For the October edition of the C++ Aarhus User Group, we’ll take a practical look at what happens when C++ applications meet real-world Linux environments.

C++ System Integration on Linux

Building a C++ application is one thing. Making it play nicely with the rest of a Linux system is another.

For the October edition of the C++ Aarhus User Group, we’ll take a practical look at what happens when C++ applications meet real-world Linux environments.

How should responsibilities be divided between the application and the operating system? How do you handle logging, services, security and dependencies? And how do you make sure your application is tested under the same conditions it will face in production?

Drawing mainly on experience from embedded Linux systems, we’ll share practical recommendations, lessons learned and approaches that can also be applied far beyond the embedded world.

As always, this is a user group – not just a lecture. We encourage participants to bring their own experiences, questions and solutions and join the discussion.

Application and system responsibilities

Where should the responsibility lie – with your application or with the system?

We’ll discuss:

• Log management
• File management
• State management and reporting
• Application watchdogs – how and why to use them
• Service/PID management vs. thread management

Cybersecurity

Running applications securely on Linux introduces a number of practical considerations, including:

• How to gain the necessary system access without running as root
• Managing and updating library dependencies
• Software Bills of Materials (SBOMs) – why they matter and how to work with them

Integration testing

A robust application needs to be tested in an environment that reflects production as closely as possible.

We’ll look at:

• How to structure application configuration to support integration testing
• How to ensure applications are tested under the same restrictions they will encounter in production

C++ toolchain generation

We’ll also cover some of the practical challenges around toolchains, including:

• Providing and maintaining a compiler toolchain
• Cross-compilation

Build systems

Finally, we’ll discuss the application developer’s responsibilities when it comes to build systems – including one important principle:

Why you probably shouldn’t create your own.

Whether you work with embedded Linux, develop C++ applications for larger systems, or simply want to exchange experiences with other C++ developers, join us for an evening of practical insights, technical discussion, knowledge sharing and pizza, courtesy of Bitbrew ApS.

Speakers

Nikolaj Rahbek – Software Engineer with a background in C++ for embedded devices, specializing in automated testing (unit, integration, and production testing) and designing reliable, testable software.

Kasper Revsbech – Software Engineer with experience in application development, primarily as a system integrator in roles such as Linux Platform Lead and DevOps Engineer. Kasper has extensive experience with Linux-based systems.

LANGUAGE

English (default). We will switch to Danish if all attendees understand Danish.

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?

VENUE

AU, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, ORBIT Event Space (building. 5122, room 122), Finlandsgade 20, 8200 Aarhus N