GNU Linux-libre 4.14-gnu: -ENOFIRMWARE is now available
GNU Linux-libre 4.14-gnu sources and tarballs are now available at
http://www.fsfla.org/selibre/linux-libre/download/releases/4.14-gnu/ .
It didn't require any deblobbing changes since -rc6-gnu. Binaries are
expected to show up over the next few days.
The biggest change in this release is that the firmware subtree was
removed upstream (thus the codename -ENOFIRMWARE), removing from the
Linux kernel distribution a few pieces of Free firmware, and a number of
non-Free ones. Alas, there are still a few pieces of non-Free firmware
remaining in Linux 4.14; hopefully this problem will be addressed in a
future release, and Linux will then be Free Software again. For the
time being, it still requires some cleaning up to be Free Software, and
plenty of additional cleaning up to meet the GNU Free Software
Distribution Guidelines.
The larger problem, that several drivers in Linux will not work at all
unless you provide them with pieces of proprietary software, is not
affected by this move: the drivers still refuse to work, a number of
them for no good reason, and the non-Free firmware is still demanded by
the upstream drivers, it is just distributed separately. This avoids
legal problems for distributors of the kernel Linux, who refrain from
distributing the non-Free firmware. However, that a number of drivers
and corresponding firwmare are updated in lockstep suggests that they
might actually be a single program, in spite of running on separate CPUs
and having pieces distributed separately, and it might even be the case
that the firmware happens to be a derivative work of the kernel. If
that is so, those who distribute them together, or even just the
firmware by itself, might be in violation of the terms of the GNU GPL,
the Linux license, and thus losing their license to distribute Linux!
Also: GNU Linux-libre 4.14-gnu Released, Still A Battle Deblobbing Driver Firmware
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