diff --git a/site/news/MANIFEST b/site/news/MANIFEST index f40f849..0411c4b 100644 --- a/site/news/MANIFEST +++ b/site/news/MANIFEST @@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ argon2.md hp8470p_and_dell_t1650.md hp2170p.md update202308.md -gnuboot.md fam15h.md censored-libreboot20230710.md safety.md diff --git a/site/news/gnuboot.md b/site/news/gnuboot.md deleted file mode 100644 index 566d17a..0000000 --- a/site/news/gnuboot.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,248 +0,0 @@ -% GNU Boot -% Leah Rowe -% 17 July 2023 - -**UPDATE, 2 January 2024: Also see the notes about desire for partial -reconciliation, written at the end of [the 10-year anniversary -article published on 12 December 2023](10.md) - as far as I'm concerned, all -hostilities have cooled. The FSF seems to have backed off, and I have only the -desire to focus on my own work, so I will no longer concern myself with GNUBoot.** - -**UPDATE, 27 October 2023: The Censored Libreboot and nonGeNUine Boot websites have merged -into a new project, called Canoeboot. Canoeboot is a new Libreboot-endorsed -spinoff project (official fork). See: ** - -**See: [Canoeboot 20231026 release](https://canoeboot.org/news/canoeboot20231026.html) - -the original article below showed a desire to work with GNU Boot, but it has -now been decided that Canoeboot will be an official project of Libreboot, -providing releases under the old [Binary Blob Elimination -Policy](https://web.archive.org/web/20221107235850/https://libreboot.org/news/policy.html) (instead of -Libreboot's current [Binary Blob Reduction Policy](policy.md)). - no further -action is planned, except that [Canoeboot](https://canoeboot.org/) will now -be maintained, without paying the GNU project much mind.** - -The original article, published on 17 July 2023, is written below: - -Original article as it was written, 17 July 2023: -================================================= - -People have been waiting for me to break the silence about this. I go on about -it on IRC. This article is intended to address it once and for all, officially. - -I waited so long, because until recently there really wasn't anything tangible -to talk about; why talk about vaporware? Why indeed. - -Introduction! -============ - -This doesn't need to be an overly long post, so it won't be. There is a *fork* -of Libreboot, named GNU Boot, which you can find on the GNU Savannah website. - -Long story short, when I saw this, I decided that I would try to *help* the -project. More on this next: - -non-GeNUine Boot 20230717 release ------------------------------------- - -NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: non-GeNUine Boot is now called Canoeboot. - -If you want to skip the lecture, just read these first and re-visit this -page (the one you're reading now) afterwards for more context: - -* **non-GeNUine Boot 20230717, unofficial release (produced by *me*): - - based on the - recent [Libreboot 20230625](libreboot20230625.md) release**, but modified to - comply with GNU Boot policy, as best as I could approximate. - I *encourage them* to re-use this work. It's roughly *8 months* ahead - of their current work. - -Or generally: ** - non-GeNUine Boot website** - -These links, above, are for an *unofficial* fork of Libreboot that *I* have -done myself, proposed for re-use by the new GNU Boot project. I am *not* a -member of the GNU Boot project, but I do want to see it succeed. - -GNU Boot? What is that, you ask me? It is a fork of Libreboot by the GNU -project, but it currently does not have a website and does not have any -releases of its own. My intent is to *help them*, and they are free - encouraged - -to re-use my work, linked above. - -GNU forked Libreboot? -===================== - -Why? ----- - -They forked Libreboot, due to disagreement with Libreboot's [Binary Blob -Reduction Policy](policy.md). This is a pragmatic policy, enacted in November -2022, to increase the number of coreboot users by increasing the amount of -hardware supported in Libreboot. Libreboot's [Freedom -Status](../freedom-status.md) page describes in great detail, how that policy -is implemented - the last few Libreboot releases have *vastly* expanded the -list of hardware supported, which you can read [here](../docs/hardware/). - -I wish GNU Boot all the best success. Truly. Although I think their project is -entirely misguided (for reasons explained by modern Libreboot policy), I do -think there is value in it. It provides continuity for those who wish to use -something resembling the old Libreboot project; some context: - -osboot ------- - -Previously, another project -started by me named [osboot](https://web.archive.org/web/20220714144846/https://osboot.org/) -existed - osboot, created in December 2020, ran for just under two years as -a separate project, and it very much resembled what Libreboot is today. - -osboot was a fork of Libreboot, that I created *myself*, and maintained in -parallel to Libreboot. The old osboot Git repositories are *still available* -here, archived for historical purposes: - -osboot/libreboot merge ----------------------- - -In November 2022, I *shut down* osboot's website and redirected it to the -Libreboot website, merging all of its documentation and additional code into -Libreboot. Libreboot *adopted* OSBoot policy, verbatim. The [Binary Blob -Reduction Policy](policy.md) *is* that policy - the [old Libreboot -policy](https://web.archive.org/web/20221107235850/https://libreboot.org/news/policy.html) -was