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The xHCI patches were removed because they caused issues on Sandybridge-based Dell Latitude laptops. See: https://codeberg.org/libreboot/lbmk/issues/216 The issue was not reported elsewhere, but we still don't need xHCI support in Canoeboot's GRUB because none of the available coreboot targets have xHCI support. However, we may want it in the future and it helps to keep Canoeboot in sync with Libreboot (this patch is adapted from lbmk). Each given coreboot target can say which GRUB tree to use by setting this in target.cfg: grubtree="xhci" In the above example, the "xhci" tree would be used. Some generic GRUB config has been moved to config/data/grub/ and config/grub/ now looks like config/coreboot/ - also, the grub.cfg file (named "payload" in each tree) is copied to the GRUB source tree as ".config", then added to GRUB's memdisk in the same way, as grub.cfg. Several other design changes had to be made because of this: * grub.cfg in memdisk no longer automatically jumps to one in CBFS, but now shows a menuentry for it if available * Certain commands in script/trees are disabled for GRUB, such as *config make commands. * gnulib is now defined in config/submodule/grub/, instead of config/git/grub - and this mitigates an existing bug where downloading gnulib first would make grub no longer possible to download in lbmk. There is another reason for merging this design change from lbmk, and that reasoning also applies to lbmk. Specifically: This change will enable per-board GRUB optimisation in the future. For example, we hardcode what partitions and LVMs GRUB scans because * is slow on ICH7-based machines, due to GRUB's design. On other machines, * is reasonably fast, for automatically enumerating the list of devices for boot. Use of * (and other wildcards) could enable our GRUB payload to automatically boot more distros, with minimal fuss. This can be done at a later date, in subsequent revisions. Signed-off-by: Leah Rowe <leah@libreboot.org> |
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README.md
Canoeboot
Find canoeboot documentation at https://canoeboot.org/
The canoeboot project provides
libre boot
firmware that initializes the hardware (e.g. memory controller, CPU,
peripherals) on specific Intel/AMD x86 and ARM targets, which
then starts a bootloader for your operating system. Linux/BSD are
well-supported. It replaces proprietary BIOS/UEFI firmware. Help is available
via #canoeboot IRC
on Libera IRC.
Canoeboot is maintained in parallel with Libreboot, by the same developer. Strictly speaking, it is a fork of Libreboot, but with a twist:
Canoeboot is provided for the purists who absolutely wish to have no proprietary software of any kind. Regardless of any other firmware that exists outside of it, the boot flash on your system will be entirely free software if you install Canoeboot on it. That includes a complete lack of CPU microcode updates, as per FSF policy.
More specifically: Canoeboot is engineered to comply with the GNU Free System Distribution Guidelines. It has, as of November 2023 releases, been strictly audited by FSF licensing staff (Craig Topham lead the audit), and it is listed on the FSF's own Free Software Directory.
Libreboot previously complied with that same policy, but changed to a different one permitting binary blobs in limited circumstances, so as to support more newer machines. Canoeboot is, then, a continuation of the traditional Libreboot project prior to that policy change. Some users still want it, so, Canoeboot releases are rigoriously maintained, re-basing on newer Libreboot releases over time, just like how, say, Trisquel, re-bases itself on each new Ubuntu release.
Project goals
- Obviously, support as much hardware as possible (within the limitations imposed by GNU FSDG, and using what coreboot happens to have in its source tree - Canoeboot also heavily patches coreboot, sometimes adding new mainboards out-of-tree).
- Make coreboot easy to use. Coreboot is notoriously difficult to install, due to an overall lack of user-focused documentation and support. Most people will simply give up before attempting to install coreboot. Canoeboot's automated build system and user-friendly installation instructions solves this problem.
Canoeboot attempts to bridge this divide by providing a build system automating much of the coreboot image creation and customization. Secondly, the project produces documentation aimed at non-technical users. Thirdly, the project attempts to provide excellent user support via IRC.
Canoeboot already comes with a payload (GRUB), flashprog and other needed parts. Everything is fully integrated, in a way where most of the complicated steps that are otherwise required, are instead done for the user in advance.
You can download ROM images for your canoeboot system and install them without having to build anything from source. If, however, you are interested in building your own image, the build system makes it relatively easy to do so.
Not a coreboot fork!
Canoeboot is not a fork of coreboot. Every so often, the project re-bases on the latest version of coreboot, by virtue of maintaining sync with Libreboot releases (minus un-GNU parts), with the number of custom patches in use minimized. Tested, stable (static) releases are then provided in Canoeboot, based on specific coreboot revisions.
LICENSE FOR THIS README
It's just a README file. This README file is released under the terms of the Creative Commons Zero license, version 1.0 of the license, which you can read here:
https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode.txt
The documentation in Canoeboot will use a mix of other licenses, so you should check that for more information.