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Richard Stallman Acknowledges Libreboot Is No Longer A Part of GNU (gnu.org)

Libreboot became an official GNU project in May. Now an anonymous Slashdot reader writes: Richard Stallman has officially announced that Libreboot is no longer a GNU package. The maintainer of Libreboot had tried to leave the GNU project in September 2016, but the departure was not acknowledged until January 2017. Libreboot is a replacement for proprietary BIOS systems, effectively a distribution of coreboot without any binary blobs and adding an automated build/install process.
In the post titled "Goodbye to GNU Libreboot," Stallman wrote that "When a package's maintainer steps down, that doesn't by itself break the relationship between GNU and the package. If it is left without a maintainer but is still useful, the GNU Project will usually look for new maintainers to work on it. However, we can instead drop ties with the package, if that seems the right thing to do.

"A few months ago, the maintainer of GNU Libreboot decided not to work on Libreboot for the GNU Project any more. That was her decision to make. She also asserted that Libreboot was no longer a GNU package -- something she could not unilaterally do. The GNU Project had to decide what to do in regard to Libreboot. We have decided to go along with the former GNU maintainer's wishes in this case, for a combination of reasons: (1) it had not been a GNU package for very long, (2) she was the developer who had originally made it a GNU package, and (3) there were no major developers who wanted to continue developing Libreboot under GNU auspices."

19 of 397 comments (clear)

  1. Re:How to get it in future? Where is it lodged? by Selur · · Score: 4, Informative

    https://libreboot.org/ -> points to https://notabug.org/vimuser/li... for the source code,...

  2. Re:How to get it in future? Where is it lodged? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Um - https://libreboot.org/

    Also there is more information as to why libreboot left the GNU. From their site - 'Libreboot left GNU on 2016-09-15, in protest of transgender discrimination at the FSF'.

  3. Re:How to get it in future? Where is it lodged? by mlyle · · Score: 4, Informative

    Update: It seems this is why Libreboot's maintainers were not pleased with GNU: https://libreboot.org/gnu/

  4. There is more to this story... by Razed+By+TV · · Score: 4, Informative

    Something about this summary struck me as strange.

    It seems Leah created a project, joined with GNU, then decided to separate from the GNU, and Stallman is talking as if Leah can't go back to her original project. Is that normal? It seems borderline abusive to me.
    "Oh, you want to leave? Well, I'm going to make sure I tell everyone publicly that you have my permission, because I am the one in power, and you are lucky that I am letting you go."

    Leah's reason for the split was because of discrimination that occurred at Free Software Foundation, GNU's main funding source. I'm not very familiar with the situation, but at the very least, here are links for another side of the story:
    https://libreboot.org/gnu/
    https://libreboot.org/gnu-insu...

    1. Re:There is more to this story... by pikine · · Score: 3, Informative

      According to the Information for Maintainers of GNU Software, a package becomes adopted by GNU FSF when a maintainer volunteers to do so. They could bring in a package they didn't write, as long as the package source has a GPL compatible license. It's also not required to transfer the source code copyright to FSF.

      Libreboot was derived from Coreboot by removing the proprietary blobs. Leah volunteered to be a GNU package maintainer and started recruiting developers to work on Libreboot, and not for long decided to step down as a maintainer. There is no rule forbidding Leah from continuing to work on Libreboot without being associated with GNU/FSF. She is entitled to stop volunteering for GNU anytime for no reason whatsoever.

      What Richard Stallman says is that a GNU package could be orphaned by its maintainer and often remain a GNU package until a new maintainer picks it up, but in this case he was compelled to make a special exemption to excise Libreboot from GNU. GNU/FSF's role is a librarian/publisher, and the maintainers are more like curators. It makes no sense for a package to "leave GNU" just because the curator stopped volunteering.

      --
      I once had a signature.
    2. Re:There is more to this story... by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Informative
      I don't know much about the situation, but look at this quote:

      [The Libreboot maintainer] Leah Rowe has even spent in excess of 100,000 USD of her own money to have new hardware ported to both coreboot and libreboot, to further the cause. She has spent countless sleepness days and night to keep this project afloat.

      That's hardcore. She deserves respect for her hard work and contribution.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  5. Melodrama by dinfinity · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Libreboot page is filled with shitloads of rancor concerning the GNU project and the FSF (which, by its victimized tone, I'm afraid to say doesn't make the maintainer's side of the story more trustworthy).
    I can easily see why the FSF isn't sorry to see her go. They're probably cutting all ties with the project just to minimize the amount of further drama.

    Read it and cringe:
    - https://libreboot.org/why-not-...
    - https://libreboot.org/gnu-insu...

    She even talks about herself in the third person, even though it's obvious to everybody that she is the one writing it.

