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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
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title: Free your BIOS today! title: Free your BIOS today!
... ...
Libreboot is ### What is this? ####
[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.
The latest version is [Libreboot 20211122](news/libreboot20211122.md), released Libreboot is a free software project aimed at replacing the proprietary
on 22 November 2021. 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 We believe all computer users deserve to control all the software they
and the right to read. [Free run. This belief is the foundation of a social movement called the
software](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html) gives you these rights. *free software movement*, which consists of a large community of
Your freedom matters. software users and developers. We believe computer user freedom is a
[Right to repair](https://vid.puffyan.us/watch?v=Npd_xDuNi9k) matters. vitally important goal.
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).
Libreboot uses [coreboot](https://www.coreboot.org/) for [hardware In order to achieve our goal, it is important that when we call a
initialization](https://doc.coreboot.org/getting_started/architecture.html). program free or libre, it is actually free in its entirety. That may
Coreboot is notoriously difficult to install for most non-technical users; it seem like a lot to ask, but it would undermine our goal if we were
handles only basic initialization and jumps to a separate flexible on our core belief: freedom.
[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.
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 Libreboot was first released in 2009. It has been widely recommended in the
de-blobbed coreboot setup; it is merely one of Libreboot's policies, and an free software community for the last thirteen years. In November 2022,
important one, but it is nonetheless a minor aspect of Libreboot. 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 ### Our short term plans and need for help ###
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.
If you were to build regular coreboot, without using Libreboot's automated We are seeking contributors for various jobs, both simple and technical.
build system, it would require a lot more intervention and decent technical
knowledge to produce a working configuration.
Reguar binary releases of Libreboot provide these The Libreboot name has a long history in the free software
ROM images pre-compiled, and you can simply install them, with no special community. We will continue to publish the genuinely free boot
knowledge or skill except the ability to software by the name Libreboot. You can help our project by informing
follow [simplified instructions, written for non-technical people about this genuinely free version. Another way to help this
users](docs/install/). 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 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli and Adrien 'neox' Bourmault are the interim
bugs listed on the [bug tracker](https://notabug.org/libreboot/lbmk/issues). 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 We are taking steps to ensure that our genuine Libreboot will remain
patches](git.md), and you can also report it. Also, this entire website is free and continue to be maintained over time.
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).