diff --git a/manual/gnuboot.texi b/manual/gnuboot.texi index 65a9027..a94571c 100644 --- a/manual/gnuboot.texi +++ b/manual/gnuboot.texi @@ -67,8 +67,8 @@ somewhat similar projects. @node What is GNU Boot @section What is GNU Boot -GNU Boot is a @dfn{boot software} @dfn{distribution}. What this means -will be explained below. +GNU Boot is a boot software distribution. What this means will be +explained below. @node boot software @subsection boot software @@ -158,6 +158,148 @@ So it is similar to GNU/Linux distributions like Trisquel 11 (aramo) that also reuse various software to produce something that can be installed. +@node Why free boot software is important +@section Why free boot software is important + +Freedom is important in general, and running nonfree software has +negative consequences regardless of the type of software (game, boot +software, operating system, driver, etc). + +@sp 1 + +Here are some examples of common issues for nonfree boot software: + +@itemize + +@item Since the boot software loads the operating system, it +can potentially modify it in a malicious way. In most cases part of +the boot software also continues to run once the operating system is +started. Because of that and, and because of the way the hardware and +boot software run, the boot software can also do such modification at +any time. If the boot software is nonfree, it is way harder to find +and remove malicious code (it's even impossible to remove in some +cases), and there is no way to make sure that there is none left. For +instance many nonfree boot software where shipped with the CompuTrace +malware (which was advertised as an anti-theft security feature). + +@item Vendors of various hardware components have to collaborate together +to provide updates for nonfree Boot software, so in practice +they decide when updates are done. So if a computer is not sold +anymore, it is unlikely to get update for its Boot software +unless the Boot software uses some free software that can be +updated. Also note that applying nonfree updates comes with huge risk +as we don't know what's inside the updates. Hardware vendors who +provide the updates also have an incentive to make things worse for +the users, so they would be pushed to buy new devices. + +@item Some nonfree Boot software restrict what you can do with +your computer. For instance they refuse to boot if you changed or +removed some hardware components. + +@end itemize + +@node Why use GNU Boot +@section Why use GNU Boot + +As explained before GNU boot is just a distribution. So it is also +possible to take the same software that GNU Boot reuses, and to build, +assemble and install it yourself. + +However doing that is risky because if something goes wrong, your +computer won't boot anymore. + +So the goals of GNU Boot are to: + +@itemize + +@item Collaborate together to test if GNU Boot releases works fine. + +@item Provide documentation to enable easy installation and usage. + +@item Limit the amount of work done by GNU Boot and contribute +directly to the software we reuse whenever possible. + +@end itemize + +GNU Boot also has a long term focus, so it tries not to break users +use cases, and tries as much as possible to fix issues in the projects +it reuses instead of doing workarounds that impact users. + + +@node Other free boot software distributions +@section Other free boot software distributions + +The following GNU/Linux distributions should also provide 100% free +boot software but they usually only provide them for computers using +the ARM architecture (which GNU Boot doesn't support yet): + +@itemize + +@item Parabola + +@item PureOS + +@item Trisquel + +@end itemize + +The GNU Guix package manager (which GNU Boot also reuses) also provide +100% free boot software for some ARM computers. However the Guix +packages are updated all the time and the Guix project doesn't provide +any way for users to report that specific ARM computers work fine with +the boot software they provide. + +There is also Canoeboot which is a 100% free software boot +distribution similar to GNU Boot. Its goal is to remove nonfree +software from Libreboot. It focuses more on having the latest software +and many features, including some that are not available in the +projects it reuses. Because of that it can be harder for users to use. + +@node How much free software is GNU Boot? +@section How much free software is GNU Boot? + +Being a GNU package, GNU Boot itself is 100% free software. If you +find nonfree software in GNU Boot and/or any source code or binaries +released by GNU Boot, please contact its maintainers by opening a bug +report on its bug tracker at +@url{https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=gnuboot}. + +But that doesn't mean that GNU Boot magically makes everything not +provided by GNU Boot free software. + +In some cases GNU Boot even runs nonfree software not provided by GNU +Boot like nonfree GPUs drivers provided by the removable GPU card. + +To address problems like that the @uref{https://www.fsf.org/,Free +Software Foundation} has created the +@uref{https://ryf.fsf.org/,Respect Your Freedom hardware +certification} to list hardware that works with only free software +(with some very small exceptions for some components, see +@uref{https://ryf.fsf.org/about/criteria, its criteria} for more +details). + +In addition there is also +@uref{https://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/blogs/lxo/draft/blob-fallacy,The +Blob Fallacy article} or +@uref{https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/software-enshittification-or-freedom-it-s-not-a-hard-choice, +a video of a presentation about the same issue at LibrePlanet 2024} by +Alexandre Oliva that explains the related freedom issues with nonfree +software provided by the hardware and how they compare with other kind +of freedom issues (nonfree driver, nonfree firmware loaded +automatically by Linux, etc). + +@node Limitations +@section Limitations + +GNU Boot is fairly recent and doesn't have an official release +yet. + +For the release we plan to have at least some install and upgrade +instructions for some computers and an easy way for users to use GNU +Boot. + +Also the latest GNU Boot release candidate was not tested yet with all +the computers it's supposed to support (we badly need help for that). @node Helping GNU Boot @chapter Helping GNU Boot