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Libreboot is a coreboot distribution or coreboot distro, in the same way that Debian is a Linux distro. Its purpose is to provide free/opensource boot firmware, replacing proprietary BIOS/UEFI firmware, and it supports many machines.

It is a coreboot distro precisely because of its design. Libreboot’s build system automatically downloads, patches and builds all the various upstream sources such as coreboot, GRUB, SeaBIOS, U-Boot and so on. This automation is used to provide binary releases, which the user can easily install. Coreboot is notoriously difficult to configure and install, for most people, and you need a high degree of technical skill to use it; distros like Libreboot bridge this gap, making coreboot accessible to non-technical users.

Libreboot was the first coreboot distro, existing since December 2013. Many Libreboot users exist today, who would otherwise not use coreboot at all.

Over the years, several other coreboot distros have come and gone. It has been decided that this page will be written, to document some of them. Not every distro is listed; only those of high quality, or otherwise of interest, will be listed. Quality over quantity.

Libreboot tries to support as much hardware as possible, and focuses on providing the easiest possible experience for non-technical users; it’s also highly configurable for power users.

Several other projects exist that target different kinds of users, and support different types of hardware; for example, Libreboot mostly doesn’t target Chromebooks, except for a few.

Libreboot’s main priority is to provide users with free/opensource boot firmware, to help more users achieve a higher level of software freedom. Well, Libreboot is one of the most well-known coreboot distros out there, so it is our duty to therefore cover the other projects, because it may be that Libreboot isn’t for you; these other projects may support features and mainboards that Libreboot doesn’t, that you may find preferable.

We in the Libreboot project greatly admire and respect the other distros, and will gladly work with them.

Without further ado,

In alphabetical order:

Website: https://canoeboot.org/

Git repositories: https://canoeboot.org/git.html

Canoeboot is a special fork of Libreboot; both Canoeboot and Libreboot are maintained in parallel by the same developer, Leah Rowe. Canoeboot supports far less hardware than Libreboot, but provides a pure free software coreboot distribution, due to its policy. As a result of Canoeboot’s policy, it currently only supports very old hardware.

It otherwise has the exact same design as Libreboot, and is kept in relative sync at all times, often doing releases side by side on the same days as Libreboot.

Libreboot supports more hardware than Canoeboot, due to its more pragmatic Binary Blob Reduction Policy adopted on 17 November 2022; Canoeboot is a continuation of Libreboot from prior to this, since Libreboot initially used the same dogmatic policy as Canoeboot. A small minority of users demanded it post-November 2022, so Canoeboot was born.

If you’re an absolute Free Software fanatic, Canoeboot is for you. Otherwise, if you want to use much newer hardware, Libreboot is a worthy choice. Since Canoeboot only supports much older hardware, and uses Libreboot’s old policy, you could consider Canoeboot to be legacy Libreboot. Libreboot adopted the Binary Blob Reduction Policy in November 2022, as part of a general desire to support more - and newer - hardware.

Website: https://docs.chrultrabook.com/

Git repositories: https://github.com/chrultrabook

Provides a tailored EDK2(UEFI) payload on supported Chromebooks. You can use this to replace ChromeOS with a regular Linux distro or BSD system - even Windows - if you wish.

The benefit of using Chultrabook is that it provides up to date EDK2, unlike proprietary vendors who often provide old, CVE-ridden versions of EDK2 forks such as InsydeH2O.

With Chultrabook’s guidance, you can have a completely up to date UEFI firmware on your machine, and get good use out of your Chromebook for many more years, with regular security updates.

Libreboot largely avoids supporting Chromebooks, precisely because Chultrabook and MrChromebox are perfectly viable options on these machines.

Website: https://docs.dasharo.com/

Git repositories: https://github.com/dasharo

Supports many machines, with a choice of EDK2(UEFI) or Heads(Linuxboot) payload in the flash. Some older machines may provide a SeaBIOS payload instead. A lot of work that goes into the upstream coreboot project came from the Dasharo developers.

