% Canoeboot 20231026 released!
% Leah Rowe in GNU Leah Mode™
% 26 October 2023

Introduction
============

*This* new release, Canoeboot 20231026, released today 26 October 2023, is
based on Libreboot 20231021.

Canoeboot provides boot firmware for supported x86/ARM machines, starting a
bootloader that then loads your operating system. It replaces proprietary
BIOS/UEFI firmware on x86 machines, and provides an *improved* configuration
on [ARM-based chromebooks](../docs/install/chromebooks.html) supported
(U-Boot bootloader, instead of Google's depthcharge bootloader). On x86
machines, the GRUB and SeaBIOS coreboot
payloads are officially supported, provided in varying configurations per
machine. It provides an [automated build system](../docs/maintain/) for the
[configuration](../docs/build/) and [installation](../docs/install/) of coreboot
ROM images, making coreboot easier to use for non-technical people. You can find
the [list of supported hardware](../docs/hardware/) in Canoeboot documentation.

Canoeboot's main benefit is *higher boot speed*,
[better](../docs/gnulinux/encryption.md) 
[security](../docs/gnulinux/grub_hardening.md) and more
customisation options compared to most proprietary firmware. As a
[libre](https://writefreesoftware.org/learn) software project, the code can be
audited, and coreboot does
regularly audit code. The other main benefit is [*freedom* to study, adapt and
share the code](https://writefreesoftware.org/), a freedom denied by most boot
firmware, but not Canoeboot! Booting Linux/BSD is also [well](../docs/gnulinux/) 
[supported](../docs/bsd/).

Canoeboot is maintained in parallel with Libreboot, and by the same developer,
Leah Rowe, who maintains both projects; Canoeboot implements the [GNU Free
System Distribution Guideline](https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.en.html)
as policy, ensuring that all of the software provided by it is *free software*.

Work done since last release
============================

The *following* mainboards added in Libreboot 20231021 have *been
excluded* in this Canoeboot release, due to the GNU FSDG policy: HP
EliteBook 2170p, HP EliteBook 8470p, Dell Precision T1650 and Dell
Latitude E6430. Other non-FSDG compliant boards are also excluded,
such as newer ThinkPads that require Intel ME.

Canoeboot complies strictly with GNU Free System Distribution Guidelines,
which means it does not contain binary blobs; as a result, it supports
only a very restricted subset of hardware from Libreboot upon which it
is based (Canoeboot is a GNU-friendly fork of Libreboot).

GRUB LUKS2 now supported (with argon2 key derivation)
---------------------------------------------------

*This* new Canoeboot release imports the [PHC argon2
implementation](https://github.com/P-H-C/phc-winner-argon2) into GRUB,
courtesy of [Axel](https://axelen.xyz/) who initially ported the code to run
under GRUB *2.06*, but this Canoeboot release uses GRUB *2.12* (an RC revision
from git, at present).

Axel's code was published to [this AUR repository](https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/aur.git/tree/?h=grub-improved-luks2-git&id=1c7932d90f1f62d0fd5485c5eb8ad79fa4c2f50d)
which [Nicholas Johnson](https://nicholasjohnson.ch/) then rebased on top of
GRUB *2.12*, and I then imported the work into Libreboot, with Johnson's
blessing; Canoeboot has inherited this work in full.

These libreboot patches added argon2 support, and have been ported to Canoeboot
in this 20231026 release:

* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=2c0c521e2f15776fd604f8da3bc924dec95e1fd1>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=fd6025321c4ae35e69a75b45d21bfbfb4eb2b3a0>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=438bf2c9b113eab11439c9c65449e269e5b4b095>

This means that you can now boot from encrypted `/boot` partitions. I'm very
grateful to everyone who made this possible!

Simplified commands (build system)
-------------------------

You can find information about *using* the build system in
the [Canoeboot build instructions](../docs/build/) and in the [cbmk
maintenance manual](../docs/maintain/).

TWO massive audits. 50% code size reduction in cbmk.
--------------------------------------------

Canoeboot's build system, cbmk, is written entirely in shell scripts. It is
an automatic build system that downloads, patches, configures and compiles
source trees such as coreboot and various payloads, to build complete ROM
images that are easier to install.

