cbwww/site/news/nongenuineboot20230717.md

% nonGeNUine Boot 20230717 released!
% Leah Rowe in GNU Leah Mode™
% 17 July 2023

Original GNU Boot ("gnuboot") release
=====================================

This project was *originally* named GNU Boot or *gnuboot*, unofficially, with
the intent that it would be re-used by the *real* GNU Boot project, to help them
get in sync with modern Libreboot releases; on 17 July 2023, they still used
very old Libreboot releases, with old coreboot revisions from around ~mid 2021.

This non-**G**e**NU**ine release was renamed to *nonGeNUine Boot* after
receiving a [legal threat, citing trademark infringement](#update-21-july-2023)
from the official GNU Boot project.

More context for this is provided by the Libreboot project. See:
[GNU Boot article on libreboot.org](https://libreboot.org/news/gnuboot.html)

Introduction
============

nonGeNUine Boot provides boot firmware for supported x86/ARM machines, starting a
bootloader that then loads your operating system. It replaces proprietary
BIOS/UEFI firmware on x86 machines, and provides an *improved* configuration
on [ARM-based chromebooks](../docs/install/chromebooks.html) supported
(U-Boot bootloader, instead of Google's depthcharge bootloader). On x86
machines, the GRUB and SeaBIOS coreboot
payloads are officially supported, provided in varying configurations per
machine. It provides an [automated build system](../docs/maintain/) for the
[configuration](../docs/build/) and [installation](../docs/install/) of coreboot
ROM images, making coreboot easier to use for non-technical people. You can find
the [list of supported hardware](../docs/hardware/) in nonGeNUine Boot documentation.

nonGeNUine Boot's main benefit is *higher boot speed*,
[better](../docs/gnulinux/encryption.md) 
[security](../docs/gnulinux/grub_hardening.md) and more
customisation options compared to most proprietary firmware. As a
[libre](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html) software project, the
code can be audited, and coreboot does
regularly audit code. The other main benefit is [*freedom* to study, adapt and
share the code](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.en.html), a freedom
denied by most boot firmware, but not nonGeNUine Boot! Booting GNU+Linux and BSD is
also [well](../docs/gnulinux/)  [supported](../docs/bsd/).

Changes, relative to Libreboot 20220710
========================================

nonGeNUine Boot is a fork of Libreboot. This release is based on Libreboot 20230625,
with certain boards/documentation removed so as to comply with the [GNU
System Distribution Guidelines (GNU
FSDG)](https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.en.html).

*Libreboot 20220710* was the *last* regular Libreboot release to comply
with the old *Binary Blob Extermination Policy* adhering to GNU FSDG
ideology. Read the [Libreboot 20220710 release
announcement](https://libreboot.org/news/libreboot20220710.html).

For the purpose of *continuity*, this release will list changes relative to that
version. Future releases of nonGeNUine Boot will reference past releases of *itself*.

New mainboards supported
------------------------

These laptops would have been compatible with Libreboot, under the old
policy, and they were added in this release of nonGeNUine Boot:

* [Dell Latitude E6400](../docs/hardware/e6400.md)
* [ASUS Chromebook Flip C101 (gru-bob)](../docs/install/chromebooks.md)
* [Samsung Chromebook Plus (v1) (gru-kevin)](../docs/install/chromebooks.md)

KFSN4-DRE, KCMA-D8, KGPE-D16 *update*
-------------------------------------

FUN FACT: This includes building of ASUS KFSN4-DRE, KCMA-D8 and KGPE-D16
boards, which were updated based on coreboot `4.11_branch`. ROM images are
provided for these boards, in this nonGeNUine Boot release. The toolchain in
this coreboot version would not build on modern GNU+Linux distributions, so I
spent time patching it.

