Re: Linux-Libre kernel

2018-05-12 Thread Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
On Fri, 4 May 2018 23:34:58 +0100
Andrew Nesbit  wrote:

> On 04/05/2018 20:10, Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli wrote:
> 
> > Depending on the people and the drivers involved, upstream may be
> > against making the driver work without a non-free firmware[3] for
> > some drivers, or, for other drivers, might want it to also work
> > without the firmware[4].  
> 
> Hi Denis, thanks for the explanation.  I am following this thread
> closely because I have many of the same questions.  I need to get a
> proper understanding of what linux-libre is all about.
> 
> Were there supposed to be endnotes with references or citations for
> [3] and [4]?  They aren't included at the end of your message.
I forgot to add them.
[3] It was about Radeon driver but I didn't find a precise reference. I
vaguely remember some text about it in their wiki, but It doesn't
seem to be there anymore. So take that with a grain of salt.
[4] This is the I.MX SDMA driver for several I.MX SOCs, as shown by
this commit:
70dabaede806 dma: imx-sdma: Assign a default script number for ROM
firmware cases
"i.MX series have inner firmware in its ROM code: when SDMA isn't
provided any firmware from Kernel or rootfs, the default inner ROM
firmware will be activated." [...]

Denis.


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Re: Linux-Libre kernel

2018-05-04 Thread Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
Hi,

On Jan 30, 2018, Ben Gailly  wrote:
> So, I'm a Kernel newbie. As a newbie, I know that I have to start
> somewhere somehow and after I'll have to choose a path.  

> I already have plenty of informations about kernel development (a lot
> of websites/books to learn of, teaching, tutorials, etc).  

> But as a Free Software advocate and enthusiast, I would like to start
> my path in learning how to develop kernels patches or drivers or
> modules only as Free Software, which could be part of the Linux-Libre
> kernel and not necessarly part of the mainline Linux Kernel...  

> Could you help me in providing informations on how to develop for the
> Linux-Libre kernel? How to remove/change codes to match the FSF
> guidelines?

There are two different projects:
- Linux: This is where the changes that can be upstreamed goes
- Linux-libre: This is where the deblob happens.

Depending on the people and the drivers involved, upstream may be
against making the driver work without a non-free firmware[3] for some
drivers, or, for other drivers, might want it to also work without the
firmware[4].

There is some work to do in that area to make devices drivers work
without nonfree firmwares, either by making the driver work without it
or by replacing the nonfree firmware with free software. There is a
Libreplanet wiki page with some details about this[1], but it doesn't
have much details on what can be done to improve the situation.

There is another page[2] that has more information on what can be done
to improve freedom with technical work. This includes many projects
that benefits from having such skills (kernel development).

References:
---
[1]https://libreplanet.org/wiki/LinuxLibre:Devices_that_require_non-free_firmware
[2]https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:Hardware/ReverseEngineering

Denis.


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Re: Linux-Libre kernel

2018-04-16 Thread Megver83
El 16/04/18 a las 02:13, Alexandre Oliva escribió:
> [adding linux-libre@fsfla.org]
> 
> Hello, Ben,
> 
> On Jan 30, 2018, Ben Gailly  wrote:
> 
>> So, I'm a Kernel newbie. As a newbie, I know that I have to start
>> somewhere somehow and after I'll have to choose a path.
> 
Hi Ben!

Have you looked at https://kernelnewbies.org/ ? It's a good place to
start from scratch :)


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Re: Linux-Libre kernel

2018-04-15 Thread Alexandre Oliva
[adding linux-libre@fsfla.org]

Hello, Ben,

On Jan 30, 2018, Ben Gailly  wrote:

> So, I'm a Kernel newbie. As a newbie, I know that I have to start
> somewhere somehow and after I'll have to choose a path.

> I already have plenty of informations about kernel development (a lot
> of websites/books to learn of, teaching, tutorials, etc).

> But as a Free Software advocate and enthusiast, I would like to start
> my path in learning how to develop kernels patches or drivers or
> modules only as Free Software, which could be part of the Linux-Libre
> kernel and not necessarly part of the mainline Linux Kernel...

> Could you help me in providing informations on how to develop for the
> Linux-Libre kernel? How to remove/change codes to match the FSF
> guidelines?

IIRC we talked on IRC shortly after you sent email (I recall seeing the
message coming into my inbox, but I didn't manage to find it again; I
didn't think of looking for it in the folder that holds email for
i...@fsfla.org, since it's so unrelated with general requests for
information from the organization), but if I'm mistaken, I apologize for
the long delay in responding.

We don't make changes to Linux other than the minimal ones required to
make it FSDG-compliant.  Any other sort of development should go
upstream; our deblobbing infrastructure is not compatible with
maintaining other kinds of local patches, which is fine because our goal
is to keep divergence to a minimum.


Now, maybe in your last paragraph you're not asking about developing the
kernel, but rather developing userland applications for the kernel.  The
good news is that the userland/kernel interfaces are not changed in any
way, so userland development for GNU Linux-libre is no different from
userland development for non-Free Linux.  Except for the joy of using a
kernel that respects your freedom ;-)

-- 
Alexandre Oliva, freedom fighterhttp://FSFLA.org/~lxoliva/
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 Brasil GNU Toolchain Engineer
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