The primary focus of Libreboot 20231021 cultiminated in two *audits*, namely
[Libreboot Build System Audit 2](https://libreboot.org/news/audit2.html) and
then [Libreboot Build System Audit 3](https://libreboot.org/news/audit3.html).

The changes in those audits have been ported to this *Canoeboot* release.

Changes include things like vastly reduced code complexity (while not
sacrificing functionality), greater speed (at compiling, and boot speeds are
higher when you use the GRUB payload), many bug fixes and more.

Serprog firmware building (RP2040 and STM32)
-----------------------------------

In addition to coreboot firmware, the Canoeboot build system (cbmk) can now
build *serprog* firmware, specifically `pico-serprog` and `stm32-vserprog`, on
all devices that these projects support.

The *serprog* protocol is supported by flashrom, to provide SPI flashing. It
can be used to set up an external SPI flasher, for [flashing Canoeboot
externally](../docs/install/spi.md). This too has been ported from Libreboot.

Pre-compiled firmware images are available, for many of these devices, under
the `roms/` directory in this Canoeboot 20231026 release! Riku Viitanen is the
one who added this capability to Libreboot, which was then ported to Canoeboot.

Updated U-Boot revision (2023.10)
----------------------------

Alper Nebi Yasak submitted patches that update the U-Boot revision in
Libreboot, on `gru_bob` and `gru_kevin` chromebooks. Additionally, the `cros`
coreboot tree has merged there with the `default` tree instead (and the `default`
tree has been updated to coreboot from 12 October 2023).

Many improvements were made to these boards, which you can learn about by
reading these diffs:

* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=eb267733fabe6c773720706539ef37f1ce591f81>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=8b411963b7e4941cbd96ac874d0582eaa20ea998>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=b2d84213dae4e199b4e4fa4f70dd6e3fbf5d90c4>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=f459e05ecd40592d80d119d16449d40f0dfbfa78>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=5b4ced3329f5fd8cb1fa166c8ac424e0bb618d67>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=46e01c0e1dade74f5ce777bf8593fe2722318af2>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=7afe2f39189fa196547c3dd9f9f617cfab91d835>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=f7db91c848f1fbf6bea93b62dfa4313ff550eeec>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=f9bad4449aa97aa2eb21f2254c0ad1515119888a>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=fea0cec24a1f2b03cf3c8b928259222f0bcf2357>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=f08102a22731182e8ad2f678ab39b19508fd455a>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=4e7e4761918d2cb04f3bf664c8c0ea8426a0e3bc>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=6e65595da5301b9b8c435a9ab55e6f0d9b01a86d>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=4d9567a7561df6eeb0dd81f2faf522c8526163b0>

All of these patches have been ported to this Canoeboot release.

Coreboot, GRUB, U-Boot and SeaBIOS revisions
------------------------------------

In Canoeboot 20231026 (*this release*):

* Coreboot (default): commit ID `d862695f5f432b5c78dada5f16c293a4c3f9fce6`, 12 October 2023
* Coreboot (cros): MERGED WITH `coreboot/default` (see above)
* Coreboot (fam15h\_udimm): commit ID `1c13f8d85c7306213cd525308ee8973e5663a3f8`, 16 June 2021
* GRUB: commit ID `e58b870ff926415e23fc386af41ff81b2f588763`, 3 October 2023
* SeaBIOS: commit ID `1e1da7a963007d03a4e0e9a9e0ff17990bb1608d`, 24 August 2023
* U-Boot: commit ID `4459ed60cb1e0562bc5b40405e2b4b9bbf766d57`, 2 October 2023

Build system tweaks
===================

resources/ now config/
----------------------

The `resources/scripts/` directory is now `script/`, and what was `resources/`
now only contains configuration data plus code patches for various projects,
so it has been renamed to `config/` - I considered splitting patches
into `patch/`, but the current directory structure for patches is not a problem
so I left it alone.

Also, the IFD/GbE files have been moved here, under `config/ifd/`. These can
always be ge-generated if the user wants to, using ich9gen, or using a
combination of bincfg and ifdtool from coreboot, and nvmutil (to change the
mac address) from Canoeboot or Libreboot.

