According to the Free Software Foundation Latin America, Linux-libre is a modified version of the

Linux kernel The Linux kernel is a Free and open-source software, free and open source Unix-like kernel (operating system), kernel that is used in many computer systems worldwide. The kernel was created by Linus Torvalds in 1991 and was soon adopted as the k ...

that contains no binary blobs, obfuscated code, or code released under proprietary licenses. In the Linux kernel, those types of code are mostly used for proprietary

firmware In computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, h ...

images. While generally redistributable, they do not give the user the freedom to audit, modify, or, consequently, redistribute their modified versions. The

GNU Project The GNU Project ( ) is a free software, mass collaboration project announced by Richard Stallman on September 27, 1983. Its goal is to give computer users freedom and control in their use of their computers and Computer hardware, computing dev ...

keeps Linux-libre in synchronization with the mainline Linux kernel.

History

The

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

kernel started to include binary blobs in 1996. The work to clear out the binary blobs began in 2006 with gNewSense's find-firmware and gen-kernel. This work was taken further by the BLAG Linux distribution in 2007 when deblob and Linux-libre was born.jebba
BLAG :: View topic - Linux Libre
BLAG forums, 2008. Linux-libre was first released by the Free Software Foundation Latin America (FSFLA), then endorsed by the

Free Software Foundation The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on October 4, 1985. The organisation supports the free software movement, with the organization's preference for software being distributed ...

(FSF) as a valuable component for the totally free Linux distributions. It became a GNU package in March 2012. Alexandre Oliva is the project maintainer.

Proprietary firmware removal

Methods

The removal process is achieved by using a script called ''deblob-main''. This script is inspired by the one used for gNewSense. Jeff Moe made subsequent modifications to meet certain requirements for its use with the

BLAG Linux and GNU BLAG Linux and GNU is a discontinued Linux distribution that was made by the Brixton Linux Action Group. BLAG was a single-CD distro with a range of default desktop applications, including multimedia, graphics, desktop internet applications and ...

distribution. There is another script called ''deblob-check'', which is used to check if a kernel source file, a patch or a compressed sources file still contains software which is suspected of being proprietary.

Benefits

Aside from the primary intended effect of running a system with only

free software Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...

, the practical consequences of removing device firmware that a user is not allowed to study or modify has both positive and negative effects. Removal of device firmware can be considered an advantage for security and stability. When the firmware cannot be audited for bugs, security problems, and malicious functions such as backdoors, or when the firmware cannot be fixed by the Linux kernel maintainers themselves, even if they know of problems, it is possible for the entire system to be compromised by a malicious firmware. Without the ability to perform a security audit on manufacturer-provided firmware, even an innocent bug could undermine the safety of the running system.

Hardware support

Removing proprietary firmware from the kernel will cause loss of functionality of certain hardware that does not have a free software replacement available. This affects certain

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

TV tuner A TV tuner card is a kind of television tuner that allows television signals to be received by a computer. Most TV tuners also function as video capture cards, allowing them to record television programs onto a hard disk much like the digital vi ...

, and network cards, especially in the case of recent Intel Wi-Fi cards and recent

Nvidia Nvidia Corporation ( ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang (president and CEO), Chris Malachowsky, and Curti ...

graphics cards, as well as some other devices. When possible, free software replacement firmware is provided as a substitute, such as the openfwwf for b43, carl9170 and ath9k_htc wireless card drivers. Reviewer Ramces Red summarized the issue with Linux-Libre, writing, "it does not always have the best hardware support."

Microcode

Linux-libre does not suggest the user install CPU

microcode In processor design, microcode serves as an intermediary layer situated between the central processing unit (CPU) hardware and the programmer-visible instruction set architecture of a computer. It consists of a set of hardware-level instructions ...

update bundles, since the code is proprietary. Microcode update bundles have been used in the mainline Linux kernel version, among other things, to mitigate hardware vulnerabilities.

Availability

The source code and precompiled packages of the deblobbed Linux kernel are available directly from the distributions which use the Linux-libre scripts. Freed-ora is a subproject which prepares and maintains RPM packages based on Fedora. There are also precompiled packages for

Debian Debian () is a free and open-source software, free and open source Linux distribution, developed by the Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock in August 1993. Debian is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kerne ...

and derived distributions such as

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed primarily of free and open-source software. Developed by the British company Canonical (company), Canonical and a community of contributors under a Meritocracy, meritocratic gover ...

Distributions

Distributions in which Linux-libre is the default kernel

* Dragora GNU/Linux-Libre * dyne:bolic * GNU Guix System * Hyperbola GNU/Linux-libre *

Parabola GNU/Linux-libre Parabola GNU/Linux-libre is a Free and open-source software, free and open-source Linux distribution based on Arch Linux and Arch Linux ARM for the x86-64, i686, and ARMv7 architectures. It is distinguished from other Arch-based distributions b ...

Considered small distributions * libreCMC
ProteanOS
(If the underlying hardware is not supported, it must be ported.) Historical * Musix GNU+Linux

Distributions that compile a free Linux kernel

These distros do not use the packaged Linux-libre but instead completely remove binary blobs from the mainline Linux kernel. The source is then compiled and the resulting free Linux kernel is used by default in these systems: *

(May install binary blobs with the installer or kernel by default.) :* PureOS * Trisquel (The Linux-libre deblob script is used during its development). :* Uruk GNU/Linux * Ututo Historical * BLAG * gNewSense (It was based on Debian.) * Canaima (It was based on Debian.)

Linux-libre as an alternative kernel

Distributions in which Linux is the default kernel used and which propose Linux-libre as an alternative kernel: * Arch Linux * Fedora *

Gentoo Linux Gentoo Linux (pronounced ) is a Linux distribution built using the Portage package management system. Unlike a binary software distribution, the source code is compiled locally according to the user's preferences and is often optimized for ...

* Mandriva-derived (PCLinuxOS, Mageia, OpenMandrivaLx, ROSA Fresh) *

openSUSE openSUSE () is a free and open-source software, free and open-source Linux distribution developed by the openSUSE project. It is offered in two main variations: ''Tumbleweed'', an upstream rolling release distribution, and ''Leap'', a stable r ...

Tumbleweed (via OpenBuildService) *

Slackware Slackware is a Linux distribution created by Patrick Volkerding in 1993. Originally based on Softlanding Linux System (SLS), Slackware has been the basis for many other Linux distributions, most notably the first versions of SUSE Linux distr ...

* NixOS

References

External links

* {{GNU 2008 software Free software programmed in C GNU Project software Linux kernel Operating system kernels