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GNU Linux-libre 4.0 Kernel Updates Nouveau Deblobbing

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  • GNU Linux-libre 4.0 Kernel Updates Nouveau Deblobbing

    Phoronix: GNU Linux-libre 4.0 Kernel Updates Nouveau Deblobbing

    Just hours after Linus Torvalds released the Linux 4.0 kernel, the GNU Linux-Libre 4.0 kernel was released by the Free Software Foundation of Latin America...

    Phoronix, Linux Hardware Reviews, Linux hardware benchmarks, Linux server benchmarks, Linux benchmarking, Desktop Linux, Linux performance, Open Source graphics, Linux How To, Ubuntu benchmarks, Ubuntu hardware, Phoronix Test Suite

  • #2
    In Ubuntu is your kernel deblobbed if you remove the package linux-firmware?

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    • #3
      Originally posted by uid313 View Post
      In Ubuntu is your kernel deblobbed if you remove the package linux-firmware?
      No, as they are also referring to some firmware blobs present in the kernel itself without source code. It shouldn't be possible, but unfortunately that happens. I am sure there are good reasons sometimes.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by vadix View Post
        I am sure there are good reasons sometimes.
        If Linus allowed them in I'm confident the reasons were good.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Pajn View Post
          If Linus allowed them in I'm confident the reasons were good.
          No, they were not. Binary blobs and proprietary drivers should just die -- they're a potential violation of GPLv2.

          Remember that Linus is for “open source”, and is very much for hybrid free/proprietary systems.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by vadix View Post
            No, as they are also referring to some firmware blobs present in the kernel itself without source code. It shouldn't be possible, but unfortunately that happens. I am sure there are good reasons sometimes.
            Actually I'm not totally sure any deblobbing was done but rather some blob detection for nouveau was tuned. The article and the front page of the project are rather vague on what was done

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Calinou View Post
              No, they were not. Binary blobs and proprietary drivers should just die -- they're a potential violation of GPLv2.

              Remember that Linus is for ?open source?, and is very much for hybrid free/proprietary systems.
              AFAIK there are no binary blobs or proprietary drivers in the kernel that run on the CPU -- just firmware & HW microcode to make peripheral devices function.

              Burning firmware into the device = good
              Loading firmware into the device using code in the flash ROM = good
              Loading the same firmware into the same device using code in the driver = evil
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