    1. Re:Melodrama by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      To be far, the FSF did issue a public statement: https://www.fsf.org/news/free-software-foundation-statement

      Although it is our usual policy not to comment publicly on internal personnel matters for privacy reasons, we felt it necessary to state unequivocally that the allegations made in that email are untrue.

      I doubt there are more than a handful of people on Slashdot (since we know FSF folks do hang out here) who know the actual truth of the matter. Given that, this is purely a he/she/xe said situation.

      For me, I'm taking the accuser's story it with a grain of salt.

    2. Re:Melodrama by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative
  6. Re:They. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    "They" is considered to be an appropriate gender neutral pronoun by some grammarians. It's not ideal, but it's better than some of the atrocities that are sometimes proposed.

  7. wat by lucm · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's what that Leah person has to say about "the sexist" RMS:

    For instance, he once described women who have never used GNU Emacs as EMACS virgins. Leah is an emacs virgin.
    Leah Rowe is a woman, and she recommends Vim. Her .vimrc is on vimuser.org.
    Personal statement from Leah: RMS's comments about emacs virgins is especially offensive to me. Not only is it sexist in general (and directed at me, because I don't use emacs), but also offensive towards my sexuality. His statement implies that men are supposed to have sex with virgin women, and that women only lose their virginity to men. To this day, I've only ever been in lesbian relationships, although I am bi. I lost my virginity to a woman. I find it extremely insulting when someone assumes that I only like men, or that I'm generally interested in men. The woman that I lost my virginity to also happens to be a Vim user, and she is indeed an emacs virgin, like me.

    https://libreboot.org/why-not-...

    If that person's thinking was a piece of code I wouldn't even try to debug it.

    --
    lucm, indeed.
    1. Re:wat by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 5, Informative

      His statement implies that men are supposed to have sex with virgin women, and that women only lose their virginity to men.

      Where? Where does he ever say that in the one line he stated? He doesn't ever mention a gender.

      Additionally the dictionary has multiple definitions of Virgin.

      1. a person who has never had sexual intercourse.

      2. an unmarried girl or woman.

      3. Ecclesiastical. an unmarried, religious woman, especially a saint.

      4. the Virgin, Mary, the mother of Christ.

      5. Informal. any person who is uninitiated, uninformed, or the like:
      He's still a virgin as far as hard work is concerned.

      6. a female animal that has never copulated.

      7. an unfertilized insect.

      8. (initial capital letter) Astronomy, Astrology. the constellation or sign of Virgo.

      Adjective:

      9. being a virgin:
      a virgin martyr.

      10. of, relating to, or characteristic of a virgin:
      virgin modesty.

      11. pure; unsullied; undefiled:
      virgin snow.

      12. first:
      the senator's virgin speech.
      13. without admixture, alloy, or modification:
      virgin gold.

      14. not previously exploited, cultivated, tapped, or used:
      virgin timberlands; virgin wool.

      15. without experience of; not previously exposed to:
      a mind virgin to such sorrows.

      16. Informal. being a mixed drink resembling a specific cocktail but made without any alcoholic ingredient:
      a virgin piña colada.

      17. Zoology. not fertilized.

      18. (of a metal) made directly from ore by smelting, rather than from scrap.

      19. noting the oil obtained, as from olives, by the first pressing without the application of heat.

  8. Re:How to get it in future? Where is it lodged? by allo · · Score: 5, Informative

    Stallman stated, that there was absolutely no reason concerning the gender/sexuality/sex/whatever but some internal reason he doesn't want to disclose to protect the innocent. There is a thread on the mailinglist.
    It's hard to say without knowing the internals, but it looks a bit like someone was fired for $reasons and then tried to reframe it as discrimination.

  9. Re:You don't know how hormones work, do you? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    And since fucking when did /. mod trolls up? This guy got up to +4 for God's sake... Can we get some mods in here?

    He's not a troll. He put forth a reasoned argument for his position, complete with links. You didn't. Instead, you attacked him and assigned motives; you called his position "hating on LGBTs" but nowhere in his posts does he express any kind of hatred, nor is it even implied in his words.

    This is one of the most annoying thing about today's SJW babies -- and one of the biggest reasons why society is finally fed up and not taking any more of it -- everything to them is about "hate." Anything they don't understand must be because of hate. People expressing opposing ideas or viewpoints are hateful. Must be so sad to live with such a disturbed worldview.

  10. Re:Baby and bathwater. by youngone · · Score: 4, Informative

    So, this dude is having a hissy-fit because some other dude wanted to pretend to be a girl, and somebody at FSF didn't play along?

    No, that's not what happened, you should read some of the links provided.

    A trans-gender employee of the FSF has been fired, no-one from the FSF is saying why, which is probably the sensible thing to do.

