Kernel Developers Petition Against Closed Source Drivers
Kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman has invited other kernel developers to sign a petition against closed source kernel modules.
This is a permanent issue for the Linux Foundation's technical board, Kroah-Hartman says. The petition is an attempt to present it as simple and understandable a way as possible. When people asked why developers had problems with closed source modules, developers could simply point to the petition.
In the statement the kernel developers call on hardware manufacturers to do without closed source modules in the kernel. Closed source modules are undesirable and damaging to the "Linux ecosystem", and to users and enterprises that rely on Linux. By distributing closed source code manufacturers not only negate the benefits of Linux, they also force users to choose competing vendors, the petition says.
The petition ends with an appeal to manufacturers to revise their policy and support customers by providing open source code. Some 135 kernel developers have signed the petition by now; the Linux Foundation supports the petition with additional background material.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
CachyOS Now Lets Users Choose Their Shell
Imagine getting the opportunity to select which shell you want during the installation of your favorite Linux distribution. That's now a thing.
-
Wayland 1.24 Released with Fixes and New Features
Wayland continues to move forward, while X11 slowly vanishes into the shadows, and the latest release includes plenty of improvements.
-
Bugs Found in sudo
Two critical flaws allow users to gain access to root privileges.
-
Fedora Continues 32-Bit Support
In a move that should come as a relief to some portions of the Linux community, Fedora will continue supporting 32-bit architecture.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 Drops bcachefs
After a clash over some late fixes and disagreements between bcachefs's lead developer and Linus Torvalds, bachefs is out.
-
ONLYOFFICE v9 Embraces AI
Like nearly all office suites on the market (except LibreOffice), ONLYOFFICE has decided to go the AI route.
-
Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws Discovered in Linux
Qualys researchers have discovered two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain root privileges on major Linux distributions.
-
New TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen10 offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.
-
LibreOffice Tested as Possible Office 365 Alternative
Another major organization has decided to test the possibility of migrating from Microsoft's Office 365 to LibreOffice.
-
Linux Mint 20 Reaches EOL
With Linux Mint 20 at its end of life, the time has arrived to upgrade to Linux Mint 22.