2021-05-18 14:21:48 +02:00
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---
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2021-11-13 06:48:07 +01:00
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title: Free your BIOS today!
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2023-10-04 20:03:25 +02:00
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x-reviewed: true
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2021-05-18 14:21:48 +02:00
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...
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2023-03-16 16:37:32 +01:00
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### What is this? ####
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2023-08-03 18:42:29 +02:00
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GNU Boot is a free software project aimed at replacing the proprietary
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2023-03-17 16:49:43 +01:00
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boot firmware that comes with computers with free boot software.
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2023-03-16 16:37:32 +01:00
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### How this project came to exist ####
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2023-03-17 16:49:43 +01:00
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We believe computer users deserve to control all the software they
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run. This belief is the key principle of the Free Software Movement,
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and was the motive for developing the GNU operating system and
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starting the Free Software Foundation. We believe computer user
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freedom is a crucial human rights.
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In order to achieve our goal, it is crucial that we call a program
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"free" or "libre" only when it is indeed free in its entirety. When
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we talk about specific programs, we must not muddle the facts about
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what is free and what is not. If people start referring to a progran
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as "libre," when parts of it are not in fact libre, that tends to lead
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the community astray.
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2023-03-16 16:37:32 +01:00
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2023-03-17 16:49:43 +01:00
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Unfortunately, such a muddle happened last year with a boot program
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2023-08-03 18:42:29 +02:00
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that was free software and is called Libreboot: the development team
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added nonfree code to it, but continued to use "Libre" in its name.
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2023-03-17 16:49:43 +01:00
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2023-03-19 19:37:27 +01:00
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Libreboot was first released in 2013. It has been widely recommended
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in the free software community for the last nine years. In November
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2022, Libreboot began to include non-libre code. We have made
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2023-03-20 21:17:43 +01:00
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repeated efforts to continue collaboration with those developers to
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2023-03-19 19:37:27 +01:00
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help their version of Libreboot remain libre, but that was not
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2023-03-17 23:21:36 +01:00
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successful.
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2023-03-17 16:49:43 +01:00
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Now we've stepped forward to stand up for freedom, ours and that of
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the wider community, by maintaining our own version -- a genuinely libre
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2023-08-03 18:42:29 +02:00
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Libreboot, that after some hurdles gave birth to this project: GNU Boot.
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2023-03-16 16:37:32 +01:00
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### Our short term plans and need for help ###
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We are seeking contributors for various jobs, both simple and technical.
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2023-03-17 16:49:43 +01:00
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The Libreboot name has a long history in the free software community.
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Most occurrences of the uses were intended to refer to boot software
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that was libre, and there is no way to edit those occurrences to refer
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2023-08-03 18:42:29 +02:00
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to libre boot software by a different name. Therefore, we need help
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from the wider community to inform people about the inclusion of
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nonfree software in the Libreboot releases.
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2023-03-17 16:49:43 +01:00
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2023-08-03 18:42:29 +02:00
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Another way to help this project and take a stand for fully free
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software is to change URLs across the web from <libreboot.org> to
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<gnu.org/software/gnuboot>, to make sure that the mentioned software
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is reliably free software.
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2023-03-16 16:37:32 +01:00
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2023-10-04 19:04:22 +02:00
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You can also help our project by informing people about GNU boot or
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other 100% free boot software.
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2023-03-16 16:37:32 +01:00
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While there is some documentation in our git repositories, we also
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need help adding explanations on how to contribute, build and test
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this website.
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2023-04-08 14:47:05 +02:00
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Adrien 'neox' Bourmault and Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli are the interim
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2023-08-03 18:42:29 +02:00
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maintainers of this GNU Boot project. They will also review patches
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2023-03-16 16:37:32 +01:00
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sent to the mailing list. Technoethical (an online shop that sells
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hardware compatible with FSF certified distributions) and Libre en
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Communs (a French nonprofit that acts and advocates for free software
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and the commons) have offered help for testing releases.
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2023-08-03 18:42:29 +02:00
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Making this project part of GNU is part of our work to ensure that our
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genuine Libreboot version remains free and continue to be maintained
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over time.
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