diff --git a/site/news/gnuboot.md b/site/news/gnuboot.md index 77b6f7d..c20f969 100644 --- a/site/news/gnuboot.md +++ b/site/news/gnuboot.md @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ % 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, offically. +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. @@ -15,24 +15,23 @@ 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 here: -Unofficial GNU Boot 20230717 release +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 ------------------------------------ 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: -* **GNU Boot 20230717, unofficial release (produced by *me*): - - based on the +* **non-GeNUine Boot 20230717, unofficial release (produced by *me*): + - based on the recent [Libreboot 20230625](libreboot20230625.md) release**, but modified to - comply with their policy, as best as I could approximate. + 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: ** - Unofficial GNU Boot website** - -I call this unofficial fork *GNU Boot*, specifically because I want the work -to be used *by* the real GNU Boot project. It is also clearly marked unofficial, -on that website, so people don't get confused about that. +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 @@ -101,7 +100,7 @@ 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 (at domain name, libreboot .dot. at), I observed: their code repository +fork* of Libreboot (at domain name, libreboot **-dot-** at), 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: @@ -117,8 +116,8 @@ 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 the it's more than just words. Which is precisely -what they have been. +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*. @@ -170,3 +169,47 @@ 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) +===================== + +This website, that you are reading now, 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. + +Modern Libreboot uses coreboot from early 2023, and contains many bug fixes +in its build system, owing to an extensive [build system +audit](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 +non-GeNUine Boot. The release archive was re-compiled, under this new brand +name and this non-GeNUine 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) + +I may very well send patches. *If I want to*.