[ubuntu-uk] Fwd: Web Upd8 Subscription (in this message: 2 new items)

Bea Groves beagroves at gmail.com
Wed Sep 21 22:29:13 UTC 2011


Hi all!

Just read the following. Comments?

-------- Original Message --------

  Web Upd8 Subscription (in this message: 2 new items)
  <http://www.webupd8.org/>

<http://fusion.google.com/add?source=atgs&feedurl=http://feeds.feedburner.com/webupd8>


	Link to Web Upd8 - Ubuntu / Linux blog <http://www.webupd8.org/>

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Windows 8 Certified Computers May Not Be Able To Boot Linux
<http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/webupd8/~3/vFsB-DVI6KE/windows-8-certified-computers-may-not.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email>


Posted: 21 Sep 2011 06:19 AM PDT

According to an article by ITWorld
<http://www.itworld.com/it-managementstrategy/205255/windows-8-oem-specs-may-block-linux-booting>,
*Microsoft requires that Windows 8-certified machines use UEFI* (Unified
Extensible Firmware Interface) *with support for secure booting* instead
of the BIOS firmware.

This means that both the firmware and software used in the boot process
must be signed by a trusted Certificate Authority and at the moment,
none of the EFI Linux bootloaders is signed. So basically, if you buy a
computer that includes the manufacturer's keys and Microsoft's keys, you
won't be able to boot a Linux distribution.


To get secure UEFI booting support for a Linux distribution, a non-GPL
bootloader would be required and since in the near future the kernel
itself will be a part of the bootloader, the kernel would have to be
signed too, meaning you won't be able to compile your own custom kernels.

Matthew Garrett, a Linux developer at Red Hat says:

    "Microsoft requires that machines conforming to the Windows 8 logo
    program and running a client version of Windows 8 ship with secure
    boot enabled. The two alternatives here are for Windows to be signed
    with a Microsoft key and for the public part of that key to be
    included with all systems, or alternatively for each OEM to include
    their own key and sign the pre-installed versions of Windows. The
    second approach would make it impossible to run boxed copies of
    Windows on Windows logo hardware, and also impossible to install new
    versions of Windows unless your OEM provided a new signed copy. The
    former seems more likely.

    [...] Firstly, we'd need a non-GPL bootloader. Grub 2 is released
    under the GPLv3, which explicitly requires that we provide the
    signing keys. Grub is under GPLv2 which lacks the explicit
    requirement for keys, but it could be argued that the requirement
    for the scripts used to control compilation includes that. It's a
    grey area, and exploiting it would be a pretty good show of bad
    faith. Secondly, in the near future the design of the kernel will
    mean that the kernel itself is part of the bootloader. This means
    that kernels will also have to be signed. Making it impossible for
    users or developers to build their own kernels is not practical.
    Finally, if we self-sign, it's still necessary to get our keys
    included by ever OEM."



Even if the major Linux distros find a way around this (hopefully),
there are still questions like: will small Linux distributions disappear
or how will the users or various companies boot their own custom
kernels? And the most important question of all: *is this legal?*


Read more about it @ ITWorld
<http://www.itworld.com/it-managementstrategy/205255/windows-8-oem-specs-may-block-linux-booting>.
<http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/webupd8?a=vFsB-DVI6KE:INlQdz4wStk:JO5tD9-akdk>
<http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/webupd8?a=vFsB-DVI6KE:INlQdz4wStk:yIl2AUoC8zA>
<http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/webupd8?a=vFsB-DVI6KE:INlQdz4wStk:F7zBnMyn0Lo>
<http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/webupd8?a=vFsB-DVI6KE:INlQdz4wStk:V_sGLiPBpWU>
<http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/webupd8?a=vFsB-DVI6KE:INlQdz4wStk:qj6IDK7rITs>
<http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/webupd8?a=vFsB-DVI6KE:INlQdz4wStk:GpuqGqRPqxU>
<http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/webupd8?a=vFsB-DVI6KE:INlQdz4wStk:3k7XFKuwfg0>
<http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/webupd8?a=vFsB-DVI6KE:INlQdz4wStk:KGf-JMduG9I>




-- 
Beatrix E. Groves
BA Hons (Educ) LCGI MAPTT MIFL QTLS
President, Institute for Learning (IfL)
General Secretary, Association of Part-Time Tutors (APTT)
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Random Quote of the Day (chosen by my computer) ------------->

"It is not work that kills men, it is worry. Work is healthy;
you can hardly put more on a man than he can bear. But worry
is rust upon the blade. It is not movement that destroys the
machinery, but friction."

-- Henry Ward Beecher



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