Coreboot, GRUB, U-Boot and SeaBIOS revisions
------------------------------------

In nonGeNUine Boot 20230717:

* Coreboot (default): commit ID `e70bc423f9a2e1d13827f2703efe1f9c72549f20`, 17 February 2023
* Coreboot (cros): commit ID `8da4bfe5b573f395057fbfb5a9d99b376e25c2a4` 2 June 2022
* Coreboot (fam15h\_udimm): commit ID `1c13f8d85c7306213cd525308ee8973e5663a3f8`, 16 June 2021
* GRUB: commit ID `f7564844f82b57078d601befadc438b5bc1fa01b`, 14 February 2023
* SeaBIOS: commit ID `ea1b7a0733906b8425d948ae94fba63c32b1d425`, 20 January 2023
* U-Boot (for coreboot/cros): commit ID `890233ca5569e5787d8407596a12b9fca80952bf`, 9 January 2023

In Libreboot 20220710:

* Coreboot (default): commit ID `b2e8bd83647f664260120fdfc7d07cba694dd89e`, 17 November 2021
* Coreboot (cros): **did not exist** (no ARM/U-Boot support in Libreboot 20220710)
* Coreboot (fam15h\_udimm): commit ID `ad983eeec76ecdb2aff4fb47baeee95ade012225`, 20 November 2019
* GRUB: commit ID `f7564844f82b57078d601befadc438b5bc1fa01b`, 25 October 2021
* SeaBIOS: commit ID `1281e340ad1d90c0cc8e8d902bb34f1871eb48cf`, 24 September 2021
* U-Boot: **did not exist** (no ARM/U-Boot support in Libreboot 20220710)

Build system changes
--------------------

The changes are *vast*, and most of them visible directly by viewing the
Libreboot git history; for reference, this nonGeNUine Boot release corresponds
approximately to `lbmk` (LibreBoot MaKe)
revision `8c7774289ca60a1144b3151344eb400a059390e0` from 16 July 2023.

And now, the changes (summarised, relative to Libreboot 20220710):

