What is it?
It's a puplet based on tahrpup 6.0.2 that:
- Uses Trisquel 7 packages instead of Ubuntu 14.04 ones; most package versions are the same as in tahrpup
- Replaces Pale Moon with QupZilla
- Replaces Linux with Linux-libre and does not ship the non-free firmware required for some devices
All packages that work on tahrpup (except third-party drivers, which need to be rebuilt) work on Librepup as well.
Features
- The kernel has been updating to the latest minor version, for additional security and stability
- An updated graphics stack backported from latest Ubuntu release to Trisquel 7
- XChat has been replaced with HexChat
- ClipIt has been replaced with Parcellite
- Fonts are smooth
- Third-party drivers built for Librepup are backward- and forward- compatible with new minor kernel versions
- All the latest improvements in woof-CE
- Librepup does not offer, mention or recommended non-free software
- Many unneeded, legacy packages still present in modern Puppy releases have been removed
Librepup respects the user's essential freedoms. When used on a machine with free boot firmware, it make it possible to use a computer with nothing but free software.
Philosophy
I believe every distro should be libre by default, with clearly-labeled non-free add-ons for the users that decide they want them. For example - I'd like Puppy (and any other distro) to ship with Linux-libre, while offering users the ability to switch to Linux. Otherwise, free software won't become the norm in the software industry.
Therefore, the process of creating Librepup derivatives has been automated and simplified (see later). If you're interested in creating Puppy derivatives, I encourage you to use Librepup as a base, since other Puppy releases contain non-free components and may have additional, hidden ones: it's a privacy and security risk for your users. Even if you wish to add non-free components to your derivative (which is strongly discouraged), a Librepup derivative with one or more, non-free components is much better (for your users) than a traditional Puppy derivative, with an unknown number of such threats, especially if these components are labeled properly as non-free ones and the user deliberately accepts the risk involved in using them, despite of all warnings.
Note to contributors
If you create packages for Librepup, please state whether they're libre or not. If unsure, say you're unsure, it's OK. Also, if you recommend non-free software, state it's non-free. This distinction between free and non-free must be clear: we don't want to mislead users that care about their freedom and privacy into installing non-free software.
Limitations
Some peripherals that work with tahrpup won't work with Librepup, because they rely on non-free firmware. I repeat: if your hardware relies on non-free firmware, it won't work on Librepup. This is true for many WiFi cards (including but not limited to many Intel, Ralink and Broadcom ones).
Download
here (mirrors needed!)
Development
Librepup is built using woof-CE-libre, a fork of woof-CE which strips all non-free software. All improvements done in woof-CE-libre were merged into woof-CE, so other Puppy derivatives can benefit from them.
Librepup version numbers correspond to those of the Puppy they're based on, but have an additional digit for Librepup-specific changes.
Building Librepup
Librepup is reproducible; woof-CE-libre is always pre-configured to produce the development version of Librepup.
The recommended way to build derivatives of Librepup is to use either woof-CE-libre (for libre derivatives) or woof-CE (for derivatives that add non-free components on top of Librepup).
To build Librepup, run woof-CE-libre through Librepup itself (preferred) or any other recent Puppy release (with the devx loaded):
Code: Select all
git clone https://notabug.org/dimkr/woof-CE-libre
cd woof-CE-libre
./merge2out
Code: Select all
cd ../woof-out_x86_x86_trisquel_belenos
yes "" | ./0setup
yes "" | ./1download
yes "" | ./2createpackages
./3builddistro-Z
The Librepup logo was drawn by Koz Ross and provided under the terms of the CC-BY-SA-4.0 license.