"The BIOS is a delicate but essential part of software freedom for computing today," said Zoë Kooyman, executive director of the FSF. "GNU Boot aims to make sure that we can continue using our computers in freedom. With the way it builds on the work of others to replace UEFI, we know it can remain firm in the free software philosophy and stay vital to digital autonomy and user freedom." Free boot firmware, such as GNU Boot, is responsible for loading the computer's operating system.
The work done by GNU Boot contributors has similarities to work done by GNU/Linux distributions: they package software like Coreboot or GNU GRUB, contribute to the upstream repositories of these projects, and assist them with documentation, among other tasks.
GNU Boot was founded in 2022 by Denis "GNUtoo" Carikli and Adrien "neox" Bourmault. The long-term goal for GNU Boot is to allow users and contributors to rely on GNU Boot without requiring them to learn domain-specific skills. Projects like GNU Guix or Trisquel are GNU Boot's model in this regard. As with GNU Guix, the GNU Boot project has also made a point of focusing on software reproducibility.
When asked about their project joining the FSF's fiscal sponsorship program, co-maintainer Adrien Bourmault stated: "Making this decision with the FSF allows us to focus more on what we do best: writing and debugging code that keeps our machines fully free."
Projects whose scope and purpose align with the FSF's mission and further mission-related activities can become fiscally sponsored by joining the FSF's Working Together for Free Software Fund. In addition to receiving increased awareness and donations, partners in the fund are able to take advantage of the FSF's incorporated status, organizational capacity, fundraising apparatus, and governance infrastructure, without the need to incorporate on their own. Fiscally sponsored projects further benefit from the FSF's trusted reputation in the technical, user freedom, and nonprofit communities. Among the projects represented are GNU Toolchain, GNU Guix, and EmacsConf.
About the Free Software Foundation
The FSF, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software — particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants — and free documentation for free software. The FSF publishes the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL), the world's most popular free software license, and the only license written with the express purpose of promoting and preserving software freedom. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its websites, located at https://www.fsf.org and https://www.gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at https://donate.fsf.org. The FSF is a remote organization, incorporated in Massachusetts, USA.
To learn more about the FSF, as well as to find more important information if you are a journalist or publisher, visit https://www.fsf.org/press.
About the GNU Operating System and Linux
Richard Stallman announced in September 1983 the plan to develop a free software Unix-like operating system called GNU. GNU is the only operating system developed specifically for the sake of users' freedom. See http://www.gnu.org/gnu/the-gnu-project.html.
In 1992, the essential components of GNU were complete, except for one: the kernel. When the kernel Linux was re-released under the GNU GPL in 1992, making it free software, the combination of GNU and Linux formed a complete free operating system, which made it possible for the first time to run a PC without nonfree software. This combination is the GNU/Linux system. For a more detailed explanation, see http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html.
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