Full list of changes (detail)
--------------------

These changes have been ported from the Libreboot 20231021 release, which are
mostly the results of the two audits (mentioned above):

* Most logic has been unified in single scripts that perform once type of task
  each, instead of multiple scripts performing the same type of talk; for
  example, defconfig-based projects now handled with the same scripts, and
  preparing trees for them is done the same. These unifications have been done
  carefully and incrementally, with great thought so as to prevent *spaghetti*.
  The code is clean, and small.
* GitHub is no longer used on main Git repository links, instead only as backup
* Backup repositories now defined, for all main repos under `config/git/`
* Single-tree projects are no longer needlessly re-downloaded when they already
  have been downloaded.
* GRUB LUKS2 support now available, with argon2 key derivation; previously, only
  PBKDF2 worked so most LUKS2 setups were unbootable in Canoeboot. This is fixed.
* Vastly reduced number of modules in GRUB, keeping only what is required.
* Use `--mtime` and option options in GNU Tar (if it is actually GNU Tar), when
  creating Tar archives. This results in partially reproducible source archives,
  and consistent hashes were seen in testing, but not between distros.
* Always re-inialitise `.git` within cbmk, for the build system itself, if
  Git history was removed as in releases. This work around some build systems
  like coreboot that use Git extensively, and are error-prone without it.
* More robust makefile handling in source trees; if one doesn't exist, error
  out but also check other makefile name combinations, and only error out if
  the command was to actually build.
* ROMs build script: support the "all" argument, even when getopt options are
  used e.g. `-k`
* Disabled the pager in `grub.cfg`, because it causes trouble in some
  non-interactive setups where the user sees an errant message on the screen
  and has to press enter. This fixes boot interruptions in some cases, allowing
  normal use of the machine. The pager was initially enabled many years ago,
  to make use of cat a bit easier in the GRUB shell, but the user can just
  enable the pager themselves if they really want to.
* U-Boot can now be compiled standalone, without using the ROMs build script,
  because crossgcc handling is provided for U-Boot now in addition to coreboot.
* All helper scripts are now under `include/`, and main scripts in `script/`,
  called by the main `build` script
* Generally purge unused variables in shell scripts
* Simplified initialisation of variables in shell scripts, using the `setvars`
  function defined under `include/err.sh`
* Support patch subdirectories, when applying patches. This is done recursively,
  making it possible to split up patch files into smaller sets inside sub
  directories, per each source tree (or target of each source tree, where a
  project is multi-tree within cbmk)
* SPDX license headers now used, almost universally, in all parts of cbmk.
* Files such as those under `config/git` are now
  concatenated, traversing recursively through the target directory; files first,
  then directories in order, and for each directory, follow the same pattern
  until all files are concatenated. This same logic is also used for patches.
  This now enables use of subdirectories, in some config/patch directories.
* General code cleanup on `util/nvmutil`
* Git histories are more thoroughly deleted, in third party source trees during
  release time.
* Symlinks in release archives are no longer hard copies; the symlinks are
  re-created by the release script, because it clones the current cbmk work
  directory via Git (local git clone), rather than just using `cp` to copy links.
* Properly output to stderr, on printf commands in scripts where it is either
  a warning prior to calling `err`, or just something that belongs on the error
  output (instead of standard output).
* Don't use the `-B` option in make commands.
* SECURITY: Use sha512sum (not sha1sum) when verifying certain downloads. This
  reduces the chance for collisions, during checksum verification.
* Set GRUB timout to 5s by default, but allow override and set to 10s or 15s
  on some mainboards.
* Support both curl and wget, where files are downloaded outside of Git; defer
  to Wget when Curl fails, and try each program three times before failing. This
  results in more resilient downloading, on wobbly internet connections.
* Don't clone Git repositories into `/tmp`, because it might be a tmpfs with
  little memory available; clone into `tmp/gitclone` instead, within cbmk,
  and `mv` it to avoid unnecessary additional writes (`mv` is much more efficient
  than `cp`, for this purpose).
* Coreboot builds: automatically run make-oldconfig, to mitigate use of raw
  coreboot config where a revision was updated but the config was untouched.
  This may still result in a confirmation dialog, and it's still recommended
  that the configs be updated per revision (or switch them to defconfigs).
* Vastly simplified directory structure; `resources/scripts/` is now `script/`,
  and `resources/` was renamed to `config/`; ifd and gbe files were also moved
  to `config/ifd/`. Commands are now 1-argument instead of 2, for example
  the `./build boot roms` command is now `./build roms`.
* memtest86plus: only build it on 64-bit hosts, for now (32-bit building is
  broken on a lot of distros nowadays, and cbmk doesn't properly handle cross
  compilation except on coreboot or U-Boot)
* (courtesy of Riku Viitanen) don't use cat on loops that handle lines of text.
  Instead, use the `read` command that is built into `sh`, reading each line.
  This is more efficient, and provides more robust handling on lines with
  spaces in them.
* *ALL* projects now have submodules downloaded at build time, not just multi
  tree projects such as coreboot - and a few projects under `config/git` have
  had certain `depend` items removed, if a given project already defines it