* Coreboot crossgcc downloads: when coreboot downloads `acpica` (for use
  of `iasl`), the old upstream links to tarballs are no longer online. Newer
  versions of coreboot pull from github, but nonGeNUine Boot is still using some
  older coreboot revisions prior to that change. The corresponding tarballs
  are now hosted on Libreboot rsync, and used by nonGeNUine Boot's build
  system, [gbmk](../docs/maintain/) (itself a fork of the Libreboot build
  system, named `lbmk`).
* A [HUGE build system audit](https://libreboot.org/news/audit.html) inherited
  from Libreboot, has been assimilated by nonGeNUine Boot; the entire build system was
  re-written in a much cleaner coding style, with much stricter error handling
  and clear separation of logic. A *lot* of bugs were fixed. A *LOT* of bugs.
  Build system auditing has been the *main* focus, in these past 12 months.
* `cros`: Disable coreboot-related BL31 features. This fixes poweroff on gru
  chromebooks. Patch courtesy of Alper Nebi Yasak.
* `u-boot`: Increase EFI variable buffer size. This fixes an error where
  Debian's signed shim allocates too many EFI variables to fit in the space
  provided, breaking the boot process in Debian. Patch courtesy Alper Nebi Yasak
* Coreboot build system: don't warn about no-payload configuration. nonGeNUine Boot
  compiles ROM images *without* using coreboot's payload support, instead it
  builds most payloads by itself and inserts them (via cbfstool) afterwards.
  This is more flexible, allowing greater configuration; even U-Boot is
  handled this way, though U-Boot at least still uses coreboot's crossgcc
  toolchain collection to compile it. Patch courtesy Nicholas Chin.
* `util/spkmodem-recv`: New utility, forked from GNU's implementation, then
  re-written to use OpenBSD style(9) programming style instead of the
  originally used GNU programming style, and it is uses
  OpenBSD `pledge()` when compiled on OpenBSD. Generally much cleaner coding
  style, with better error handling than the original GNU version (it is forked
  from coreboot, who forked it from GNU GRUB, with few changes made). This
  is a receiving client for spkmodem, which is a method coreboot provides to
  get a serial console via pulses on the PC speaker.
* download/coreboot: Run `extra.sh` directly from given coreboot tree. Unused
  by any boards, but could allow expanding upon patching capabilities in lbmk
  for specific mainboards, e.g. apply coreboot gerrit patches in a specific
  order that is not easy to otherwise guarantee in more generalised logic of
  the nonGeNUine Boot build system.
* `util/e6400-flash-unlock`: New utility, that disables flashing protections
  on Dell's own BIOS firmware, for Dell Latitude E6400. This enables nonGeNUine Boot
  installation *without* disassembling the machine (external flashing equipment
  is *not required*). Courtesy Nicholas Chin.
* Build dependencies scripts updated for more modern distros. As of this day's
  release, nonGeNUine Boot compiles perfectly in bleeding edge distros e.g. Arch
  Linux, whereas the previous 20220710 required using old distros e.g.
  Debian 10.
* `cbutils`: New concept, which implements: build coreboot utilities like
  cbfstool and include the binaries in a directory inside lbmk, to be re-used.
  Previously, they would be compiled in-place within the coreboot build system,
  often re-compiled needlessly, and the checks for whether a given util are
  needed were very ad-hoc: now these checks are much more robust.
  Very centralised approach, per coreboot tree, rather than selectively
  compiling specific coreboot utilities, and makes the build system logic in
  nonGeNUine Boot much cleaner.
* GRUB config: 30s timeout by default, which is friendlier on some desktops
  that have delayed keyboard input in GRUB.
* ICH9M/GM45 laptops: 256MB VRAM by default, instead of 352MB. This fixes
  certain performance issues, for some people, as 352MB can be very unstable.
* U-Boot patches: for `gru_bob` and `gru_kevin` chromebooks, U-Boot is used
  instead of Google's own *depthcharge* bootloader. It has been heavily
  modified to avoid certain initialisation that is replaced by coreboot, in
  such a way that U-Boot is mainly used as a bootloader providing UEFI for
  compliant GNU+Linux distros and BSDs. Courtesy Alper Nebi Yasak.
* lbmk: The entire nonGeNUine Boot build system has, for the most part, been made
  portable; a lot of scripts now work perfectly, on POSIX-only implementations
  of `sh` (though, many dependencies still use GNU extensions, such as GNU
  Make, so this portability is not directly useful yet, but a stepping stone.
  nonGeNUine Boot eventually wants to be buildable on non-GNU, non-GNU/Linux systems,
  e.g. BSD systems)
* nvmutil: Lots of improvements to code quality, features, error handling. This
  utility was originally its own project, started by Leah Rowe, and later
  imported into the nonGeNUine Boot build system.
* build/boot/roms: Support cross-compiling coreboot toolchains for ARM platforms,
  in addition to regular x86 that was already supported. This is used for
  compiling U-boot as a payload, on mainboards.
* U-boot integration: at first, it was just downloading U-Boot. Board integration
  for ARM platforms (from coreboot) came later, e.g. ASUS Chromebook Flip C101
  as mentioned above. The logic for this is forked largely from the handling
  of coreboot, because the interface for dealing with their build systems is
  largely similar, and they are largely similar projects. Courtesy Denis Carikli
  and Alper Nebi Yasak.
* New utility: `nvmutil` - can randomise the MAC address on Intel GbE NICs, for
  systems that use an Intel Flash Descriptor
* General build system fixes: better (and stricter) error handling
* Fixed race condition when building SeaBIOS in some setups. 
* GRUB configs: only scan ATA, AHCI or both, depending on config per board.
  This mitigates performance issues in GRUB on certain mainboards, when
  scanning for `grub.cfg` files on the HDD/SSD.
* GRUB configs: speed optimisations by avoiding slow device enumeration in
  GRUB.

