Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Wait... why does Linux-libre (and #Freedo) exist? (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Is Linux not free software itself? I thought propietary stuff was added downstream.

Am I getting something wrong?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

It's definitely not safer. It does not include microcode updates so it's quite the opposite of secure. Technically you can load them at boot but why would you intentionally make security harder to achieve?

Not including microcode updates is also extremely dumb from the philosophical standpoint. Microcode is closed source firmware running "inside your CPU" so if you don't include the updates, your CPU now runs on both vulnerable and proprietary firmware.