---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Alexandre Oliva <[email protected]> Date: Sat, Mar 21, 2009 at 4:51 PM Subject: linux-2.6.28.8-libre1: suitable for Free System Distributions To: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Several months ago, I realized the existing releases of Linux-libre, that removed non-Free Software present in Linux, still retained code and documentation that induced users to install and use non-Free Software. This means it wasn't fit for use in Free System Distributions. I started working to fix that bug back then. Today, I'm very excited to announce, straight from the Libre Planet 2009 conference organized by the FSF, the first version of Linux-libre that won't do that any more. The 2.6.28-libre1 release, and the patched 2.6.28.8-libre1 release, are now available from http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/, bringing back several drivers that used to be disabled before, and not disabling any driver whatsoever. Some of the drivers we used to disable have been modified so that they now report the lack of Free firmware, instead of requesting users to load non-Free Software into their systems. These reports should be useful for userland to pick up and report some useful, informative and educational message to the user, explaining that their hardware is not compatible with Free Software. Other drivers we used to disabled contained suspicious strings that had been conservatively removed. Having verified the technical and legal status of some of them, and having determined that some others weren't code after all, this release brings them back in. Some WiFi interfaces and video capture devices, will be functional with this new release. Other releases of Linux-libre, including past ones and the upcoming 2.6.29, will certainly require additional work, but nothing even close to the amount of work it took to get to this one. Thanks for your patience. I'd also like to thank the FSF for offering us our new build and web server, the first in which this release was prepared, and Jeff Moe, who had paid for our previous server. Please report to [email protected] any problems you run into with this release (other than compile errors in a few dvb drivers, I'm on those already), and let us know of any case in which you believe I may have removed something that could have been retained. Happier (and freer) hacking, :-) -- Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/ You must be the change you wish to see in the world. -- Gandhi Be Free! -- http://FSFLA.org/ FSF Latin America board member Free Software Evangelist Red Hat Brazil Compiler Engineer _______________________________________________ linux-libre mailing list [email protected] http://www.fsfla.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linux-libre _______________________________________________ gNewSense-dev mailing list [email protected] http://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnewsense-dev
