Earlier quoted context omitted.
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The reddit discussion is severely out of date.
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Libreboot 20230423
11–20 of 54 posts
Re: Libreboot 20230423
#12I never understood what Libreboot does on top of Coreboot. As far as I could tell it's a "distro" of Coreboot that just disables some things and maybe adds a few patches. All the heavy lifting is done by Coreboot.
Pretty much +95% of the Linux distros are like this.
That's not correct. Each distro has a huge amount of code in the form of patches, packaging and installation that they handle.
Re: Libreboot 20230423
#13Does Libreboot (.org) still have the binary blob drama going on?
I'm pretty sure that "drama" is the whole reason Libreboot exists, instead of just merging into the Coreboot project it's based on.
Nope, what libreboot does is make coreboot simple for end users to install. With coreboot, you have to configure it manually (by design). Libreboot even provides pre-compiled binaries (with clear instructions on how to install them).
Re: Libreboot 20230423
#14Does Libreboot (.org) still have the binary blob drama going on?
This? https://libreboot.org/freedom-status.html I wouldn't call it drama. There's often important practical reasons to try to minimize closed parts of the firmware. See also the high-security / high-trustworthiness work of Purism.
There's definitely drama around it. There's drama around whether devices seeking RYF certification can use newer (blob-allowing) versions of Libreboot, even if the devices has a board for which Libreboot doesn't use blobs. There's drama around whether FSDG-following GNU/Linux distros can still ship the Libreboot tools.
The page https://libreboot.org/news/policy.html does a better job of showing how the Libreboot's policy is at odds with the FSF's RYF and FSDG policies. And that disagreement between Libreboot and the FSF definitely causes drama in the community.
Heck, a few Libreboot contributors split off and created a fork (also claiming the Libreboot name): https://libreboot.at/
Re: Libreboot 20230423
#15I have a lot of trouble reading it a "libre boot" rather than "lib reboot". The lib prefix is so common in open-source/Linux.
Re: Libreboot 20230423
#16Re: Libreboot 20230423
#17I never understood what Libreboot does on top of Coreboot. As far as I could tell it's a "distro" of Coreboot that just disables some things and maybe adds a few patches. All the heavy lifting is done by Coreboot.
Libreboot provides:
- Release engineering and testing. When Libreboot started, upstream coreboot wasn't doing releases at all; now they are, but they're still not suitable for end-users who want to use stable tested software: "Our releases aren’t primarily a vehicle for code that is stable across all boards"[0]. Downstream distributions that test on a specific range of devices (such as Libreboot, mrchromebox.tech, and vendors such as Chromebooks, Purism, System 76, ...) are still important to the ecosystem to provide stable releases. In the words of a coreboot dev: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33997880
- Pre-compiled and tested binaries, because lots of users aren't set up to build their own.
- A distribution of tools for more easily installing them than a sequence of long `flashram` incantations.
- Loads of documentation.
- Pre-configuration of common payloads, such as GRUB or SeaBIOS.
And let's not forget that the Libreboot project does contribute to upstream coreboot.
[0]: https://doc.coreboot.org/releases/checklist.html#purpose-of-...
Re: Libreboot 20230423
#18Does Libreboot (.org) still have the binary blob drama going on?
Haven't heard of this, can you share more context or a link to a story about this?
There was a sibling "osboot" project that allowed in the minimum amount of binary blobs to add support for more boards. This is at odds with the FSF's RYF and FSDG policies. In November 2022, libreboot merged osboot, adopting osboot's more permissive binary blob policy (
https://libreboot.org/news/policy.html ). Because libreboot is no longer in compliance with the FSF's policies, this has created some drama in the community. Some of the libreboot contributors have even split off and created a fork (also claiming the Libreboot name: https://libreboot.at/ ).
Re: Libreboot 20230423
#19I never understood what Libreboot does on top of Coreboot. As far as I could tell it's a "distro" of Coreboot that just disables some things and maybe adds a few patches. All the heavy lifting is done by Coreboot.
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These comments are usually downvoted but they're usually quite useful. Thanks.
Re: Libreboot 20230423
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
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These comments are usually downvoted but they're usually quite useful. Thanks.
I'm doing it for the first time. Didn't know it will get this negative a reaction. I feel like the answer was acceptably worded. I even pointed out that I understand half the answer was wrong. I felt like it was in the spirit of HN.