this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2024
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Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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What is currently the best way to use linux-libre? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 month ago by Joker@sh.itjust.works to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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If the distribution does not have it by default, please include the instructions to use it on the system.

Note: I can't compile the libre kernel from the source.

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[–] kixik@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

linux-libre is harder because if you want cpu ucode plus hardware firmware support in general so that you can make your bad citizen hardware work, you'll need to add it out of the linux package.

Someone mentioned Guix as a gnu + linux distribution was hard, and in general that's true, but not because of linux-libre since there's a non official Guix repository providing non libre/free cpu ucode plus hardware firmware, see:

https://gitlab.com/nonguix/nonguix

The complex part of Guix comes from it being a inmutable distribution based on the ideas from NixOS, though it's not a fork from Nix since it's even based on Guile rather than the Nix language, but their packages and configurations are quite different than any other distribution, the same as its inmutable system and I believe on both reproducibility is a thing...

But bottom line, for Guix you can even get packages to make linux-libre work with your hardware provided you find the corresponding firmware in the non official repo, and in general (not just Guix) as long as you find the firmware somewhere else (not in linux-libre) you would be OK, and depending on your distro that might be a really hard task.

I use Artix, and though I haven't explored it yet, I've been wondering how hard it'd be to install linux-libre, and get the strictly required firmware from the AUR, perhaps it's possible. The package is actually offered from AUR:

% aur search linux-libre
aur/linux-libre 6.11.9-1 (+37 0.35%)
    The Linux Libre kernel and modules
aur/linux-libre-docs 6.11.9-1 (+37 0.35%)
    Documentation for the Linux Libre kernel
aur/linux-libre-firmware 1.4-1 (+3 0.00%) (Orphaned)
    Firmware files for Linux-libre
aur/linux-libre-headers 6.11.9-1 (+37 0.35%)
    Headers and scripts for building modules for the Linux Libre kernel
aur/linux-librem5 6.6.57-1 (+0 0.00%)
    The Linux kernel for Purism Librem 5
aur/linux-librem5-docs 6.6.57-1 (+0 0.00%)
    The Linux kernel for Purism Librem 5 (documentation)
[–] Atemu@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 month ago

The complex part of Guix comes from it being a inmutable distribution based on the ideas from NixOS

That's not the most significant factor in what makes it hard/different. There are immutable distros that come with less complexity and are arguably more immutable than NixOS or guix.

What actually sets it apart and can make these harder to use is:

  1. They're declarative rather than imperative. You describe the desired end-result rather than providing (or manually executing) the steps to construct it.
  2. There is not a single global dependency dependency state upon parts of which any given package depends. Dependencies are explicit, direct and encapsulated on a level that's as fine as you'd like instead (down to the per-file level).