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GNU Linux-libre 5.8

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  • GNU Linux-libre 5.8-gnu
    GNU Linux-libre 5.8-gnu cleaning-up scripts, cleaned-up sources, and
    cleaning-up logs (including tarball signatures) are now available from
    our git-based release archive git://linux-libre.fsfla.org/releases.git/
    tags {scripts,sources,logs}/v5.8-gnu.
    
    Tarballs and incremental patches are still getting compressed; when
    ready, they are all going to be at published along with patches at
    <https://www.fsfla.org/selibre/linux-libre/download/releases/5.8-gnu/>.
    
    
    There haven't been any changes to the deblobbing scripts since 5.8-rc7
    last weekend.
    
    This was quite a big release.  New drivers that required cleaning up
    were for Atom ISP Video, MediaTek 7663 USB and 7915 PCIe and Realtek
    8723DE WiFi, Renesas PCI xHCI, HabanaLabs Gaudi coprocessor, Enhanced
    Asynchronous Sample Rate Converter, Maxim Integrated MAX98390 Speaker
    Aimplifier, Microsemi ZL38060 Connected Home Audio Processor, and I2C
    EEPROM Slave.  Drivers for Adreno GPU, HabanaLabs Goya coprocessor, x86
    Touchscreen, vt6656 and btbcm, and various documentation files needed
    adjustments to their cleaning-up details.
    
    
    I've also made some adjustments to enable the use of deblob-check to
    verify full tarballs using Python or Perl rather than GNU awk or GNU
    sed.  The order of regexp alternatives matters in Python and Perl
    regular expression engines, and some constructs lead to exponential
    backtracking.  Those that affected looking for blobs (e.g. -l, -B) have
    been fixed, so now checks for blobs without context make steady progress
    even with backtracking engines; GNU awk is still tens of times faster,
    but Python and Perl will run to completion with as little as a few tens
    of MBs, whereas GNU awk takes a couple of GBs.  The details are in
    comments in deblob-check, under 'top mem'.
    
    GNU sed, that long ago was fastest and leanest, was retested, and
    verified to now explode to a couple of tens of GBs of memory use,
    running some 4x slower than GNU awk.  Maybe that's something that GNU
    sed developers would like to look into and see whether there's something
    wrong in their code, or in ours?
    
    
    As for deblob-check -C, that still won't run to completion on full Linux
    tarballs when using the Python or Perl engines.  There's presumably
    still something involving exponential backtracking in the context
    patterns.  Alas, I haven't got as far as fixing those in time for this
    release.  This is something that contributors with some regexp
    knowledge, or interest in learning, might be able to help with, without
    getting into the innards of our deblobbing monster scripts.  Please get
    in touch if you'd like to help.
    
    Another thing I could use some help with is some means to avoid
    introducing regexps prone to exponential backtracking when using perl or
    python.  I imagine there might be some code that identifies common
    pitfalls, that we might be able to use, but my web searches were
    unfruitful.
    
    
    For up-to-the-minute news, join us on #linux-libre of irc.gnu.org
    (Freenode), or follow me (@lxoliva) on Twister <http://twister.net.co/>,
    Secure Scuttlebutt, GNU social at social.libreplanet.org, Diaspora* at
    pod.libreplanetbr.org or pump.io at identi.ca.  Check the link in the
    signature for direct links.
    
    
    Be Free! with GNU Linux-libre.
    
    
    What is GNU Linux-libre?
    ------------------------
    
      GNU Linux-libre is a Free version of the kernel Linux (see below),
      suitable for use with the GNU Operating System in 100% Free
      GNU/Linux-libre System Distributions.
      http://www.gnu.org/distros/
    
      It removes non-Free components from Linux, that are disguised as
      source code or distributed in separate files.  It also disables
      run-time requests for non-Free components, shipped separately or as
      part of Linux, and documentation pointing to them, so as to avoid
      (Free-)baiting users into the trap of non-Free Software.
      http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2010-11-Linux-2.6.36-libre-debait
    
      Linux-libre started within the gNewSense GNU/Linux distribution.
      It was later adopted by Jeff Moe, who coined its name, and in 2008
      it became a project maintained by FSF Latin America.  In 2012, it
      became part of the GNU Project.
    
      The GNU Linux-libre project takes a minimal-changes approach to
      cleaning up Linux, making no effort to substitute components that
      need to be removed with functionally equivalent Free ones.
      Nevertheless, we encourage and support efforts towards doing so.
      http://libreplanet.org/wiki/LinuxLibre:Devices_that_require_non-free_firmware
    
      Our mascot is Freedo, a light-blue penguin that has just come out
      of the shower.  Although we like penguins, GNU is a much greater
      contribution to the entire system, so its mascot deserves more
      promotion.  See our web page for their images.
      http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/
    
    What is Linux?
    --------------
    
      Linux is a clone of the Unix kernel [...]
    
    (snipped from Documentation/admin-guide/README.rst)
    
    -- 
    Alexandre Oliva, happy hacker
    https://FSFLA.org/blogs/lxo/
    Free Software Activist
    GNU Toolchain Engineer
    
  • GNU Linux-libre 5.8 Required A Lot Of Deblobbing

    He also noted that for the scripts they use in purifying the kernel, a transition is underway for using Python and Perl rather than GNU awk or Sed. GNU Awk is much faster for the GNU Linux-libre purposes but consumes several GB of RAM where as Python/Perl can complete in "a few tens of MBs." GNU Sed meanwhile appears to be performing slower than in the past for their deblob checking.

  • GNU Linux-Libre 5.8 Kernel Arrives for Those Seeking 100% Freedom for Their PCs

    Alexandre Oliva announced today the general availability of the GNU Linux-libre 5.8 kernel for those seeking 100% freedom for their personal computers.

    Based on the recently released Linux 5.8 kernel series, the GNU Linux-libre 5.8 kernel is here to deblob any proprietary code and drivers to allow anyone who doesn’t want to use proprietary software on their personal computer to install a libre, 100% free kernel.

    As you know, Linux kernel 5.8 is one of the biggest releases of all time, so the GNU Linux-libre kernel developers had a lot of work deblobbing new drivers that required cleaning.

    Deblobbed drivers include Atom ISP Video, MediaTek 7663 USB and 7915 PCIe, Realtek 8723DE Wi-Fi, Renesas PCI xHCI, HabanaLabs Gaudi co-processor, Enhanced Asynchronous Sample Rate Converter, Maxim Integrated MAX98390 Speaker Amplifier, Microsemi ZL38060 Connected Home Audio Processor, and I2C EEPROM Slave.

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