GNU Linux-libre 5.3-gnu

GNU Linux-libre 5.3-gnu sources and tarballs are now available at
<http://www.fsfla.org/selibre/linux-libre/download/releases/5.3-gnu/>.
It didn't require any deblobbing changes since -rc7-gnu, the first
published rc-gnu.  Freesh binaries are already available!, thanks to
Jason Self; others are on the way.


Besides recognizing new false positives (sequences that our blob hunter
would report as suspicious, but that are neither blobs nor requests for
blobs), updating the deblobbing scripts for 5.3 required adjusting
cleaned up drivers for updated blob names, recognizing one new Free
piece of firmware with binary and corresponding sources embedded in the
kernel sources, and disabling blob loading introduced in a few drivers:
QCOM, DRM (HDCP), Allegro-DVT, and Meson-VDEC.

This last one was particularly disappointing: the firmware sources were
supposed to be available from LibreELEC, and though the link to the
alleged sources there is broken, I managed to find the "source" repo
containing them, only to find out the "source" was just a binary blob
encoded in C as an array of char, just like Linux used to do back when I
got involved with Linux-libre.  Oh well...  Request disabled...

If anyone can find Freely-licensed actual source code for that, or for
any other file whose loading we disable, please let us know, so that we
can refrain from disabling its loading.


For up-to-the-minute news, join us on #linux-libre of irc.gnu.org
(Freenode), or follow me (@lxoliva) on Twister <http://twister.net.co/>,
Secure Scuttlebutt, GNU social at social.libreplanet.org, Diaspora* at
pod.libreplanetbr.org or pump.io at identi.ca.  Check my web page (link
in the signature) for direct links.


Be Free! with GNU Linux-libre.

New WireGuard Snapshot Offers Better Compatibility With Distributions/Kernels

WireGuard sadly isn't slated for the now-open Linux 5.4 merge window, but lead developer Jason Donenfeld has put out a new development snapshot of this open-source secure VPN tunnel. Coming barely two weeks since the previous WireGuard snapshot, this newest development release isn't too heavy on the changes but the focus is on better portability/compatibility.

A Simple Review of GNOME 3.34

That's all for now. As always, I love how simple and beautiful GNOME release announcement was. After testing in 3 days, I immediately like this version more than the previous one for the speed improvement and I hope Ubuntu and other distros adopt it soon. Ah, I forgot, regarding Ubuntu, good news for us: next October's Ubuntu Eoan Ermine will feature 3.34! Regarding GNOME, I don't know if this is coincidence or what, but this year's KDE Plasma is faster and smoother and so is GNOME. I think next GNOME 3.36 will be faster and better as well. Finally I would love to say thank you GNOME developers! You all did well in last 6 month. How do you think about 3.34? Let me know in the comment section! Also: Internet Speed Indicator for GNOME 3.34

PulseAudio 13 Released with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio Support, More

Released three months after the PulseAudio 12 series, PulseAudio 13 is here with support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, support for the SteelSeries Arctis 5 USB headset, improved initial card profile selection for ALSA cards, as well as S/PDIF improvements for CMEDIA USB2.0 High-Speed True HD Audio. The PulseAudio 13 series also adds several new module arguments, including "max_latency_msec" for module-loopback, "stream_name" for module-rtp-send, and "avoid_resampling" for module-udev-detect and module-alsa-card, and no longer uses persistent Bluetooth card profile choices by default, recommending users to use A2DP by default.