Enter gNewSense - the free Ubuntu

Enter gNewSense - the free Ubuntu


The project gNewSense started with the goal of creating a GNU/Linux distribution whose first priority is users' freedom - even if this limits user comfort and hardware support. As a starting point Ubuntu's operating system is used.

(Translated into English by Yann Kiraly)

About Debian and Ubuntu

A free Ubuntu? Isn't Ubuntu free already? No, Ubuntu isn't free according to how the Free Software Foundation FSF defines freedom the guidelines the FSF uses to determine the freedom of an operating system can be found here - and the same is true of Debian, the foundation Ubuntu is based on. The goal of these distributions is to support as much hardware as possible and thereby to make their installation as easy to use and as comfortable for the user as possible - market share is the objective here after all. The principles of free software are sometimes neglected in the process. A somewhat easygoing attitude towards freedom can be found in all areas of software production, from the Linux kernel to the distribution of software by Debian and Ubuntu. (Note: It is up to the reader to find out if the assertions made here are similarly applicable to other distributions, for example SUSE. Below, the author concerns himself exclusively with Debian and Ubuntu.)

The Linux Kernel

Most components of a computer, for example CD drives, hard disks, network cards etc. - require software to communicate with the mainboard that is kept in a memory module on the component itself. This software is called firmware. In most cases the firmware is installed permanently on the component. For other components, especially network cards, the firmware is copied to the component by the driver (that is by the kernel module) when the module is loaded.

To provide a more comfortable experience for the user the firmware of some components (for example the firmware of Broadcom network cards that are run using the driver "tg3") is integrated into the Linux kernel. This sounds reasonable as the respective components often don't work without the firmware. But sadly most firmware does not fit the criteria of free software as the manufacturers have not published their source code. I will use the driver "tg3" as an example. Even though the driver is free and has a GPL license it uses non-free firmware. Here is an excerpt from the source code:

/*
 * tg3.c: Broadcom Tigon3 ethernet driver.
 *
 * Copyright (C) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 David S. Miller (davem@redhat.com)
 * Copyright (C) 2001, 2002, 2003 Jeff Garzik (jgarzik@pobox.com)
 * Copyright (C) 2004 Sun Microsystems Inc.
 * Copyright (C) 2005-2007 Broadcom Corporation.
 *
 * Firmware is:
 *      Derived from proprietary unpublished source code,
 *      Copyright (C) 2000-2003 Broadcom Corporation.
 *
 *      Permission is hereby granted for the distribution of this firmware
 *      data in hexadecimal or equivalent format, provided this copyright
 *      notice is accompanying it.
 */

Software that is derived from proprietary software is not free. The tg3 module - including the firmware - is part of the original kernel.

The distributions

How do the distributions deal with the official Linux kernel? The Debian project is based on a strict contract which includes guidelines for software distributed by Debian - DFSG. A vote held in 2006 concerning non-free software in the Linux kernel resulted in an approval of the distribution of this non-free software. The gist of it is that the usability of the software is more important than compliance with the social contract and the freedom of the user.

The distributions do not only distribute non-free software in the Linux kernel, however. The Ubuntu package "linux-firmware" is part of the "main" section - and therefore of the section that, according to Ubuntu, is supposed to only contain free software. Nonetheless, the package contains non-free firmware.

Another example: For years Debian and Ubuntu ignored the fact that X.org contained non-free software (the Debian bug report, Debian developer polls on the treatment of non-free software, and again, Ubuntu bug report (copied from Debian)). Non-free software was consciously left in the "main" section so as not to restrict the comfort and usability of the operating system.

Thanks to a new license for the affected software the problem has been resolved in the mean time.

In addition, Debian and Ubuntu facilitate the installation of non-free software, for example by providing the repositories "contrib" and "non-free" (Debian) or "restricted" and "multiverse" (Ubuntu) as well as through a graphical interface for the installation of proprietary drivers for graphics cards, WLAN cards etc. (Ubuntu, in GNOME in the menu "System -> Administration"). Also, the standard browsers Iceweasel (Debian) and Firefox (Ubuntu) offer the possibility of installing non-free plugins.

gNewSense

The Idea

The gNewSense project has the goal of creating a GNU/Linux distribution that has the freedom of the user as its top priority - even if this limits comfort and hardware compatibility. The basis for action of the distribution are the guidelines of the FSF for free operating systems. The following citation describes the goal of gNewSense "Note that our goal is to produce a fully free distribution, not to have as many features as possible" from here. In practise, this means that gNewSense aims to 1. only distribute free software according to the FSF's definition and 2. not to facilitate the installation of non-free software. These two goals are in need of a brief clarification: regarding 1.: it is hard to ensure that any non-trivial software-collection is 100% free - every source file must be checked regarding its license. However, gNewSense immediately removes any software from its offerings if it is discovered not to be free, even if this leads to extensive limitations (as happened with the non-free X.org software mentioned above). regarding 2.: the user remains free to install non-free software, of course. However, gNewSense does not offer the user any help in this respect, for example in the form of providing such software or instructions on installing non-free software.

