2d ago

FSF announces Librephone project

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today announced its project to bring mobile phone freedom to users. "Librephone" is an initiative to reverse-engineer obstacles preventing mobile phone freedom until its goal is achieved.

Librephone is a new initiative by the FSF with the goal of bringing full freedom to the mobile computing environment. The vast majority of software users around the world use a mobile phone as their primary computing device. After forty years of advocacy for computing freedom, the FSF will now work to bring the right to study, change, share, and modify the programs users depend on in their daily lives to mobile phones.

Comments

Bobo The Great @startrek.website 2d ago
Not a good choice for a name, at first I though it was just another linux phone that would be useless for 90% of people.
Very cool project instead, hope this can lead the fondation for a 100% open source mobile OS.
- the_q @lemmy.zip 2d ago
  Agree. Marketing isn't really the in the wheelhouse of most Linux/open source projects.
  
  non_burglar @lemmy.world 2d ago
  Google is what happens when good marketing meets OSS, so careful what you wish for.
  
  davetortoise @reddthat.com 2d ago
  And thank god it isn't
- EponymousBosh @awful.systems 2d ago
  Honest to God, I thought a "Librephone" was something that already existed. I think I was thinking of the PinePhone or smth.
  
  ProgrammingSocks @pawb.social 1d ago
  Librem 5 is what you're thinking of
- arox @lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 2d ago
  For Fuck Sake its Free Software Foundation.
majster @lemmy.zip 2d ago
I think this intiative is spot on. I would describe current approach of 2 major OS vendors, Google and Microsoft as such:
Microsoft demands standardization at firmware level via UEFI, ACPI etc. because they bring OS kernel and userspace.
Google demands Linux API version and brings just userspace.
In theory Google approach better facilitates open ecosystem but each OEM treats Linux kernel as just a firmware blob so the end situation is actually worse.
On the PC we have standardized firmware while Android chases Linux API levels each release and thus undermines the whole ecosystem.
iopq @lemmy.world 2d ago
So they could do it for pixels and this open source firmware could be used by Graphene OS, for example?
- Peasley @lemmy.world 2d ago
  Yes, though the future of GrapheneOS on Pixels after 10 is currently in question
- TMP_NKcYUEoM7kXg4qYe @lemmy.world 1d ago
  The issue is that for the FSF, what they call "software freedom" is their number one goal. So what's likely to happen is that they create some kind of "deblobbed" firmware that breaks many features and security of the device, which Graphene OS will refuse to use.
  I hope this project will be useful but am worried that they'll just make a shittier version of someone else's work like they did with e.g. Libreboot.
  
  ExtremeUnicorn @feddit.org 2h ago
  
  There's a bit of hyperbolism and distortion in that comment.
  So first of all, the FSF did not create Libreboot, that was just a coreboot distribution by one (or two) people and I would not call it shitty, it had prebuilt binaries with working GRUB configs for the models supported, even allowing for full disk encryption with a well written guide on how to do so.
  Secondly, it's hard to create a chain of trust without trusing the hardware. As long as the manufacturer remains in control of any part of it, you will get the same situation thay we have now. I would rather use a deblobbed device than wait for obscure security features that provide no real-world benefit to my use case.
  However, I think this may not catch on. Hundreds of millions of people use completely outdated phones with spyware of some form on them right now, they simply don't care.
blobjim [he/him] @hexbear.net 2d ago
The project's aim is to create an Android-compatible OS. I like the Linux-on-phone approach of postmarketOS better but whatever they end up working on should end up benefitting both projects since they'll probably just be contributing driver code like postmarketOS. It's weird that they don't even mention postmarketOS in the announcement.
☭RedArab🇵🇸 @lemmygrad.ml 21h ago

This is amazing news!
I'm glad the fsf is actually taking it upon itself to create more solutions especially since it has become increasingly irrelevant throughout these years and sadly been replaced by the corporate "open source" hellscape.
We need free software, not "open source" corporate bullshit. Open source was invented in the first place as a way to get people from being radicalized by the free software movement, since it would take money out of their filthy, greedy pockets.
Jankatarch @lemmy.world 15h ago
I don't know as much about phones as I do with computers but would I still be able to contribute in any way?
loxdogs @lemmy.wtf 19h ago
As long it is not liberated hardware from blobs it all is useless.
- hamsda @feddit.org 18h ago
  If you don't want to have any freedom until you have it all, you'll be slave forever.
  You're letting perfect get in the way of good enough.

31 Comments