Introduction 13
Package: Is the distribution providing all the software necessary for your
project? For example, it may have tons of utilities and drivers, but does it
really have all the drivers that are needed in your target? Does the package
include development, debugging, and profiling tools?
Documentation: The distribution should provide documentation and sam-
ple programs for all the tools and utilities that are part of the package. It
should accompany a proper reference manual explaining in detail mech-
anisms such as how to build the binaries and load them in the target, how
to profile the system, and so on. If a distribution is accompanied by any
proprietary software then that too should be properly documented.
Proprietary software: Some ...