dynamic open source projects in terms of responsiveness and activity.
+750
Smile's contributions to the Yocto Project since 2020
Our Approach
Recognized expertise that has proven convincing
To address these challenges, Smile is deploying a team led by Yoann Congal, applying a rigorous methodology of maintenance and continuous improvement:
- Management of the maintenance process: complete management of the patch lifecycle, from code review ("Review") and "Pull Requests" to integration into the LTS-next branch and final validation.
- Proactive management of CVEs and bugs: coordination of the integration of security patches from the community and strict filtering according to LTS acceptance criteria (only security/bug fixes, no new features).
- Validation through intensive testing: use of the "Autobuilder" infrastructure of the Yocto project (60 machines, 5,760 cores) to run complete test pipelines (runtime, selftest) on multiple architectures (x86, ARM, RISC-V).
- Tool improvement: Active contribution to the optimization of monitoring and metrics tools to address current shortcomings, particularly in vulnerability monitoring.
The Result
A long-term commitment that does us credit.
By assuming responsibility for coordinating LTS patches on January 1, 2026, Smile is committed to the stability of industrial systems for thousands of companies worldwide. This is a major challenge that we are taking seriously and are proud to have been chosen for this strategic mission.
To learn more, download the Yocto Reloaded white paper .
"I am truly honored to take on this role. I hope to lead the LTS maintenance process as smoothly as Steve did. And, I know the bar is set high! We will do our best to carry on the tradition and ensure our LTS users are well supported. "
Yoann Congal
Embedded software technical expert, Smile Embedded & Connected Systems
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