Consuming StarlingX

While StarlingX is a ready-to-use solution, it is important to understand some limitations to what you can do with the open source software and StarlingX Community ISO builds. Software features like secure boot, live software update/patching and live software upgrades are not fully enabled by the community.

• The community does not provide signed software images, which are needed to implement security features such as UEFI Secure Boot. Providing signed images is typically the responsibility of commercial vendors or the users themselves.

• The community does not provide software updates/patches (i.e. for bug fixes or new CVE vulnerabilities) to StarlingX released ISOs.

• The community does not support or test software upgrades from one StarlingX release to the next StarlingX Release. Very often, for software upgrades to work from StarlingX release N (old/existing) to StarlingX release N+1 (new), a software-upgrade-enabling ‘update/patch’ is required for StarlingX release N. Because the StarlingX community does not provide/build software update patches, this patch is not available from the StarlingX community, and therefore software upgrades may not necessarily work and are not tested by the StarlingX community.

Here are three ways in which you can consume StarlingX.

Deploy the open source code

You can use the open source software directly. Our community partner Wind River provides a StarlingX mirror with ready-to-run ISO images of the current StarlingX releases and daily builds.

View the StarlingX mirror.

As previously mentioned, these images are not signed and thus do not support secure booting. Also, as previously mentioned, live software updates may not necessarily work without software patches, which are not currently provided by the StarlingX community.

The StarlingX community recommends that users planning to deploy the open source software use the tested and validated release images.

Developers planning to work against the tip of the source trees typically use the daily builds.

Deploy an internal version of StarlingX

Your company can form a team to create their own version of StarlingX for internal use. Such a team can do acceptance testing of the open source software, customize it as needed, sign their own internal images (to enable features such as UEFI Secure Boot), and build and deliver software updates/patches that will also enable testing and support of software upgrades.

Deploy code from a vendor

You can consume a commercial vendor’s StarlingX-based product or solution. Vendors provide signed images and support for software updates/patches and software upgrades. They may also add features or content to the open source software and they may provide other services such as technical support.

The StarlingX community expects several vendors to provide StarlingX-based products and solutions. We hope to see more as our community grows.