Linux-libre
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Linux-libre kernel 3.0.66-1 booting
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| Developer | Free Software Foundation Latin America |
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| Written in | C and Assembly |
| OS family | Unix-like |
| Initial release | February 20, 2008 |
| Latest release | 4.9.6-gnu / January 26, 2017 |
| Available in | English |
| Platforms | x86, x86-64, MIPS |
| Kernel type | Monolithic |
| License | GPL v2 |
| Official website | |
Linux-libre (/ˈlɪnəks ˈliːbrə/) is an operating system kernel and a GNU package.
The GNU Project attempts to keep Linux-libre in synchronization with upstream development of the Linux kernel while removing any software that does not include its source code, has its source code obfuscated, or is released under proprietary licenses.
Software components with no available source code are called binary blobs and, as such, are mostly used for proprietary firmware images in the Linux kernel. While generally redistributable, binary blobs do not give the user the freedom to audit, modify or, consequently, redistribute their modified versions.
The Linux kernel started to include binary blobs in 1996. The work to clear out the binary blobs began in 2006 with gNewSense's find-firmware and gen-kernel. This work was taken further by the BLAG Linux distribution in 2007 when deblob and Linux-libre was born.
Linux-libre was first released by the Free Software Foundation Latin America (FSFLA), then endorsed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) as a valuable component for the totally free Linux distributions. It became a GNU package on March 2012.Alexandre Oliva is the project maintainer.
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