What Is a Board Support Package (BSP)?

A board support package (BSP) is the set of low-level software that adapts an operating system to one specific circuit board. An operating system such as Linux knows how to schedule tasks and manage files, but it knows nothing about the particular processor, memory map, ports and peripherals on a board until the BSP tells it. The BSP supplies the code that starts the board, the kernel built for its processor, the drivers for its interfaces and a description of how the hardware is wired.

BSPs matter most in embedded and Arm-based systems, where every board is different and there is no standard PC-style discovery of hardware. When a carrier board adds its own interfaces, or a capture card or camera is fitted, the BSP needs matching drivers and configuration, and those have to be carried forward to each new release.

BSPs are usually written by the silicon vendor or the board manufacturer. The processor vendor provides a reference BSP for its own evaluation board, and each board maker adapts it to its design. System integrators then build the final operating system image on top, adding application software, security settings and any drivers for fitted options.

The exact contents vary by vendor and operating system, but most embedded Linux BSPs contain the same building blocks.

The term BSP is used most on Arm and other embedded processors. On x86 industrial PCs, much of the same job is done by standard UEFI firmware and ACPI, so a general-purpose operating system usually installs and runs with ordinary drivers.

Our FAQ on what UEFI is explains the x86 side of that table.

On NVIDIA Jetson, the BSP is Jetson Linux, previously called Linux for Tegra (L4T). It contains the boot firmware, Linux kernel, drivers, device trees and an Ubuntu-based root file system for each Jetson module, and it is delivered as part of JetPack alongside CUDA, TensorRT and the other AI libraries. NVIDIA’s BSP describes its own developer kit carrier boards. A production carrier board with different ports, cameras or power design needs the BSP adapted: new device tree entries, pin configuration and sometimes extra drivers.

Carrier board manufacturers publish a BSP for each JetPack release they support, so the list of supported releases is as important as the ports. Our Jetson carrier boards come from manufacturers that maintain those BSPs, and our guide to choosing a Jetson carrier board covers why BSP support should be checked before the hardware is chosen.

A BSP is tied to a specific kernel and operating system release, so it has to move when they do. Security fixes, new JetPack versions and new hardware revisions all mean a new BSP build, and drivers for custom hardware must be ported each time. Production fleets often build their image with the Yocto Project, where the BSP becomes a layer that sits under the application; our article on JetPack 7.2 and Yocto on Jetson Orin explains that approach. In our drone detection case study we created drivers for the current BSP in the customer’s software stack and help them migrate to new NVIDIA releases.

We supply Jetson and Arm systems with the BSP, drivers and operating system image installed and validated as standard, and maintain them across releases for the life of the project.