Any distribution should work, so long as it uses kernel mode setting for graphics. We recommend using distributions that are entirely free software; most distros out there have proprietary software in them, but the ones that we recommend do not have proprietary software by default.
Note: we are not the Free Software Foundation. The recommendations here consist of both FSF-endorsed and non-FSF-endorsed distros. Some of these distrubions wrongly call the whole system Linux. Despite libreboot's stance against the GNU project, we still agree with the free software philosophy and we still want you to call the whole system GNU/Linux, since this is the technically correct name for the system.
Many FSF-endorsed GNU/Linux distributions are considered unfit
for general use by the libreboot project.
You can read about their problems here:
Why we can't endorse many FSF-endorsed distributions.
Most of the developers use it (Leah Rowe always uses testing releases of Debian). We recommend Debian stable releases for most users. If you want to do development, e.g. libreboot development, then you should use the testing release of Debian.
Debian by default comes without non-free software in the default installation or repos. There is a non-free repo that's not added by default. Just avoid adding this, and you should have a fully free system.
Devuan is a fork of Debian that does not use the controversial systemd init system.
See: https://www.devuan.org/os/init-freedom/.
Gentoo is a bleeding edge source based distribution. It provides only source code in its repositories, and the portage package manager automatically compiles the source code for you along with all dependencies, when installing packages. This makes the distribution extremely configurable. It's common in Gentoo to see 10, 20 or even 30 versions of the same package, with different patches, and you can mix and match.
Gentoo provides non-free software by default, but you can configure the package manager when installing it, so that it doesn't let you install non-free software. This way, you will end up with a completely free system.
Modify your /etc/portage/make.conf with the relevant license groups. See: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/License_Groups#Metasets - and https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki//etc/portage/make.conf#ACCEPT_LICENSE - configure the ACCEPT_LICENSE string accordingly.
Fully free bleeding edge distribution, based on the Arch distribution. Good for saavy users and developers in general (some libreboot developers use this).
Arch users, refer to the Parabola migration guide.
Copyright © 2016 Leah Rowe <info@minifree.org>
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