  under `.gitmodules` (within its repository).
* Improved cbutils handling; it's now even less likely to needlessly re-build
  if it was already built.
* The release build script no longer archives what was already built, but
  instead builds from scratch, creating an archive from source downloads
  first before building the ROM archives. This saves time because it enables
  a single build test per release, whereas at was previously necessary to test
  the Git repository and then the release archive. Testing both is still desired,
  but this behaviour also means that whatever is built at release time is
  guaranteed to be the same as what the user would build (from archives).
* Improved handling of `target.cfg` files in multi-tree projects coreboot,
  SeaBIOS and U-Boot. Unified to all such projects, under one script, and
  with improved error handling.
* GRUB payload: all ROM images now contain the same ELF, with all keymaps
  inserted. This speeds up the build process, and enables easier configuration
  when changing the keyboard layout because less re-flashing is needed.
* Simplified IFD handling on ICH9M platforms (e.g. X200/T400 thinkpads); the
  ich9gen utility wasn't needed anymore so ich9utils has been removed, and now
  the IFD/GbE files are included pre-assembled (generated by ich9gen). Ich9gen
  can still be used, or you can re-generate with coreboot's bincfg; the ifdtool
  util can be used to edit IFD and nvmutil (part of Canoeboot) can change MAC
  addresses. The ich9utils code was always redundant for the last few years,
  especially since 2022 when nvmutil was first written.
* Running as root is now forbidden, for most commands; cbmk will exit with
  non-zero status if you try. The `./build dependencies x` commands still work
  as root (they're the only commands available as root).
* Enabled memtest86plus on more boards, where it wasn't previously enabled.
* Only enable SeaBIOS as first payload on desktops, but still enable GRUB as
  second payload where GRUB is known to work (on each given host). The text
  mode and coreboot framebuffer modes are provided in each case, where feasible.
* The `list` command has been mostly unified, making it easier to tell (from
  cbmk) what commands are available, without having to manually poke around
  under `script/`.
* The `-T0` flag is now used, universally, on xz commands. This makes `xz` run
  on multiple threads, greatly speeding up the creation of large tar archives.
* Universally use `-j` in make commands, for multi-threading, but it relies
  on `nproc` to get thread count, so this only works if you have `nproc` (you
  probably don't, if you run BSD; BSD porting is still on TODO for Canoeboot)
* File names as arguments now universally have quotes wrapped around them, and
  similar auditing has been done to all variables used as arguments everywhere
  in cbmk. There were cases where multiple arguments were wrongly quoted then
  treated as a single argument, and vice versa. This is now fixed.
* Re-wrote `.gitcheck`; now, a global git name/email config is always required.
  The only behaviour (setting local config, and unsetting) was quite error-prone
  under fault conditions, where cleanup may not have been provided, or when
  execution was interrupted, resulting sometimes in accidentally committing
  to `cbmk.git` as author named `cbmkplaceholder`.
* Scripts no longer directly exit with non-zero status, under fault conditions;
  instead, `x_` or `err` is used to provide such behaviour. This results in all
  exits from cbmk being consolidated to `err`, under fault conditions. - zero
  exits are also consolidated, going only through the main script, which has its
  own exit function called `cbmk_exit` that provides `TMPDIR` cleanup.
* BSD-style error handling implemented, with an `err` function (and functions
  that use it) inside `include/err.sh`; there is also `x_` which can be used
  to run a command and exit automatically with non-zero status, useful because
  it provides more verbose output than if you just relied on `set -e`, and it
  still works when a script *does not* use `set -e` - however, it is not used
  on all functions, because it works by executing `$@` directly, which can break
  depending on arguments. Therefore, some scripts just default to `|| err` for
  providing breakage in scripts.
* Memtest *6.2* now used (instead of *5.x* releases). This is essentially a
  re-write, and it works on the coreboot framebuffer, whereas previous revisions
  only worked on text mode setups.
* NO MAKEFILE. The Makefile in cbmk has been removed. It was never meaningfully
  used because all it did was run cbmk commands, without implementing any logic
  itself. A Makefile may be added again in the future, but with a view to
  installing *just the build system* onto the host system, to then build ROM
  images under any number of directories. Lbmk's design is strictly no-Makefile,
  but it uses Makefiles provided by third party source trees when building them.
* Safer GRUB configuration file handling between GRUB memdisk and coreboot CBFS;
  it is no longer possible to boot without a GRUB config, because the one in
  GRUB memdisk is provided as a failsafe, overridden by *inserting* one in CBFS,
  but there is no config in CBFS by default anymore.
* The build system *warns* users about `elf/` vs `bin/`, when it comes to
  flashing coreboot ROM images; it tells them to use `bin/` because those
  images do contain payloads, whereas the ones under `elf/` do not.
* VASTLY more efficient build process; all coreboot ROMs without payload are
  now cached under `elf/`, as are payloads, then they are joined separately by
  the usual ROMs build script, and these cached ROMs contain many changes in
  them that were previously handled by `moverom` in the main ROM build script.
  Under the new design, repetitive steps are avoided; payloads are inserted into
  a copy of the cached ROMs under `TMPDIR`, *before* being copied for keymaps