The Implementation

For this purpose, founders Brian Brazil and Paul O'Malley wrote a series of scripts, the so-called "Builder", that remove non-free elements from Ubuntu. Every user can use the Builder to make his own free GNU/Linux distribution. An interesting special case is the ready made distribution, however - which is called gNewSense like the project, of which a live cd ISO image is available. The current version gNewSense 2.1 is based on Ubuntu 8.04.1 and therefore offers an almost identical look and feel, as can be seen in the screenshots. The live mode allows you to test your hardware - not unimportant, as the removal of non-free drivers makes some hardware components that are supported by Ubuntu unusable (see below). You can launch the installation to the hard drive from live mode. Instructions and howtos regarding installation and administration of the system can be found at the gNS wiki.

What limitations does gNewSense have?

Considering the explanations above it is no surprise that using gNewSense is more restricting than using Ubuntu. Missing support for many WLAN cards, missing GLX as well as no Firefox do not make gNewSense more attractive for the user. In order to prevent disappointment it is strongly recommended to read up on hardware support and provided software before the installation. To do this, gNewSense should be started in live mode from the CD. This is a risk-free way to test graphics, sound, network cards etc. Because the removal of non-free firmware from the kernel is done automatically, there is no precise list of computer components supported by Ubuntu that gNewSense does not support. A starting point for finding out about supported hardware is an FSF webpage. For more information, you should visit the gNewSense forum or post a request on the mailing list. WLAN cards, various LAN cards and graphics cards for which there are no free drivers are generally not supported. Compared to Ubuntu the software repositories "restricted" and "multiverse" are, of course, missing as well, the section "universe", however, is activated by default.

Why use gNewSense anyway?

gNewSense is one of the operating systems that is classified as free by the FSF and is actively supported by it. The GNU project provides a modified version of the Firefox browser for the operating system, called Icecat, which can easily be installed using the package management system. Icecat exclusively offers the installation of free plugins and includes some security features Firefox lacks. A few of the components not supported by gNewSense can be supported after all by installing a new kernel of the Linux Libre project - Ali Gunduz offers ready made Debian packages. The current kernel 2.6.28-libre, for example, allows the use of the tg3 module without non-free firmware. Also, some Atheros WLAN cards are supported by the modules atk5 and atk8 (included in the kernel 2.6.28).

Conclusion

By using gNewSense you can show that the freedom of the software you use is truly important to you. Hardware manufacturers can thereby be motivated to provide free drivers and firmware for their products and to allow transparency and innovation in this area of software production in the process. In addition, you can show the mother projects of gNewSense, Debian and Ubuntu, that you want to stick to principles and contracts consistently and are not content with phony exceptions.

License

This article is published under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Category: 
End users
Tagging: 
ubuntu
gnewsense

Comments

mjjzf's picture
Submitted by mjjzf on

I still fail completely to understand why applications which simply makes it possible to install non-free elements are unacceptable. How is it any different from a GNU/Linux system making it possible to run a binary installer?
The fact that you CAN have a binary repository means exactly nothing; what matters is whether you have a free system as an offering.
Of course it would be nice if the browser only looked at an all-free repo of extensions - maybe Firefox could include a license filter? - but it has to be the user's responsibility to clean the system.
__
FSF member no. 6426

admin's picture
Submitted by admin on

From the author...
-------------------

Hello,

you do not seem to have read the article properly.

Firstly, I do not talk about the distribution of software in binary form. Distribution of binaries is in accordance with the GPL, as long as the source can be obtained, and the essential freedoms are granted. gNewSense packages come in binary format.

Secondly, the article explains that neither Debian nor Ubuntu let you choose to have a free operating system - even if you only choose their "free" repositories. There are non-free files in both their standard linux kernels, which are kept in their "free" repositories. If you want to have a free Debian system, you need to replace their linux package by a kernel you compiled yourself.

