From 927a2916dfa4d075eb5edebfdf2c3c3e13c5b783 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Francis Rowe Date: Mon, 09 Nov 2015 01:19:48 -0500 Subject: GNU Libreboot --- diff --git a/site/gnu/index.php b/site/gnu/index.php new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b75b324 --- /dev/null +++ b/site/gnu/index.php @@ -0,0 +1,135 @@ + + + This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify + it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as + published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the + License, or (at your option) any later version. + + This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, + but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of + MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the + GNU Affero General Public License for more details. + + You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License + along with this program. If not, see . +*/ + header('Content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8'); + ob_start(); + include_once "../common/variables.php"; + include_once "../common/functions.php"; +?> + + + + + GNU Libreboot + + + + +
+ +

GNU Libreboot

+

+ We are working to make libreboot eligible to be added to the GNU system, + and call on the community to help with this effort. Back to home page +

+

+ Firstly, the git repositories (for development) can be found on the git page. +

+

+ Libreboot has been 100% philosophically compatible with GNU, from the day the project was founded (our goal is identical to GNU, + and our philosophy is identical to the one held by that project), but there are some + technical issues with it that make it incompatible with GNU at present. +

+

+ So far, we have the following tasks to complete (there may be other tasks): +

+
    +
  • + Convert the documentation to texinfo - partially complete. The docs have been converted using pandoc, + but now require a serious cleanup. + We wish to merge these into 1 documentation file (manual) in texinfo file. + The texinfo manual itself + is an example of how we would like to implement the new libreboot documentation. One file, but we + will distribute it separated into separate pages/sections, + and in other formats in addition to HTML. (info, PDF, etc). The current live documentation on the + libreboot website is the old pre-conversion documentation, + written in raw HTML. To encourage the transition, we are now refusing all new documentation submissions + that are not in texinfo format. +
      +
    • Texinfo is the official documentation format, for all GNU software.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • + Modify the build system, to make use of standard GNU utilities: make, autoconf and so on. The current build system is + non-standard (but well documented), written mostly in BASH.Read these documents: + +
    • +
  • + Include ChangeLog and NEWS files in the distribution (in the release archives, but probably uncessary in the git repository). + ChangeLog entries can be generated automatically, using the gnulib gitlog-to-changelog script, and the NEWS file can be generated + from commit messages. +
    • +
  • + Generally tweak the site and documentation, to more aggressively promote the freedom aspect (the main goal of the GNU project). We already do + this to a great extent (especially on the home page), but there are obviously areas for improvement. A lot of the time, we assume + that the reader already knows about the free software philosophy, without actually explaining it to them properly. We need to fix that. +
    • +
  • + Document, extensively (and keep it up to date!) full and accurate information about package dependencies, libraries used, etc. + We already do this to a great extent (via an installation script for Trisquel and Parabola, and the overall build system in libreboot), + but we can do a better job documentation-wise. +
    • +
  • + Re-license the documentation under GNU FDL - DONE! +
    • +
  • + Make libreboot possible to build from source without network access - DONE! (only in release archives. + development in git requires network access, for downloading the extra modules that go into the release archives. There is no way to avoid + this, due to what libreboot actually is - a boot firmware distribution, combining several projects, much like you have GNU/Linux distributions + which are identical in concept). +
    • +
+

+ Not required, technically, but will make things easier in general, not just for GNU: +

+
    +
  • + Modify the build system, to directly download (only in git. release archives would have them already) the build dependencies + that libreboot currently tells the user to install from their distribution package repository, and build these from source, with + our own GCC (re-use coreboot's GCC, which libreboot already uses). This will make complete corresponding source provision easier, + because it would be automated; this is in contrast to the present setup, where the person distributing binaries has to include + the sources for build dependencies from the distribution that they happened to use for compiling those packages. +
      +
    • This will also make everything self-contained, and coreboot already has integration for cross-compiling. We can make cross compilation + of utilities for non-x86 architectures much easier, without relying on quirks from the user's GNU/Linux distribution, where the + only thing we need from their distribution is the necessary toolchain for building libreboot's own version of GCC, which would then take over
      • +
    • + However, do not install these dependencies, only self-host them in the libreboot source archive. Also provide an option for the user to ignore libreboot's + GCC and dependencies, and use what their GNU/Linux distribution provides, when building from source. +
      • +
    +
    • +
+ +
+ + + + + + diff --git a/site/index.php b/site/index.php index e590d37..04591a5 100644 --- a/site/index.php +++ b/site/index.php @@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ Libreboot has many practical advantages over proprietary firmware, such as faster boot speeds and better security. For example, you can install GNU/Linux with an encrypted /boot/ directory, verify a GPG signature on your kernel before booting it, load a kernel from the flash chip, and more!

- We are working on getting libreboot certified as an official component of the GNU system. + We are working on getting libreboot certified as an official component of the GNU system.