On Tue, 21 Jan 2025 15:26:13 -0500 "Leo Famulari" <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 21, 2025, at 15:17, Roman Riabenko wrote: > > Hello, Leo. > > > > On Tue, 21 Jan 2025 13:58:30 -0500 > > Leo Famulari <[email protected]> wrote: > > > >> Okay, what should Guix do about this problem? > > > > Since I associate the problem with the default configuration of > > linux-libre package, it looks like I have to ask on their mailing list > > whether it is a good idea to set the following option by default in > > addition to deblobbing. > > > > CONFIG_EFI_VARS_PSTORE_DEFAULT_DISABLE=y > > As far as I can tell, linux-libre mainly changes Linux to fix what they call > "freedom issues". > > If the problem we are discussing is not related to licensing or DRM, then I > think it's out of scope for them, but in scope for Linux or Guix. > > So, should we disable this kernel option? Patch the source code like Debian? > Something else? After giving it another thought, I believe that there is indeed no freedom issue. Error logs in EFI variables is a Linux kernel feature relying on UEFI standard specification, not on proprietary functionality. The fact that UEFI is overwhelmingly proprietary is a separate issue. In such case, Guix should do nothing about it. I expect packages in Guix to be faithful to the software authors intentions unless there is good reason to have it configured differently to make it work with other GNU software or to achieve Guix-specific objectives. In this case, we are considering whether it is necessary to account for faulty UEFI implementations. However, the affected users can account for them by passing efi_pstore.pstore_disable=1 to kernel arguments either manually in GRUB during boot or in Guix System configuration as long as their UEFI remains functional. So, there appears to be no problem for Guix to solve. Debian refused to patch the kernel because they consider the feature useful. https://bugs-devel.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=924794 Apparently, the Linux kernel developers also consider the feature useful enough for users to have it turned on by default. Roman
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