declared obsolete, and abandoned - the main problem with it, and the problem -with GNU Boot today which is based on it, is that it limited the amount of -hardware that Libreboot could support. - -OSBoot was always the superior project, and Libreboot was practically dead, -so I saw nothing to lose and just did it. I merged them together. - -So why talk about GNU Boot? -=========================== - -Ordinarily, I would ignore other projects; it's not that I'm bothered by them, -it's just that I have Libreboot, which pleases me, and therefore I have no need -to worry about the others. They can sort themselves out. I work collaboratively -with a few other coreboot distros; for example, I sometimes provide advice or -ideas to the [Heads](https://osresearch.net/) project (a very interesting -project, superior to Libreboot in many ways). I recently helped them by offering -to host tarballs for them, that they use in their build system. - -But that's just the problem: when GNU Boot first launched, as a failed *hostile -fork* of Libreboot *under the same name*, I observed: their code repository -was based on Libreboot from late 2022, and their website based on Libreboot in -late 2021. Their same-named Libreboot site was announced during LibrePlanet -2023, by this video: - - -their speaker is Denis Carikli, an early contributor to Libreboot, who you can -read about here: . Denis is one -of the founders of that project. - -Well, now they are calling themselves *GNU Boot*, and it is indeed GNU, but it -still has the same problem as of *today*: still based on very old Libreboot, -and they don't *even* have a website. According to Savannah, GNU Boot was -created on 11 June 2023. Yet no real development, in over a month since then. - -I have this itch in the back of my mind, that says: if you're going to do -something, you should *do it*. When someone expresses disagreement with what -I say, I can respect it if it's more than just words, which is all -what they had given at the time of this article. - -I value *technical excellence*. - -So *why talk about it??* ---------------------- - -Simple: I've decided that I want to **help them**. Refer to the links above, in -the early section of this article. I decided recently that I'd simply make a -release *for them*, exactly to their specifications (GNU Free System -Distribution Guidelines), talking favourably about FSF/GNU, and so on. I'm in -a position to *do it* (thus scratching the itch), so why not? - -**I did this release for them: -** - it's designated *non-GeNUine -Boot 20230717*, and I encourage them to re-use this in their project, to get -off the ground. This completely leapfrogs their current development; it's -months ahead. *Months*. **It's 8 months ahead**, since their current revision -is based upon Libreboot from around ~October 2022. - -The most remarkable thing of all is this: in December 2022 is when I first -learned of their supposed effort. They tried to poach several Libreboot developers -behind my back, -but none of them were interested it seems, and one of them leaked the existence -of their effort to me. I knew *three months* before they announced that they -were going to announce something, and I reliably predicted it'd be at LibrePlanet. - -The most absurd thing of that is: why did they not contact *me*? - -The GNU people should have simply contacted me from the start. I *would* have -helped them. I did Libreboot releases under their policies for *years*, and I -know what I'm doing. Ideology aside, I enjoy fun technical challenges; I have a -wide depth of knowledge and expertise. *I offer it now*, as I have today, and -will continue to do so. I offer my *support*, in service to it, even if I would -personally never use nor recommend their project. One of the purposes of today's -article is simply to tell people they exist, because I hope maybe they'll get -more devs. They use the same build system as Libreboot, so Libreboot could even -merge a lot of any actual code/ideas that they produce (and they can merge our -work - *and I want them to do that*). - -There were/are more things to talk about, but I'm not really interested in -writing more. Free as in freedom? Libreboot is a free software project, yet -GNU propaganda says otherwise. - -GNU Boot is [inferior](../policy.md#problems-with-fsdg) to Libreboot in every -way, just as Libreboot was inferior to OSBoot before the Libreboot/OSBoot -merge; since modern (post-merge) Libreboot still provides the same blob-free -configurations on -mainboards when that is possible, GNU Boot is also a *pointless* project, -just as Libreboot was before I merged osboot with it, but I digress. - -What more is there to say? - -Happy hacking! - -UPDATE (21 July 2023) -===================== - -The non-GeNUine Boot website, and the non-GeNUine 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. - -Libreboot regularly updates to newer coreboot revisions, containing many fixes -in its build system, and engages in active [build system -audit](audit.html); GNU Boot is poorly audited. GNU Boot as of now has 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 [nonGeNUine Boot](https://notgnuboot.vimuser.org/) site having -clearly stating that it's unofficial, and *not* the GNU Boot project. 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 -non-GeNUine Boot. The release archive was re-compiled, under this new brand -name and the 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*.