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Note that the text is a collective work by many people and that I only
have written an extremely small part of it.

Signed-off-by: Adrien Bourmault <neox@a-lec.org>
Signed-off-by: Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli <GNUtoo@cyberdimension.org>
Acked-by: Adrien Bourmault <neox@a-lec.org>
Acked-by: Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli <GNUtoo@cyberdimension.org>
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Many people 2023-03-16 16:37:32 +01:00 committed by Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
parent cb3da8ef42
commit 73c505b5e6
Signed by: GNUtoo
GPG Key ID: 5F5DFCC14177E263
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title: Free your BIOS today!
...
Libreboot is
[freedom-respecting](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html) *boot
firmware* that initializes the hardware (e.g. memory controller, CPU,
peripherals) on [specific Intel/AMD x86 computers](docs/hardware/) and starts
a bootloader for your operating system. [GNU+Linux](docs/gnulinux/)
and [BSD](docs/bsd/) are well-supported. It replaces proprietary BIOS/UEFI
firmware. Help is available
via [\#libreboot](https://web.libera.chat/#libreboot)
on [Libera](https://libera.chat/) IRC.
### What is this? ####
The latest version is [Libreboot 20211122](news/libreboot20211122.md), released
on 22 November 2021.
Libreboot is a free software project aimed at replacing the proprietary
BIOS firmware with an entirely free version.
Join us now and flash the firmware!
-----------------------------------
### How this project came to exist ####
You have rights. The right to privacy, freedom of thought, freedom of speech
and the right to read. [Free
software](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html) gives you these rights.
Your freedom matters.
[Right to repair](https://vid.puffyan.us/watch?v=Npd_xDuNi9k) matters.
Many people use [proprietary](https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/proprietary.html)
boot firmware, even if they use [GNU+Linux](https://www.gnu.org/distros/).
Non-free firmware often [contains](faq.html#intel) [backdoors](faq.html#amd),
and can be buggy. Libreboot was founded in in December 2013, with the express
purpose of making Free Software accessible for non-technical users at the
firmware level. Libreboot can be called Open Source, [but you should call it
Free
Software](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.en.html).
We believe all computer users deserve to control all the software they
run. This belief is the foundation of a social movement called the
*free software movement*, which consists of a large community of
software users and developers. We believe computer user freedom is a
vitally important goal.
Libreboot uses [coreboot](https://www.coreboot.org/) for [hardware
initialization](https://doc.coreboot.org/getting_started/architecture.html).
Coreboot is notoriously difficult to install for most non-technical users; it
handles only basic initialization and jumps to a separate
[payload](https://doc.coreboot.org/payloads.html) program (e.g.
[GRUB](https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/),
[Tianocore](https://www.tianocore.org/)), which must also be configured.
*Libreboot solves this problem*; it is a *coreboot distribution* with
an [automated build system](docs/build/) that builds complete *ROM images*, for
more robust installation. Documentation is provided.
In order to achieve our goal, it is important that when we call a
program free or libre, it is actually free in its entirety. That may
seem like a lot to ask, but it would undermine our goal if we were
flexible on our core belief: freedom.
How does Libreboot differ from regular coreboot?
------------------------------------------------
There are free software programs that are important to the community
and our cause. Sometimes the development team of one of these programs
changes direction and creates the unfortunate situation where a free
program that is used by many begins to include nonfree software. This
is what is currently happening with the formerly free BIOS replacement
Libreboot.
Contrary to popular opinion, Libreboot's primary purpose is not to provide a
de-blobbed coreboot setup; it is merely one of Libreboot's policies, and an
important one, but it is nonetheless a minor aspect of Libreboot.
Libreboot was first released in 2009. It has been widely recommended in the
free software community for the last thirteen years. In November 2022,
Libreboot upstream began to include nonfree software. We have made
multiple attempts to work with upstream to keep Libreboot fully free,
but unfortunately our efforts were not successful. As such, we've
taken it upon ourselves to stand up for our principles and the
freedom of the wider community, releasing our own version of a
genuinely libre libreboot.
In the same way that Trisquel is a GNU+Linux distribution, Libreboot is
a *coreboot distribution*. If you want to build a ROM image from scratch, you
otherwise have to perform expert-level configuration of coreboot, GRUB and
whatever other software you need, to prepare the ROM image. With *Libreboot*,
you can literally download from Git or a source archive, and run `make`, and it
will build entire ROM images. Libreboot's automated build system, named `lbmk`
(Libreboot MaKe), builds these ROM images automatically, without any user input
or intervention required. Configuration has already been performed in advance.
### Our short term plans and need for help ###
If you were to build regular coreboot, without using Libreboot's automated
build system, it would require a lot more intervention and decent technical
knowledge to produce a working configuration.
We are seeking contributors for various jobs, both simple and technical.
Reguar binary releases of Libreboot provide these
ROM images pre-compiled, and you can simply install them, with no special
knowledge or skill except the ability to
follow [simplified instructions, written for non-technical
users](docs/install/).
The Libreboot name has a long history in the free software
community. We will continue to publish the genuinely free boot
software by the name Libreboot. You can help our project by informing
people about this genuinely free version. Another way to help this
project and take a stand for fully free software is to change URLs
across the web from <libreboot.org> to <libreboot.at>, and to let them
know that no other version of Libreboot is reliably free software.
How to help
-----------
While there is some documentation in our git repositories, we also
need help adding explanations on how to contribute, build and test
this website.
Check the [tasks](tasks/) page and pick a task to work on. You can also check
bugs listed on the [bug tracker](https://notabug.org/libreboot/lbmk/issues).
Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli and Adrien 'neox' Bourmault are the interim
maintainers of this genuine Libreboot. They will also review patches
sent to the mailing list. Technoethical (an online shop that sells
hardware compatible with FSF certified distributions) and Libre en
Communs (a French nonprofit that acts and advocates for free software
and the commons) have offered help for testing releases.
If you spot a bug and have a fix, [here are instructions for how to send
patches](git.md), and you can also report it. Also, this entire website is
written in Markdown and hosted in a [separate
repository](https://notabug.org/libreboot/lbwww) where you can send patches.
Libreboot development discussion and user support are all done on the IRC
channel. More information is on the [contact page](contact.md).
We are taking steps to ensure that our genuine Libreboot will remain
free and continue to be maintained over time.