  and small files; this eliminates delays caused by slow compression (LZMA is
  always used, when inserting payloads). After crossgcc and the payloads are
  compiled, the ROM with coreboot builds in under a minute, whereas it would
  have previously taken several minutes on most Canoeboot-supported hardware.
* VASTLY reduced GRUB payload size; modules that aren't needed have been removed
  resulting in much smaller GRUB payloads, that also boot faster.
* ALL defconfig creation, updating and modification are handled by the same
  script that *also* handles compiling, as mentioned in the bullet-point below.
* ALL main source trees are now compiled, downloaded, configured and cleaned
  using the same script. The *download* (Git) logic is a separate file
  under `include/` and its functions are called by the main build script, which
  provides a stub for this.
* Scripts are no longer executed directly, ever, except the main script. All
  scripts are otherwise executed from `script/`, inheriting the `TMPDIR`
  variable set (and exported) by cbmk.
* Coreboot, U-Boot and SeaBIOS are now downloaded, configured and compiled using
  the exact same script. Although these codebases differ wildly, their build
  systems use the same design, and they are compatible from a user-interface
  perspective.
* Vastly improved `/tmp` handling; a universal `TMPDIR` is set (environmental
  variable) and exported to all child processes running cbmk scripts. On exit,
  the main tmp directory is purged, cleaning all tmp directories under it.
* General simplification of coding style on all shell scripts.
* Fixed some variable initialisations in the coreboot ROM image build script
* Don't enable u-boot on QEMU x86 images (due to buggy builds, untested) 
* Fixed coreboot-version file inserted into coreboot trees, when compiled
  on Canoeboot release archives.
* Very general auditing has been done, finding and fixing bugs.
* Many scripts that were separate are now unified. For example: the scripts
  handling defconfigs files on SeaBIOS, u-Boot and coreboot have now been
  merged into a single script, performing the same work *better* in less code.
* Ditto many other scripts; repeated logic unified, logic generalised. The
  logic for *downloading* coreboot and u-boot was unified into one script,
  basing off of the coreboot one, and then expanding to also cover SeaBIOS.
  Most building (e.g. handling of Makefiles) is now done in a single script.
* Far superior error handling; in many scripts, the `-e` option in `sh` was
  heavily relied upon to catch errors, but now errors are handled much more
  verbosely. *Many* fault conditions previously did not make cbmk *exit* at all,
  let alone with non-zero status, and zero status was sometimes being returned
  under some edge cases that were tested. Error handling is more robust now.
* `util/ich9utils` (containing `ich9gen`) was *removed*, thus eliminating about
  3000 source lines (of C code) from cbmk. The `nvmutil` program, also provided
  by and originating from the Canoeboot project, can already change GbE MAC
  addresses. Coreboot's bincfg can generate ich9m descriptors, and ifdtool can
  manipulate them; so the features provided by ich9utils were superfluous, since
  they are available in other projects that we ship. We now ship pre-built
  ifd/gbe configs on these machines, which can be modified or re-assembled
  manually if you want to. This eliminates a moving part from Canoeboot, and
  speeds up the build a little bit.
* ROM images (of coreboot) build *much faster*: no-payload coreboot ROMs are
  cached on disk, as are payloads, where previously only the latter was cached.
  These cached images have as much inserted into them as possible, to eliminate
  redundant steps in the build process. The `elf` directory contains these, and
  the existing `bin` directory still holds the full ROM images (containing
  payloads) when compiled.
* GRUB payload: vastly reduced the size of the payload, by eliminating GRUB
  modules that were not needed. About 100KB of compressed space saved in flash!
* GRUB payload: [argon2 key derivation supported](argon2.md) - this means LUKS2
  decryption is now possible in GRUB. This work was performed by Nicholas
  Johnson, rebasing from Axel's AUR patch for GRUB 2.06 (Canoeboot currently
  uses GRUB 2.12).
* The *new* coding style is now used on many more scripts, including
  the `build/boot/roms_helper` script - the new style is much cleaner,
  mandating that logic be top-down, with a `main()` function defined; it's
  basically inspired by the OpenBSD coding style for C programs, adapted to
  shell scripts.
* All GRUB keymaps now included; a single `grub.elf` is now used on all ROM
  images. The `grub.cfg` goes in GRUB memdisk now, but can be overridden by
  inserting a `grub.cfg` in CBFS; many behaviours are also controlled this way,
  for example to change keymaps and other behaviours. This results in *much*
  faster builds, because a different GRUB payload doesn't have to be added to
  each new ROM image; such takes time, due to time-expensive LZMA compression.
  This, plus the optimised set of GRUB modules, also makes GRUB itself load
  much faster. All of the fat has been trimmed, though still quite a lot more
  than a Crumb.
* A lot of scripts have been removed entirely, and their logic not replaced;
  in many cases, Canoeboot's build system contained logic that had gone unused
  for many years.
* More reliable configs now used on desktop mainboards: SeaBIOS-only for start,
  but GRUB still available where feasible (in the SeaBIOS menu). This makes it
  more fool proof for a user who might use integrated graphics and then switch
  to a graphics card; the very same images will work.
* TMPDIR environmental variable now set, and exported from main parent process
  when running cbmk; child processes inherit it, and a single tmp dir is used.
  This is then automatically cleaned, upon exit from cbmk; previously, cbmk did
  not cleanly handle `/tmp` at all, but now it's pretty reliable.

