MANCHESTER, ENGLAND -- Codethink announced the publication of its baseline Safety Assessment report for Codethink Trustable Reproducible Linux (CTRL OS). exida’s assessment validates Codethink’s safety argument for use of CTRL OS in safety-critical and mixed-criticality systems up to SIL 3 / ASIL D, and independently confirms that Codethink’s approach satisfies the expectations of both IEC 61508 and ISO 26262.

This is the latest milestone in Codethink’s strategic journey to establish a defensible, engineering-led methodology for the use of Open Source software in systems where safety, security, performance, availability, and reliability are considered critical.

“We are concentrating on the real work of engineering safety, security, and reliability, not just chasing certificates by following a standard,” said Paul Sherwood, Codethink’s Chairman. “This all boils down to trust. How can we trust software to do what we expect, and how can we trust our mitigations when things go wrong?”

Codethink’s solution was initially driven by customer demand for a “safe Linux” automotive platform, but now extends beyond the operating system to integration of critical software stacks, where the re-use of mature open source components can significantly reduce costs versus proprietary software, and reduce engineering risks versus creating new software from scratch.

“Trust is fundamental to modern technology, and Codethink’s approach to trustable software is groundbreaking,” said Jonathan Moore, Director, Advanced Systems, exida LLC. “Their rigorous Trustable Software Framework methodology sets a new benchmark for how safety and assurance can be engineered into complex, open source-based systems from day one.”

CTRL OS is delivered in alignment with the Eclipse Trustable Software Framework, an open source industry initiative led by Codethink to create transparent, open foundations for safety-certified systems.

This assessment shows the way for any product company building safety-critical systems to adopt mature open source components such as Linux with confidence. Codethink’s objective-based approach means that the safety argument and the evidence to support it are built and maintained alongside the software.