FreeRTOS official release vs SDK's FreeRTOS release

[eaad]

Hello, I would like to ask if there are any reason that would prevent me from taking the latest FreeRTOS release from their repository instead of using the version that is provided by the SDK.

My example of usage:

I have a project that is done over imxr117 and the kernel version out of the sdk is 10.4.3, although I would like to bump it to the latest 10.5.

An example of finding that might be important: in the SDK there is a file `freertos_tasks_c_additions.h` that is not part of the official release. I think that is the only example of difference in files, but can be a difference in the source code? (I'm also asking this as a general question of good practice, and not only in this specific case)

Thanks,

[eaad]

Thank you Omar,

I will post here again in case of further questions

[Omar_Anguiano]

Hello
Hope you are well.

Because FreeRTOS is very generic for ARM Cortex, it is possible to add it to any Cortex-M microcontroller. It can be used from Freertos directly so you have the most recent version.
The SDK release is designed so it adapts to a specific device from NXP.
Since the Freertos release is very generic you would need to make some modifications so you take more advantage of the OS on your specific device.

My personal suggestion is to use the SDK release.

If you have more questions do not hesitate to ask me.
Best regards,
Omar

[eaad]

Hello Omar,

Can I ask you to elaborate in what aspects those adaptions happen?

For example of the approach that we considered taking here- we consider to take the FreeRTOS repo as a sub module of our project, and I would like to have a solid ideas in what ways this approach can have disadvantages for us.

And if I may attack this discussion from another direction: is there a frequency of updating the FreeRTOS versions that come with the SDK? specificaly for a products that were already release



Thank you, and have a great week

[Omar_Anguiano · Accepted solution]

What makes different the SDK release is how the device interacts with the kernel; the core is maintained.
There are some aspects that are adapted e.g. Memory management so it works well with external memories like those on the RT devices. Timers/Interruptions so they interact with Kernel.
I´ve seen examples on blogs on how they add FreeRTOS to devices, since FreeRTOS is very generic for ARM Cortex, it is possible to add it to any Cortex-M microcontroller. 

Regarding the frequency of the releases, there is no specific timing on when these releases happen.

If you have more questions do not hesitate to ask me.
Best regards,
Omar