Richard Genoud joined Bootlin as an embedded Linux and kernel engineer in 2024. His journey with GNU/Linux began in 1998, and since 2001, he has been immersed in the realm of embedded Linux engineering.
Initially focusing on embedded x86 platforms for both public and industrial clients, Richard swiftly transitioned to PowerPC and ARM platforms within the railway networking sector. Subsequently, he was recruited by a company as a GNU/Linux expert, where he contributed extensively to the entire BSP stack, encompassing boot processes, kernel development, device driver implementation, build system integration, and application software development.
Beyond embedded software, Richard also ventured into server-side development, contributing to projects such as the mosquitto authentication plugin and the Iridium data collection server. He played a pivotal role in the creation and implementation of production and testing tools, while also providing valuable support to hardware designers in decision-making processes and prototype debugging.
Richard’s expertise extends to more specialized platforms, including bare metal 24-bit DSP and STM8L, showcasing his versatility and proficiency across a spectrum of technologies.
Linux kernel and bootloader experience
Richard has an extensive background in porting U-Boot and at91bootstrap to numerous custom boards, ensuring compatibility by integrating vendor patches into the latest releases. His customization efforts have focused on enhancing functionality with features such as recovery mechanisms, MAC address loading, and boot time optimization to meet the specific requirements of clients.
On the Linux kernel front, Richard ported Linux to various hardware platforms, including ARM platforms from ST, Microchip, TI, NXP or Marvell. Richard also contributed to the official Linux kernel: he initiated support for the Hardware ECC controller on Microchip AT91SAM processors and delved into multiple subsystems and topics, including MTD/UBI, pinctrl, Device Tree, and sound. His role as the official maintainer of the atmel_serial driver underscores his expertise in this area. See his contributions to the official Linux kernel.
Build system experience
Richard’s journey with Buildroot began in 2007, and since 2012, it has been an integral part of his daily workflow for building comprehensive systems. He utilizes Buildroot to generate root file systems, initramfs, recovery file systems, and production flashing file systems, streamlining the development process and ensuring system reliability.
User-space experience
In the realm of user-space development, Richard excels, primarily employing C and posix-shell for custom development projects. His work often involves integrating modems, particularly those from Telit, using AT commands and libmm/modem-manager. Richard’s commitment to open-source collaboration is evident through his contributions to various software projects, including dnsmasq, msmtp, Buildroot, connman, busybox, and mtd-utils, where he addresses bugs and implements improvements to enhance overall functionality.