Dasharo provides their own fork of coreboot, with a specific tree per board. Several coreboot ports (e.g. MSI Z690-A PRO) were implemented directly by the Dasharo project, and later upstreamed into the regular coreboot project.

Dasharo has a special emphasis on commercial application, providing tailored coreboot images for each supported mainboard, with an emphasis on stability. It’s a very different approach than Libreboot’s approach; Libreboot provides a more generalised design in its build system and infrastructure.

Website: https://osresearch.net/

Git repositories: https://github.com/linuxboot/heads

Heads provides a LinuxBoot payload using U-Root, and has many advanced features such as TPM-based MeasuredBoot. With combined use of a FIDO key, you can easily and more reliably determine whether you boot firmware has been tampered with.

The Linux-based payload in flash uses kexec to boot another Linux kernel. It provides an easy to use boot menu, highly configurable and supports many Linux distros easily.

If you’re the sort of person who needs full disk encryption and you have a focus on security, Heads is for you. Perfect for use with something like Qubes.

Libreboot provides its own security mechanisms, but Heads is much more flexible and complete, in this regard. The only downside to Heads’s Linux-based flash setup, is that it’s basically a Linux-only coreboot distro (whereas Libreboot can boot BSD and even Windows, in some cases).

Another focus of the heads project is on reproducible builds. Its build system bootstraps a toolchain that then compiles everything else, including the coreboot crossgcc toolchain. The purpose of this is to provide matching ROM hashes on every build; for this purpose, it also auto-downloads vendor files such as Intel ME at build time, instead of requiring you to dump from the original boot firmware.

Heads’s vendorcode auto-download logic inspired Libreboot’s own vendorcode inject design; Libreboot greatly expanded on it, on more machines.

We in Libreboot have an affinity for the Heads project, and have worked with them in the past, and they with us, helping each other back and forth. Many of the machines supported in Libreboot are also supported in Heads, and vice versa, but they target different kinds of users and use-case scenarios, with Libreboot targeting a more general audience (while providing security hardening options), whereas Heads specifically targets security-conscious users.

Website: https://docs.mrchromebox.tech/

Git repositories: https://github.com/MrChromebox/

Provides a tailored EDK2(UEFI) payload on supported Chromebooks. You can use this to replace ChromeOS with a regular Linux distro or BSD system - even Windows - if you wish.

The benefit of using MrChromebox is that it provides up to date EDK2, unlike proprietary vendors who often provide old, CVE-ridden versions of EDK2 forks such as InsydeH2O.

With MrChromebox’s guidance, you can have a completely up to date UEFI firmware on your machine, and get good use out of your Chromebook for many more years, with regular security updates.

Libreboot largely avoids supporting Chromebooks, precisely because Chultrabook and MrChromebox are perfectly viable options on these machines.

Git repositories: https://github.com/merge/skulls

Skulls provides simple coreboot images with SeaBIOS payload, on a handful of Thinkpads. Libreboot also provides similar SeaBIOS configurations, on all of the same machines, but Libreboot’s design does mean that there are a few additional steps for installation.

If you just want the simplest, most barebones setup, Skulls is a great choice.

The reason Skulls is simpler is that they include certain vendor files such as me.bin pre-inserted into images; while risky indeed, this does in fact make installation easier for users. Libreboot takes a more conservative approach, excluding such files on release images and instead providing you with an automated script to insert these.

Libreboot also provides U-Boot and GRUB, and has other ambitions. Libreboot aims to provide ease of use while also providing great power and flexibility. So Libreboot is aimed specifically at power users, while also trying to accomodate non-technical users; Skulls largely targets the latter.

Git repository: https://github.com/system76/firmware-open

Other repositories e.g. EC firmware: https://github.com/system76

System76 provides their own special coreboot fork, that they tailor for specific machines that they sell; they also provide free EC firmware. Jeremy Soller of System76 maintains this firmware, and the work is regularly upstreamed into the regular coreboot project.

System76 provides the coreboot firmware, along with EDK2 UEFI payload. It can boot Linux distros, BSD systems and even Windows perfectly.

Markdown file for this page: https://libreboot.org/other.md

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