14 DAY TRIAL // The GNU Linux-Libre project announced today the release and general availability of the GNU Linux-libre 5.1-gnu kernel for GNU/Linux users who seek 100% freedom for their computers.
Based on the recently released Linux 5.1 kernel series, the GNU Linux-Libre 5.1 kernel is now available for users who want to run Linux kernel 5.1 on their personal computers but don't want to deal with any proprietary code. As such, the GNU Linux-Libre 5.1 kernel deblobbs and cleans up several firmware from the upstream Linux 5.1 kernel.
"Besides the usual assortment of firmware name updates, new drivers for mt7603 and goya required disabling of blob requests, wilc1000 had some files renamed which required adjusting the deblobbing logic, and a driver that we used to deblob (lantiq xrx200 firmware loader) was removed," said developer Alexandre Oliva in a mailing list announcement.
Based on Linux kernel 5.1
The GNU Linux-Libre 5.1 kernel comes with all the cool new features from Linux kernel 5.1 despite the deblobbing of certain drivers. These include faster and scalable asynchronous I/O, support for using persistent memory as RAM, a new cpuidle governor called TEO (Timer Events Oriented), and the ability to boot to a device-mapper device without initramfs.
Linux kernel 5.1 also improves the file system monitorization functionality, adds support for cumulative patches in live kernel patching feature, lets users configure the Zstd compression levels in the Btrfs file system, adds more preparations for year 2038, and updates or adds numerous device drivers.
If you care about the freedom of your personal computer and don't want to run any proprietary software, we recommend installing the GNU Linux-libre 5.1 kernel, which you can download right now from the official website or directly from the software repositories of your favorite GNU/Linux distribution.