CMSIS v6 is here

An ecosystem like no other

Since its humble beginnings more than 15 years ago, CMSIS (Common Microcontroller Software Interface Standard) has evolved to a set of APIs, software components, tools, and workflows. CMSIS helps all embedded developers working with Arm Cortex-based devices to simplify software reuse, speed-up project build and debug, and thus reduces the time to market for new applications.

CMSIS supports:

• 10,000 unique devices by more than 45 silicon vendors
• 1,100 different packs by more than 80 pack vendors
• 500 development boards

Today, we are announcing the arrival of CMSIS v6.

What's new?

This new version introduces some changes you need to be aware of before migrating to it.

Toolchains

CMSIS v6 supports the following toolchains out-of-the-box:

• Arm Compiler v6.10 or later
• GCC 10 or later
• IAR 8 or later
• LLVM/Clang 17 older later

Note that support for Arm Compiler v5 is removed.

Components

• The CMSIS v6 software components have many improvements compared to CMSIS v5.9. Some components are delivered in their standalone CMSIS-Packs.
• Repositories are restructured to support effective GitHub and pack workflows.
• CMSIS-View enables analysis using Event Recorder and Component Viewer technologies previously only available in MDK.
• CMSIS-Compiler allows platform independent retargeting of standard C library functions (fopen, fwrite, printf, scanf) to a file interface, user defined I/O, or the Event Recorder in CMSIS-View.
• CMSIS-Stream optimizes data block streaming between the processing steps of a DSP/ML application.
• The CMSIS-RTOS2 API is supported by six different RTOS kernels. It adds support for process isolation that allows developers to protect execution of critical software tasks against potential flaws in other parts of a program. This is supported by CMSIS-RTX.
• CMSIS-Toolbox provides command line tools for:
  • Project creation and build of embedded applications utilizing Software Packs.
  • Software Pack creation, maintenance, and distribution utilizing the CMSIS-Pack format.

Key resources

• The CMSIS v6 documentation provides a detailed overview and access to each of the developer facing CMSIS components
• Which CMSIS components should I care about? helps you to decide which parts of CMSIS are relevant to you.
• Migrating CMSIS-based projects from CMSIS v5 to CMSIS v6
• CMSIS-Pack Migration Guide

Learn more

Arm has conducted a series of webinars that explain further details of CMSIS v6. They showed how the new components help you developing embedded software. Here are the links to the webinar recordings:

• CMSIS v6 Introduction
• Using CMSIS-View and CMSIS-Compiler
• CLI builds using CMSIS-Toolbox
• Data streaming with CMSIS-Stream and SDS

All recordings are accompanied by the slide deck shown, additional links, and the Q&A session.