diff --git a/site/news/10.md b/site/news/10.md index edc68e6..59bc34d 100644 --- a/site/news/10.md +++ b/site/news/10.md @@ -2,18 +2,6 @@ % Leah Rowe % 12 December 2023 -**This page was restored during August 2024, having been deleted earlier on -in 2024 - it was deleted as part of Libreboot's attempt to reconcile -differences with FSF/GNU, and much of this page is hostile to it (and has to be, -because it's focusing on the history of the Libreboot project, which has -historically been at odds with the FSF both socially, technically and -politically. The restored version is essentially identical, but has been -edited without altering any of the substance, and further information going -up to the month of August 2024 has been added at the end, which was not -available earlier on because... Libreboot has not yet invented time travel.** - -Anyway, article time: - I'm very proud of the work done in Libreboot, both by myself and by others who I work with. Many people make Libreboot possible, be it direct contributors to the project, or the countless individuals and companies that work on all @@ -1477,6 +1465,8 @@ date, in terms of code and documentation respectively. 2024 reconciliation intentions ============================== +**This reconciliation was cancelled. Please see the [update from January 2025](#january-1st-2025-update).** + The *FSF* started the coldboot war. Libreboot merely won it. From 2024 onward, unless more hostilities develop from FSF/GNU's side, I intend @@ -1487,6 +1477,9 @@ that question is projects such as Libreboot, or indeed others like GNU Boot, Heads, Skulls, MrChromebox... you name it. Distros, designed similarly to Linux distros, but for building boot firmware instead. +The *first* coldbootwar occured between 19 March 2023 and 31 December 2023, +described in the article above. + Much of 2023 was spent counteracting the FSF's coup, because they were hostile to the Libreboot project, but I decided that I will avoid any such counter action from now on. I will stil develop Canoeboot, but my main focus is @@ -1552,3 +1545,74 @@ the erstwhile *gluglug* domain then redirecting to it, and I registered Minifree Ltd in the UK. Minifree is how I fund the Libreboot project, by selling computers with Libreboot pre-installed. You can find it on [minifree.org](https://minifree.org/). + +January 1st, 2025, UPDATE! +======================== + +The truce of 2024 has ended. GNU Boot did a talk during 38C3 conference, where +they spent at least *one third* of the talk, telling people to stop using +Libreboot, to stop promoting Libreboot, stop contributing to it. This is an +act of war against the Libreboot project. + +Therefore, Cold Boot War II was declared, in the early hours of January 1st, 2025. +There won't be much material difference sa a result of this, but the consequence +is that there is no longer good will from Libreboot towards the GNU project. + +Canoeboot will be developed as aggressively as before, if not more so. It will +be maintained and updated aggressively, but now with this fact in mind, and +with the view that the GNU Boot project must be contained; the mere existence +of the Canoeboot project is a direct attack on GNU Boot, and it will continue. + +I was going to approach the GNU project and start a discussion about shutting +down the Canoeboot project, and merge it with GNU Boot, helping them to bring +their project up to date - for example, as of January 2025, GNU Boot *still* +uses the same late 2021 coreboot and GRUB revisions that it used when GNU +Boot started back in June 2023. + +Such an attempt at collaboration was made before, and it was rejected. It is +clear now that the GNU Boot developers have nothing but contempt. Therefore, +the agenda from 1 January 2025 onward, is to *replace* GNU Boot; to move +so far ahead of the project on a technical level, and to overwhelm it so much +in that regard, that the project effectively no longer exists as a practical +matter. + +Canoeboot is vastly superior to GNU Boot. Its [design](https://canoeboot.org/docs/maintain/) +is much simpler and more powerful in practise, doing *more* in fewer lines +of code - and it supports more hardware. Canoeboot is, at this time, interested +in more GM45-based Dell Latitude models and X4x-based Dell OptiPlex 780 variants, +among other ports. Other works are also planned. + +Canoeboot shall continue, and there will not be a 2nd truce. The truce +of 2024 was announced unilaterally by the Libreboot project, at the start +of 2024, in the interest of improving relations. + +For those interested, the talk is here: + + +In it, they strongly imply that all Libreboot boards use Intel FSP/MRC, which +isn't true. Everything up to Haswell uses completely free raminit; completely +free initialisation within coreboot. + +In general, Libreboot's [Binary Blob Reduction Policy](policy.md) dictates +that if Free Software *can* be used, it must be - as a result, many systems +supported by Libreboot, boot entirely with free software. Libreboot is a free +software project, whose primary goal is to increase software freedoms for users +by providing them with free boot firmware. And yet: GNU Boot's talk strongly +suggests that Libreboot is a *proprietary software project*. + +In GNU Boot's talk, they directly state that I, Leah Rowe, am "against 100% +free software" - also false. I want everyone to use Free Software exclusively, +but the reality is that this is literally impossible, on any hardware. The +reason is strongly described in Libreboot's [Freedom Status](../freedom-status.md) +and [Binary Blob Reduction Policy](policy.md) pages. + +It is clear, then, that the GNU Boot project wishes to undermine the Libreboot +project; their dream is that Libreboot will one day cease to exist. So in +response, Libreboot has this dream too, but about GNU Boot. + +The outcome of coldbootwar will be described in the *next* decade anniversary page, +on 12 December 2033. It is strongly expected that Libreboot will continue to +exist and thrive by then; today's Libreboot will be vastly inferior to that +future Libreboot, and it is expected that GNU Boot will have been dead for years. +Canoeboot will still be maintained regularly. That is the dream, and it is my +wish that this dream be fully realised. It shall be done.