Hardware supported in this release
==================================

All of the following are believed to *boot*, but if you have any issues,
please contact the Canoeboot project. They are:

### Servers (AMD, x86)

-   [ASUS KFSN4-DRE motherboard](../docs/hardware/kfsn4-dre.md)
-   [ASUS KGPE-D16 motherboard](../docs/hardware/kgpe-d16.md)

Desktops (AMD, Intel, x86)
-----------------------

-   [Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L motherboard](../docs/hardware/ga-g41m-es2l.md)
-   [Acer G43T-AM3](../docs/hardware/acer_g43t-am3.md)
-   [Intel D510MO and D410PT motherboards](../docs/hardware/d510mo.md)
-   [Apple iMac 5,2](../docs/hardware/imac52.md)
-   [ASUS KCMA-D8 motherboard](../docs/hardware/kcma-d8.md)

### Laptops (Intel, x86)

-   **[Dell Latitude E6400](../docs/hardware/e6400.md) (easy to flash, no disassembly, similar
    hardware to X200/T400)**
-   ThinkPad X60 / X60S / X60 Tablet
-   ThinkPad T60 (with Intel GPU)
-   [Lenovo ThinkPad X200 / X200S / X200 Tablet](../docs/hardware/x200.md)
-   Lenovo ThinkPad X301
-   [Lenovo ThinkPad R400](../docs/hardware/r400.md)
-   [Lenovo ThinkPad T400 / T400S](../docs/hardware/t400.md)
-   [Lenovo ThinkPad T500](../docs/hardware/t500.md)
-   [Lenovo ThinkPad W500](../docs/hardware/t500.md)
-   [Lenovo ThinkPad R500](../docs/hardware/r500.md)
-   [Apple MacBook1,1 and MacBook2,1](../docs/hardware/macbook21.md)

### Laptops (ARM, with U-Boot payload)

-   [ASUS Chromebook Flip C101 (gru-bob)](../docs/install/chromebooks.md)
-   [Samsung Chromebook Plus (v1) (gru-kevin)](../docs/install/chromebooks.md)

Downloads
=========

You can find this release on the downloads page. At the time of this
announcement, some of the rsync mirrors may not have it yet, so please check
another one if your favourite one doesn't have it.

