Ariadne Conill: the FSF’s relationship with firmware is harmful to free software users

The normal Linux kernel is not recommended by the FSF, because it allows for the use of proprietary firmware with devices. Instead, they recommend Linux-libre, which disables support for proprietary firmware by ripping out code which allows for the firmware to be loaded on to devices. Libreboot, being FSF-recommended, also has this policy of disallowing firmware blobs in the source tree, despite it being a source of nothing but problems.
The end result is that users who deploy the FSF-recommended firmware and kernel wind up with varying degrees of broken configurations. Worse yet, the Linux-libre project removes warning messages which suggest a user may want to update their processor microcode to avoid Meltdown and Spectre security vulnerabilities.
While it is true that processor microcode is a proprietary blob, from a security and reliability point of view, there are two types of CPU: you can have a broken CPU, or a less broken CPU, and microcode updates are intended to give you a less broken CPU. This is particularly important because microcode updates fix real problems in the CPU, and Libreboot has patches which hack around problems caused by deficient microcode burned into the CPU at manufacturing time, since it’s not allowed to update the microcode at early boot time.
-
- Login or register to post comments
Printer-friendly version
- 1755 reads
PDF version
More in Tux Machines
- Highlights
- Front Page
- Latest Headlines
- Archive
- Recent comments
- All-Time Popular Stories
- Hot Topics
- New Members
today's howtos
| The 10 Best Linux Apps for Musicians
If you're a musician of any kind, from beginner to professional, Linux provides an amazing assortment of free, yet powerful, platforms and applications that will boost your productivity and help you to show off your creativity.
Don't let the fact that these apps are free wrongly influence your judgment. They are high-quality, professional-grade applications that rival even the most well-known, high-priced, commercial applications. These are 10 of the best Linux apps for musicians of all levels.
|
GNOME and KDE: This Week in GNOME, Qt6 and KF6
| The 5 best Application Launchers for UbuntuEvery operating system comes with an application launcher where you have to mouse over the entire menu to launch an application. But, unlike other operating systems, Linux allows us to install other launchers as an alternative. In this post, We came up with the five best application launchers for Ubuntu and their installation process.
Ubuntu has a default application launcher, i.e., GNOME Shell application overview. If you are a beginner or a tech professional, browsing the entire menu to launch an application is quite bothersome. Linux community offers a wide variety of application launchers. From a rich UX-based to a bare minimum, Linux has everything to offer.
These application launchers offer many themes and come with a lot of customization. Choosing the right application launcher as per your need might be difficult. That’s why we came up with the five best application launchers. Here are the top 5 application launchers for your Ubuntu.
|
Conill: the FSF’s relationship with firmware is harmful...
Conill: the FSF’s relationship with firmware is harmful to free software users