Hardware supported in nonGeNUine Boot 20230717
==================================================

All of the following are believed to *boot*, but if you have any issues,
please contact the nonGeNUine Boot project. They are:

### Servers (AMD, x86)

-   [ASUS KGPE-D16 motherboard](../docs/hardware/kgpe-d16.md)
-   [ASUS KFSN4-DRE motherboard](../docs/hardware/kfsn4-dre.md)

### Desktops (AMD, Intel, x86)

-   [ASUS KCMA-D8 motherboard](../docs/hardware/kcma-d8.md)
-   [Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L motherboard](../docs/hardware/ga-g41m-es2l.md)
-   [Acer G43T-AM3](../docs/hardware/acer_g43t-am3.md)
-   [Intel D510MO and D410PT motherboards](../docs/hardware/d510mo.md)
-   [Apple iMac 5,2](../docs/hardware/imac52.md)

### Laptops (Intel, x86)

-   **[Dell Latitude E6400](../docs/hardware/e6400.md) (easy to flash, no disassembly, similar
    hardware to X200/T400)**
-   ThinkPad X60 / X60S / X60 Tablet
-   ThinkPad T60 (with Intel GPU)
-   [Lenovo ThinkPad X200 / X200S / X200 Tablet](../docs/hardware/x200.md)
-   Lenovo ThinkPad X301
-   [Lenovo ThinkPad R400](../docs/hardware/r400.md)
-   [Lenovo ThinkPad T400 / T400S](../docs/hardware/t400.md)
-   [Lenovo ThinkPad T500](../docs/hardware/t500.md)
-   [Lenovo ThinkPad W500](../docs/hardware/t500.md)
-   [Lenovo ThinkPad R500](../docs/hardware/r500.md)
-   [Apple MacBook1,1 and MacBook2,1](../docs/hardware/macbook21.md)

### Laptops (ARM, with U-Boot payload)

-   [ASUS Chromebook Flip C101 (gru-bob)](../docs/install/chromebooks.md)
-   [Samsung Chromebook Plus (v1) (gru-kevin)](../docs/install/chromebooks.md)

Downloads
=========

You can find the release here, along with documentation:

<https://av.vimuser.org/notgnuboot/20230717/>

Happy... hacking.

UPDATE (21 July 2023)
=====================

This website, that you are reading now, and the nonGeNUine release itself,
was originally *named* GNU Boot, but clearly marked as *unofficial*, with the
hope that the GNU project would adapt and re-use it for their project. I did
this, specifically to help them get up to date. They currently use Libreboot
from about 8 months ago (late 2022), and that revision used *coreboot* releases
from ~mid 2021.

Modern Libreboot uses coreboot from early 2023, and contains many bug fixes
in its build system, owing to an extensive [build system
audit](https://libreboot.org/news/audit.html); GNU Boot still contains all of
the bugs that existed, prior to the audit. Bugs such as: errors literally not
being handled, in many critical areas of the build system, due to improper use
of subshells within shell scripts (Libreboot's build system is implemented with
shell scripts), improper handling of git credentials in the coreboot build
system, fam15h boards no longer compiling correct on modern Linux distros...
the list goes on. All fixed, in newer Libreboot, including the recent release.

GNU Boot cease and desist email
-------------------------------

The GNU Boot people actually sent me a cease and desist email, citing trademark
infringement.  Amazing.

Despite the original site clearly stating that it's unofficial. I literally made
it to help them. You know, to help them use newer Libreboot because they use old
Libreboot and even older coreboot.

Anyway, I complied with their polite request and have renamed the project to
nonGeNUine Boot. The release archive was re-compiled, under this new brand
name and this nonGeNUine website was re-written accordingly.

Personally, I like the new name better.

Here is a screenshot of the cease and desist request that I received,
from *Adrien ‘neox’ Bourmault* who is a founding member of the GNU Boot
project:

![](https://av.vimuser.org/email.png)

This, after they themselves tried to steal the name *Libreboot* for their
fork, when they first announced themselves on 19 March 2023 at LibrePlanet,
only renaming to *GNU Boot* months later (on 11 June 2023). Utter hypocrisy,
and a great irony to boot.

I may very well send patches. *If I want to*.