    The person who has control of the Libreboot project has objected and seems to thing the fired former staff member was fired because of her gender.

    Richard Stallman pointed out that the trans person was trans when they were hired, making the objector look bad.

  11. Re:How to get it in future? Where is it lodged? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1, Informative

    FFS Slashdot... Reddit and GamerGate are the main sources? And they don't even back up the wild claims being made. Look at this bullshit, for example:

    "She follows this up with more increasingly unhinged spam and unfounded accusations. She ignores, bans, or curses out people requesting evidence or disputing her one woman lynch mob. She posts an unhinged screed on her website showing she has little to no understanding of open source, all while repeating the same unfounded claims, as well as claiming martyrdom on her part.
    https://archive.is/JmiTG [archive.is]"

    The link does not support any of the claims! Nothing about banning, cursing or even responding to anyone at all.

    And if course, Kita follows it up with some transphobia. Clarification of gender dysphoria as a mental illness is a political move. Some people want to stigmatise it, some want to ensure that US health insurance providers cover treatment.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  12. Re:How to get it in future? Where is it lodged? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm not calling transgendered people mentally ill.

    Now, since being Transgender requires Gender Dysphoria -- so called Tumbrina "TransTrenders" aren't transgender, they're attention seeking children -- it's an unpopular, but correct, statement to say that they are people with a mental illness receiving treatment.

    So...which is it?

    Fortunately for me, an "unpopular" opinion is not bigotry, no matter what the authoritarian regressive post-modernists that have taken over the left in the west think.

    Or it just means you're misinterpreting the disorder and blanket-applying it to all transgendered because you're now defending your bigoted views with semantic arguments.

    From the DSM-5, used for diagnosis and classifications:

    It is important to note that gender nonconformity is not in itself a mental disorder. The critical element of gender dysphoria is the presence of clinically significant distress associated with the condition.

    But do go on about your willingness to martyr yourself to the public court by posting unpopular opinions. Let's not let facts get in the way of your sacrifice.

  13. Re:How to get it in future? Where is it lodged? by _KiTA_ · · Score: 4, Informative

    "Gender Dysphoria" is not a mental illness. Unless being gay is a mental illness too, which I guess it is by your definition...

    Wrong on both counts. It is classified as a mental illness so that insurance companies pay out on gender reassignment surgery, the same cannot be said for homosexuality. I'm afraid you can't just say "I want the money but without the negative connotation".

    That is, ultimately, what this is about. They want Gender Dysphoria to be in some sort of weird quantum state of illness and identity, where they can pick either one based on what is most beneficial to them at any given time.

    Want to pick and choose what treatment you get? Then it's identity, and you don't "need" dysphoria to have it.

    Want to get a shared insurance fund to pay for your SRS and Transitioning? Then it's a mental illness and coverage is required by law.

    It's a form of the Motte and Bailey post-modernist fallacy, the same one that brings us "crybullying" -- aka, "I'm so oppressed that I'm going to ruin your life for upsetting me."

  14. Re:Regressive Leftist? by _KiTA_ · · Score: 1, Informative

    First off, I'm a liberal. Voted for Hillary, although my heart belonged to Bernie. I'm not afraid of Trump, though, so I'm apparently not a very good liberal.

    Haha you sure aren't! You sound exactly like a centipede (member of the alt-right). Why would someone who is socially about 16 lightyears to the right of anyone with a D beside their name have any interest in Hillary or Bernie? Maybe you're fiscally liberal, but there's some conflict between being fiscally liberal and socially conservative, which is why it's a vanishingly rare combination.

    You know what, returning this one.

    Considering that Hillary Clinton is extremely hard right, more right wing (but less authoritarian) than Trump, yeah, I guess I'm just a bad liberal for being upset that the Dems put forth a Neo-Conservative candidate in defiance of their base.

    If I was following my political views, I'd have voted Jill Stein. Every Liberal would have. Since it's quite clear the DNC has lost the benefit of the doubt -- the "Russian Hackers" conspiracy theory has proven this without a doubt -- I think I will next time.

    That's the horrific thing that has to be scaring the DNC. They used to have a "Youth Wall" -- they could assume people under around 30 would support them no matter what. That may no longer be true -- and it may be why they were trying to hobble the growing New Right movement online by claiming outrageously stupid things like "Pepe's a white nationalist!"

    Remember, Hillary was openly calling for war with Russia (via no-fly zones in Syria). Trump got the GOP -- the GOP -- to give a standing ovation to the idea of protecting LGBT rights. But somehow he's Literally Hitler (tm) and going to set LGBT rights 30 years. Why? Because that's easier than admitting the Democrats have a problem.

    Either way, again, thank you for being my new go to text macro version of this image.

    http://imgur.com/az4WByY