Current list of blobs in Linux

Legimet legimet.calc at gmail.com
Mon Feb 14 20:08:35 UTC 2022


Would it be possible to put up a list of blobs that Linux-libre removes
from upstream Linux? The Linux-libre webpage lists the drivers that are
cleaned up, but most of these drivers load external blobs from
/lib/firmware and do not actually contain blobs.

I could not find a convenient list of only the blobs that were removed
from the Linux source code, but after reviewing the diff between Linux
and Linux-libre (for the current version, and also for some older
versions) I have determined that the current list of blobs is:

arch/powerpc/platforms/8xx/micropatch.c
drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb/af9005-script.h
drivers/net/appletalk/cops_ffdrv.h
drivers/net/appletalk/cops_ltdrv.h
drivers/media/i2c/vs6624.c

I ask this because recently I was discussing how to build a kernel that
is blob-free but is still able to load blobs, if the user places them
in /lib/firmware. This can be done by stripping the files that
contain blobs from the Linux source code, and building a kernel
without the corresponding drivers (which would be broken). For such a
use case it would be convenient if Linux-libre had a list of blobs,
just like Debian's list here (although it includes more than just
firmware blobs, it is short and easy to check):
https://metadata.ftp-master.debian.org/changelogs//main/l/linux/linux_5.16.7-2_copyright


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