So the main reason why the mentioned distros are not to be considered free is NOT the hosting of non-free software in special repos, but is the distribution of non-free software in their main repos.

Author information

Benedikt Ahrens's picture

Most forwarded

Interview with Dave Mohyla, of DTIDATA

Dave Mohyla is the president and founder of dtidata.com, a hard drive recovery facility based in Tampa, Florida.

TM: Where are you based? What does your company do?
DTI Data recovery is based in South Pasadena, Florida which is a suburb of Tampa. We have been here for over 10 years. We operate a bio-metrically secured class 100 clean room where we perform hard drive recovery on all types of hard disks, from laptop hard drives to multi drive RAID systems.

Anybody up to writing good directory software?

Since the very beginning, directories (of any kind) have had a very central role in the internet. (I have recently grown fond of Free Web Directory. Even Slashdot can be considered a directory: a collection of great news and invaluable user-generated comments. As far as software is concerned, doing a quick search on Google about software directories will return the free (as in freedom) software directories like Savannah, SourceForge, Freshmeat and so on, followed by shareware and freeware sites such as FileBuzz, PCWin Download Center and All Freeware (great if you're looking for shareware and freeware, but definitely less comprehensive than their free-as-in-freedom counterparts).

Interview with Mark Shuttleworth

Mark Shuttleworth is the founder of Thawte, the first Certification Authority to sell public SSL certificates. After selling Thawte to Verisign, Mark moved on to training as an astronaut in Russia and visiting space. Once he got back he founded Ubuntu, the leading GNU/Linux distribution. He agreed on releasing a quick interview to Free Software Magazine.

Is better education the key to finding better software?

I read David Jonathon's article Anybody Up To Writing Good Directory Software? the other day, which got me thinking about software directories in general. As David mentioned, many of the software directories one finds when doing a quick google search are free as in beer, not as in freedom. But what interests me is the software directories that already exist, providing a combination of both free as in beer software, and open source software. Sites such as Freeware Downloads and Shareware Download don't advertise themselves as providing free as in liberty software, but each of them have a good selection of open source software available... if you know where to look.

Most emailed

Free Open Document label templates

If you’ve ever spent hours at work doing mailings, cursed your printer for printing outside the lines on your labels, or moaned “There has got to be a better way to do this,” here’s the solution you’ve been looking for. Working smarter, not harder! Worldlabel.com, a manufacture of labels offers Open Office / Libre Office labels templates for downloading in ODF format which will save you time, effort, and (if you want) make really cool-looking labels

Creating a user-centric site in Drupal

A little while ago, while talking in the #drupal mailing list, I showed my latest creation to one of the core developers there. His reaction was "Wow, I am always surprised what people use Drupal for". His surprise is somehow justified: I did create a site for a bunch of entertainers in Perth, a company set to use Drupal to take over the world with Entertainers.Biz.

Update: since writing this article, I have updated the system so that the whole booking process happens online. I will update the article accordingly!

So, why, why do people and companies develop free software?

More and more people are discovering free software. Many people only do so after weeks, or even months, of using it. I wonder, for example, how many Firefox users actually know how free Firefox really is—many of them realise that you can get it for free, but find it hard to believe that anybody can modify it and even redistribute it legally.

When the discovery is made, the first instinct is to ask: why do they do it? Programming is hard work. Even though most (if not all) programmers are driven by their higher-than-normal IQs and their amazing passion for solving problems, it’s still hard to understand why so many of them would donate so much of their time to creating something that they can’t really show off to anybody but their colleagues or geek friends.

Sure, anybody can buy laptops, and just program. No need to get a full-on lab or spend thousands of dollars in equipment. But... is that the full story?

Fun articles

Santa Claus - the most successful open source project

It dawned on me the other day, as I was shopping for the dozens of gifts it seems I have to buy every December, that Santa Claus is the most successful open source project in history. (Bridget @ Illiterarty would agree with that). Santa Claus is essentially a marketing development that is embodied by everyone who stuffs a sock, gives a gift, hosts a dinner or wishes Merry Christmas over the holiday season.

Most emailed

Editorial

When I first started thinking about Free Software Magazine, I was feeling enthusiastic about the dream. I had Dave, Gianluca, and Alan willing to help me, I had established members of the free software community willing to help me out, I had writers volunteering their time and energy for free, and I had a generous offer from OpenHosting for servers, all before I'd proved myself. There was a sense of excitement in the air, and I thought maybe, just maybe, I could make this work.

Free Software Magazine uses Apollo project management software and CRM for its everyday activities!