GNU Linux-libre 5.16 Brings More Firmware Cleansing, Deblobbing

Following yesterday's release of Linux 5.16, the GNU folks have released GNU Linux-libre 5.16-gnu as their downstream that removes/disables any code depending upon non-open-source firmware/microcode binaries, the ability to load proprietary kernel modules, and other cleaning in the name of free software.

As for the new changes in GNU Linux-libre 5.16-gnu over the 5.15 series, the work taken on by the GNU FSF Latin America crew included:

Upstream introduced a firmware_request_builtin call, so we have introduced an analogous firmware_reject_builtin function. Cleanup scripts used to have separate shell functions to disable request_firmware and the _nowarn variant; these have now been unified and extended to cover the _builtin variant, so scripts won't need changes when upstream code switches between them.

New drivers for wifi, mt7921s and rtw89 (8852a), for touchscreen, ili210x, for remoteproc, i.MX dsp, for audio, qdsp6, and for devicetree files for aarch64 qcom variants, had blob requests inactivated and blob names removed.

Learn more about GNU Linux-Libre or download this latest v5.16 release over at FSFLA.org.