Special changes
===============

Besides deblobbing, there are two critical differences in how Canoeboot's
build system works in this release, versus the Libreboot 20231021 build system:

* Single-tree git submodules are not downloaded in Canoeboot; none of them are
  used in the Libreboot release, but using them simplified `config/git/` because
  many of those entries were defined as submodules by each given project; in
  some serprog-related repositories, proprietary drivers get downloaded that are
  never actually compiled or executed in any way. Rather than deblob these in
  Canoeboot, the Canoeboot build system simply skips downloading those
  repositories altogether.
* Thus, several entries in under `config/git/` for Canoeboot 20231026, that do
  not exist under Libreboot 20231021.

This quirk is only a minor difference. Severals scripts that handled
dependencies for building non-FSDG-compliant boards (such as blob download
scripts) have been *excluded* in this Canoeboot release, because they are
not needed.

As a result, the Canoeboot build system is about 1250 sloc when counting shell
scripts of the build system; considerably smaller than older revisions,
accounting for an approximate *50% reduction* in the amount of code.

That ~1250 sloc in Canoeboot is *with* all the extra features such as serprog
integration and U-Boot support (on actual mainboards, that you can flash it
with). The build system in Canoeboot 20231026 is *[extremely
efficient](../docs/maintain/)*.

Backports
=========

In addition to the Libreboot 20231021 changes, the following Libreboot patches
were backported into this Canoeboot release, from Libreboot revisions pushed
after the Libreboot 20231021 release came out:

* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=3b92ac97b6ed2216b5f0a17ff9c015f0d8936514>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=280bccebb5dfbbb7fd3eceab85165bac73523f7c>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=444f2899e69e9b84fd5428625aa04b00c1341804>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=03c830b2e9dd8f0847045700349c69ab40458ad8>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=b353b0c7134d155feb53b3ab17fdf6ad959ba668>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=f1785c3f43734108443fed9c6b91ffcb835ae097>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=85bc915684cbeb562d8c6fbf81f9e35064ac04f1>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=df031d422a1c0b76edbea1cdee98796ad3d1392f>
* <https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=5f6ba01d414e2d98d7db049347b8c5c5d125ba61>

Excluded mainboards
===================

The following boards are *missing* in Canoeboot 20231026, but are supported in
the Libreboot 20231021 release; this is because they do not comply with GNU FSDG
policy:

* Dell Latitude E6430
* Dell Precision T1650
* HP EliteBook 2170p
* HP EliteBook 2560p
* HP EliteBook 2570p
* HP EliteBook 8470p
* HP 8200 SFF
* HP 8300 USDT
* HP EliteBook 9470m
* Lenovo ThinkPad T420
* Lenovo ThinkPad T420S
* Lenovo ThinkPad T430
* Lenovo ThinkPad T440p
* Lenovo ThinkPad T520
* Lenovo ThinkPad T530
* Lenovo ThinkPad W530
* Lenovo ThinkPad W541
* Lenovo ThinkPad X220/X220T
* Lenovo ThinkPad X230/X230T

Post-release errata
===================

The following binary blobs were overlooked, and are still present in the
release archive for Canoeboot 20231101 and 20231026; this mistake was
corrected, in the [Canoeboot 20231103 release](canoeboot20231103.md), so you
should use that if you don't want these files. They are, thus:

