GNU Linux-Libre 6.1 Arrives as a 100% Free Kernel for Software Freedom Lovers
Based on the Linux 6.1 kernel series, the GNU Linux-libre 6.1 kernel is here to adjust several drivers that needed deblobbing or due to code rearrangement, including AMDGPU and i915 DRM, brcmfmac, Intel ACPI sound, r8188eu, and rtw8852c Wi-Fi.
Also deblobbed was the rtw8852b Wi-Fi driver, and the cleaning up code of the drivers for TM6000 TV cards, as well as AV7110, SP-8870, and CPiA2-based budget media cards have been adjusted due to the fact that they’ve been moved upstream to a deprecated directory.
Update: (by Roy)
Alexandre Oliva's message:
GNU Linux-libre 6.1-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}/v6.1-gnu.
Compressed tarballs and incremental patches are also available at
The cleanup scripts haven't required changes since rc7, the first
published for this series.
Jason Self and I have picked Freedo the Elf as the picture for this
release, from Jason's Freedo growing drawings collection. It looked
like the perfect one for a release between halloween and the year's
end. You can see the picture next to the news entry for 6.1-gnu at
Freesh and RPMFreedom, the distributions of .deb and .rpm packages of
GNU Linux-libre maintained by Jason Self, are expected to have binaries
of 6.1-gnu available shortly.
== Cleaning-up changes in this release
Several drivers required adjustments due to new blobs or code
rearrangement: amdgpu and i915 drm, brcmfmac, r8188eu, and rtw8852c
wifi, and Intel ACPI sound.
Upstream moved some media drivers to a deprecated directory, so we've
adjusted cleaning up code for tm6000 TV cards, cpia2 v4l, and sp8870,
av7110, and budget media cards.
A new blob-requiring driver for rtw8852b wifi was cleaned up, and blob
names have been dropped from multiple new Qualcomm and MediaTek AArch64
dts files.
For up-to-the-minute news, join us on IRC (#gnu-linux-libre on
libera.chat). I often mention our releases on P2P or federated social
media as well. The link in my email signature has directions.
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/
If you are the author of an awesome program and want to join us in
writing Free (libre) Software, please consider making it an official
GNU program and become a GNU Maintainer. You can find instructions
on how to do so at https://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation. We look
forward to hacking with you! :)
What is Linux?
--------------
Linux is a clone of the Unix kernel [...]
(snipped from Documentation/admin-guide/README.rst)