The new production release of Mender 1.0, an open-source tool for updating embedded devices safely and reliably, is now available. Mender's developers describe the tool as the "only open-source over-the-air (OTA) software updater for embedded Linux devices that integrates both an updater client and deployment management server", both of which are licensed under Apache 2.0.

Using Mender, embedded development teams venturing into IoT can focus completely on developing their product instead of squandering time on building and maintaining a homegrown software updater or cobbling together a custom combination of tools or scripts to deploy software updates.

Mender utilizes a dual A/B rootfs partition layout to deploy full image updates and provides automated rollback of failed updates for any reason, including power loss on the device or poor network connectivity. This feature allows users to deploy software updates confidently without the fear of bricking their devices.

The Golang-based Mender runs efficiently on the embedded device and is tightly integrated with the Yocto Project and U-Boot, making Mender easy to integrate with most production-grade embedded boards. Going from a fresh system to completing your first managed deployment with Mender, including server setup, sayeth Mender folk, should take less than one hour.