A few days after Linus Torvalds released Linux 7.1, the GNU Linux-libre project has its matching build ready: GNU Linux-libre 7.1, aimed at anyone who wants a PC running 100% free software with not a single proprietary binary blob.
The premise behind Linux-libre has stayed the same for years. The kernel shipped from kernel.org bundles firmware and drivers that rely on closed binaries you cannot audit. Linux-libre takes that same source code and deblobs it, removing or neutralizing everything that needs proprietary components. You get a kernel that boots the same way, minus anything you can’t inspect.
What’s new in 7.1
This release is based on the freshly published Linux 7.1 series and adds cleanup for hardware that arrived in that cycle. It handles the Lontium LT8713SX DP MST bridge and the Realtek 802.11be 8922D wireless chips, plus a batch of new blob names in the devicetree files for Qualcomm SoC devices.
It also refreshes the deblobbing of several drivers and components that were already being cleaned: Nova-core, the hx9023s documentation, the prueth devicetree files, btmtk, qat_6xxx, amdgpu, m88ds3103, saa7164, r8169, ath12k, mt792x and mt7996. The cleanup of the rtw89 driver was adjusted to match the upstream refactoring.
Two technical details are worth calling out. The Rust build is fixed, a change that was already backported to the GNU Linux-libre 7.0.*-gnu series. And the cleanup of the fore200e, acenic, yam, smc91c92_cs and speedfax drivers was dropped, simply because those drivers no longer exist in the official kernel. Once upstream removes them, Linux-libre has nothing left to deblob.
Who it’s for
Linux-libre targets a narrow audience: software freedom lovers and Linux purists who want to build a GNU/Linux machine with no proprietary code at all. It isn’t for everyone, since giving up the blobs also means giving up support for certain hardware (Wi-Fi cards, GPUs and a few peripherals that only work with closed firmware).
If you fit that profile, you can download the compressed tarballs now from the project’s official website. For those who’d rather not compile, ready-to-use binary packages are available: the Freesh project (for DEB-based distributions) and RPM Freedom (for RPM-based ones) provide builds you can install alongside or in place of the standard kernel, on virtually any GNU/Linux distribution.