* `src/coreboot/default/3rdparty/stm/Test/FrmPkg/Core/Init/Dmar.h`
* `src/coreboot/fam15h_rdimm/src/vendorcode/intel/fsp1_0/baytrail/absf/minnowmax_1gb.absf`
* `src/coreboot/fam15h_rdimm/src/vendorcode/intel/fsp1_0/baytrail/absf/minnowmax_2gb.absf`
* `src/coreboot/fam15h_udimm/src/vendorcode/intel/fsp1_0/baytrail/absf/minnowmax_1gb.absf`
* `src/coreboot/fam15h_udimm/src/vendorcode/intel/fsp1_0/baytrail/absf/minnowmax_2gb.absf`
* `src/pico-sdk/lib/tinyusb/hw/mcu/nordic/nrf5x/s140_nrf52_6.1.1_API/include/ble.h`
* `src/pico-sdk/lib/tinyusb/hw/mcu/nordic/nrf5x/s140_nrf52_6.1.1_API/include/ble_err.h`
* `src/pico-sdk/lib/tinyusb/hw/mcu/nordic/nrf5x/s140_nrf52_6.1.1_API/include/ble_gap.h`
* `src/pico-sdk/lib/tinyusb/hw/mcu/nordic/nrf5x/s140_nrf52_6.1.1_API/include/ble_gatt.h`
* `src/pico-sdk/lib/tinyusb/hw/mcu/nordic/nrf5x/s140_nrf52_6.1.1_API/include/ble_gattc.h`
* `src/pico-sdk/lib/tinyusb/hw/mcu/nordic/nrf5x/s140_nrf52_6.1.1_API/include/ble_gatts.h`
* `src/pico-sdk/lib/tinyusb/hw/mcu/nordic/nrf5x/s140_nrf52_6.1.1_API/include/ble_hci.h`
* `src/pico-sdk/lib/tinyusb/hw/mcu/nordic/nrf5x/s140_nrf52_6.1.1_API/include/ble_l2cap.h`
* `src/pico-sdk/lib/tinyusb/hw/mcu/nordic/nrf5x/s140_nrf52_6.1.1_API/include/ble_ranges.h`
* `src/pico-sdk/lib/tinyusb/hw/mcu/nordic/nrf5x/s140_nrf52_6.1.1_API/include/ble_types.h`
* `src/pico-sdk/lib/tinyusb/hw/mcu/nordic/nrf5x/s140_nrf52_6.1.1_API/include/nrf_error.h`
* `src/pico-sdk/lib/tinyusb/hw/mcu/nordic/nrf5x/s140_nrf52_6.1.1_API/include/nrf_error_sdm.h`
* `src/pico-sdk/lib/tinyusb/hw/mcu/nordic/nrf5x/s140_nrf52_6.1.1_API/include/nrf_error_soc.h`
* `src/pico-sdk/lib/tinyusb/hw/mcu/nordic/nrf5x/s140_nrf52_6.1.1_API/include/nrf_nvic.h`
* `src/pico-sdk/lib/tinyusb/hw/mcu/nordic/nrf5x/s140_nrf52_6.1.1_API/include/nrf_sdm.h`
* `src/pico-sdk/lib/tinyusb/hw/mcu/nordic/nrf5x/s140_nrf52_6.1.1_API/include/nrf_soc.h`
* `src/pico-sdk/lib/tinyusb/hw/mcu/nordic/nrf5x/s140_nrf52_6.1.1_API/include/nrf_svc.h`
* `src/pico-sdk/lib/tinyusb/hw/mcu/nordic/nrf5x/s140_nrf52_6.1.1_API/include/nrf52/nrf_mbr.h`

Thanks go to Craig Topham, who is the Copyright and Licensing Associate at the
Free Software Foundation; you can find his entry on the [FSF staff
page](https://www.fsf.org/about/staff-and-board). Craig is the one who reported
these.

The Canoeboot 20231026 and 20231101 release tarballs will not be altered, but
errata has now been added to the announcement pages for those releases, to let
people know of the above issue.

You are advised, therefore, to use the [Canoeboot 20231103
release](canoeboot20231103.md).

Update on 12 November 2023:
---------------------------

This file was also overlooked, and is still present in the release tarball:

* `src/vendorcode/amd/agesa/f12/Proc/GNB/Nb/Family/LN/F12NbSmuFirmware.h`

This has now been removed, in the Canoeboot git repository (`cbmk.git`), and
this file will absent, in the next release after Canoeboot 20231107. Thanks go
to Denis Carikli who reported this. The patch to fix it is here:

<https://codeberg.org/canoeboot/cbmk/commit/70d0dbec733c5552f8cd6fb711809935c8f3d2f3>
