Alexandre Oliva announced today the release of the GNU Linux-libre 5.13 kernel for those who want to use a 100% free version of Linux kernel 5.13 on their GNU/Linux computers.
Based on the just released Linux kernel 5.13, the GNU Linux-libre 5.13 kernel is here to add new blob names to the AMDGPU, i915 CSR, MHI busm r8152, and x86 touchscreen drivers, as well as to Qualcomm ARM64 DTS files.
However, it looks like most of the changes in the GNU Linux-libre 5.13 kernel are around the moved and removed drivers from the upstream release. But it also makes some needed adjustments to the cleaning up logic for the btusb module.
Of course, the new GNU Linux-libre kernel is packed with the same new features and improvements as the upstream Linux 5.13 kernel, but it cleans up many of the newly added drivers to provide you with a 100% free kernel that doesn’t include any proprietary code.
Among the new features of Linux kernel 5.13, there’s initial support for Apple’s M1 processor, initial support for the AMD Radeon “Aldebaran” GPU series, as well as support for the Landlock security module for creating safe security sandboxes to mitigate the security impact of various flaws in user space apps.
Linux 5.13 also comes with the ability to handle ASN.1 trusted keys, ACPI 6.4 support, initial FreeSync HDMI support for AMD GPUs, a new “big pcluster” feature for the EROFS file system to greatly improve compression performance, and support for the ECDSA (Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm) verification.