The release of Linux 5.19 was followed only a few hours later by the modified and completely free system kernel GNU Linux-Libre 5.19, which relies exclusively on free and open source software. “Libre” does not use packages that are not available as source code or use proprietary licenses.
Linux 5.19, but 100 percent free
Based on the recently released current Linux kernel 5.19, the new GNU Linux-Libre 5.19 has the same new functions as the regular kernel, but has once again been cleaned of numerous newly added drivers and firmware. A credo of the free system kernel is to get by without precompiled drivers and firmware that are not available as source code, so-called binary blobs.
The received a so-called “clean up”. Linux kernel according to the official release notes in the following areas:
- The ATM Ambassador driver was removed upstream, so we could drop the corresponding cleaning up logic. HDCP helper and Mellanox Core cleaning up bits were split into their newly-introduced separate kconfig identifiers, out of Direct Rendering Management and Mellanox Spectrum.
- A couple of new drivers required cleaning up: pureLiFi X/XL/XC and TI AMx3 Wkup-M3 IPC. Silicon Labs WFX graduated out of the upstream staging area, in spite of still requiring cleaning up.
- Various preexisting drivers needed adjustments to their cleaning up logic, mainly out of new blob versions or names: amdgpu, Qualcomm WCNSS PIL, Realtek Bluetooth, Mellanox Spectrum, Marvell WiFi-Ex, and Intel AVS, IFS and ipu3-imgu. Blobs requested through several new devicetree files for Qualcomm AArch64 SoCs have been cleaned up.
- New patterns have been added to our blob finder to match and accept a new file naming convention adopted by Sound Open Firmware.
GNU Linux-Libre 5.19 – Release Notes
The removal process uses the scripts deblob-main, which goes back to GNewSense, and deblob-check, which is proprietary software by the way track and remove it completely.
The version is codenamed “Uhura” in honor of the late US actress Nichelle Nichols. The actress became known worldwide through the role of Lieutenant Uhura in the series Raumschiff Enterprise and the following films.
This release is codenamed Uhura in memory of Nichelle Nichols. Her Star Trek character, and thus this release, are named after the word for freedom in Swahili.
Free Software Foundation Latin America
The Free Software Foundation Latin America, which publishes the kernel under the GNU GPLv2 open source license, is still responsible for maintaining and cleaning up GNU Linux Libre.
Distributions with GNU Linux-Libre
The GNU Linux-Libre, which has been in development since 2006, is available for example with the source-based Linux distribution Gentoo Linux, its package management system reminiscent of the “ports” of BSD, for advanced Linux users as well as the rolling release Parabola GNU/Linux as an alternative kernel to choose from.
Download GNU Linux Libre
GNU Linux-Libre 5.19 is now available for download from the download area of the Free Software Foundation Latin America official website.