Re: [H-source-users] Shall we remove debian from h-node? (was Re: [bug #63209] devuan GNU/Linux not on list of supported distributions)

[Jeffrey Cliff]

"Though I'm not sure what was the status last time something was
written about h-node, so maybe not much has changed since the last
time."

The FSF was talking about it and encouraging people to use it, this
week on their fediverse feed this week.

If the issue is microcode (I have microcode disabled via using a
custom compiled linux-libre kernel with microcode disabled in the
config)...perhaps detecting a proper kernel .config (via /boot/proc or
via a .config fed in) might be acceptable?

If the issue is the default kernel maybe...detecting via uname with
'libre' version tagged in the right place would be acceptable?

If the issue is debian ships nonfree things sometimes(or by
default)...would it be possible to narrow down what, exactly unfree
hclient has a problem with and ...detect that (ie non-free firmware
blobs)? perhaps with some help from vrms?

and if someone *is* running a potato for a GPU (...or no graphics at
all purely on server), a libre kernel with microcode and IME support
completely disabled on top of a libreboot bios... should they be able
to use hclient even if they *gasp* run debian(/devuan)?

On Wed, 19 Oct 2022 at 22:51, Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
<GNUtoo@cyberdimension.org> wrote:
>
> On Thu, 13 Oct 2022 20:28:44 -0400
> bill-auger <bill-auger@peers.community> wrote:
>
> > On Fri, 14 Oct 2022 10:49:13 +1100 Yuchen wrote:
> > > Let's see what others have to say on this.  CCing Ian and FSF
> > > Campaigns to this thread.
> >
> > devin has been prodding me for information for an article he
> > wants to write about h-node for an upcoming FSF newsletter -
> > there is not much news-worthy to report; but maybe the topic
> > could just be to ask the community for opinions on a few of the
> > issues we have been kicking around - i sense that without input
> > from the FSF and the community, that these may never be decided
> >
> > * remove debian or add devuan?
> > * add replicant and hurd?
> Replicant has already been added. And for Guix with HURD, if I remember
> well, everybody agreed to follow your suggestion to mention it in
> "tested with the following kernel libre" and not as a distribution.
>
> > * whitelist kernel modules instead of distros? - so that entries
> >   could be submitted using any distro, while assuring that
> >   "works with free software" is always correct
> As I understand still keeping the information about the distribution is
> useful because there is a lot of corner cases, like firmwares loaded
> from userspace software and not going through the kernel at all for
> instance. In addition sometimes there are nonfree userspace drivers for
> printers for instance.
>
> > * add categories for SBCs and phones?
> I don't remember the status of that, but the main idea was to have a
> general "computer" category too to make it more clear that you can add
> anything that is a computer.
>
> I think that beside the very last discussions, a lot of work went on in
> h-node:
> - Local modifications were removed from the website code. Thanks to
>   that work, we can now contribute to the server code again. And new
>   patches were reviewed and merged (like the ones adding Replicant for
>   instance).
> - The website code was updated to work on newer
>   (Trisquel?) distributions.
> - The h-node client was migrated to python3. It was also packaged in
>   Guix, so we can also install it on FSDG distros like Trisquel where
>   h-node is not packaged yet (if I recall well).
>
>   Though it won't work on Replicant or LibreCMC (Replicant: because of
>   kernel version, LibreCMC: because Guix doesn't support mips32 big
>   endian).
>
>   It could contain a call to package it in distributions like Trisquel,
>   and for distributions to add it in their installation images/ISOs for
>   easier testing.
>
> - Bugs were solved, for instance we had issues with the server hanging
>   and the submissions (through h-client) not going through.
>
> Though I'm not sure what was the status last time something was written
> about h-node, so maybe not much has changed since the last time.
>
> Another idea would be to make statistics (if that's possible) with the
> recent additions to the database. For instance:
> - How many new hardware was added
> - What proportion does or doesn't work with free software
>
> It could be combined with information about newer issues commonly found
> in newer computers (like more nonfree firmwares, or specific nonfree
> firmwares) and/or with a promotion of FSDG distributions as a tool to
> understand the free software status (Since the FSDG distribution do not
> ship nonfree software, that gives us more clues about what works and
> what doesn't work without nonfree software, though a lot is still
> hidden in the BIOS/UEFI for instance, like CPU microcode updates, GPU
> bytecode used by the GPU drivers, etc).
>
> Denis.



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