Hyperbola GNU/Linux-libre

Hyperbola GNU/Linux-libre
	Hyperbola GNU/Linux-libre live boot selection mode
Developer	Hyperbola Founders
OS family	Linux (Unix-like)
Working state	Current
Source model	Free software
Initial release	April 15, 2017; 8 years ago
Latest release	0.4.4 / 5 January 2024; 16 months ago
Repository	git.hyperbola.info:50100 ;
Update method	Long-term support
Package manager	pacman
Platforms	AMD64, i686
Kernel type	Monolithic (Linux-libre)
Userland	GNU
Default; user interface	Bash
License	Free software (GNU GPL and other licenses)
Official website	www.hyperbola.info

Hyperbola GNU/Linux-libre is a Linux distribution for the i686 and x86-64 architectures, including the GNU operating system components and the Linux-libre kernel instead of the generic Linux kernel. Free Software Foundation considers it a completely free operating system, true to their Free System Distribution Guidelines.^[4]^[5] Hyperbola GNU/Linux-libre uses pacman as the package manager and some patchsets from the Debian development^[6] though stopping using patchsets from Debian beyond the version Debian 12.^[7]

History

Hyperbola was born at the 17th annual Fórum Internacional Software Livre (Porto Alegre, Brazil).^[2]

On 5 August 2017, support for systemd was dropped in favor of OpenRC as its default init system^[8] to support the Init Freedom Campaign^[9]^[10] begun by Devuan.

On 6 December 2018, Hyperbola was the first Brazilian distribution^[11] recognized as a completely free project by GNU, making it part of the FSF list of free distributions.^[12]^[13]^[14]

On 23 September 2019, Hyperbola announced its first release with the implementation of Xenocara as its default display server for the X Window System and LibreSSL as its default system cryptography library.^[15]

In December 2019, Hyperbola announced that it would cease to be a Linux distribution, and that it would become a hard fork of OpenBSD with GPL-licensed code. The project cited objections to recent developments in the Linux kernel that they deemed to be an "unstable path", including inclusion of optional support for High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection, the kernel "being written without security in mind", GNU and "core" components with non-optional dependencies, and endorsement of the Rust programming language — due to objections to the Mozilla Foundation trademarks policy and "a centralized code repository that is more prone to cyber attack and generally requires internet access to use".^[16]

Since the release of version 0.4 on 1 March 2022, Hyperbola rebased towards its own packages built from scratch and is no longer using any marked snapshot from Arch Linux.

Social contract

The Hyperbola social contract incorporates aspects of the Parabola GNU/Linux-libre social contract and the "Init Freedom" movement of Devuan. It commits the project to following the principles of the free software movement and free culture (including only supporting community-driven projects), respecting the privacy of users, and respecting the principles of stability (rejecting software that is "broken by design") and a minimal system (including rejecting undue abstraction layers).^[17]

Development

Packaging guidelines

Hyperbola requires all software to adhere to the GNU Free System Distribution Guidelines, prohibiting packages that are proprietary software, and contain binary blobs or obfuscated code.^[18] Notwithstanding that a project is free and open source software, the Hyperbola project excludes packages that violate the social contract (and those that have dependencies on excluded packages), including those that:^[19]

Are not a community-driven project; this rejects all software developed by for-profit corporations, as they are viewed as leveraging corporate influence to coerce adoption of a product, and not truly supporting the free software movement (thus violating the principle of "technical emancipation").^[20]
Have dependencies on Linux functions that prevent it from being ported to BSD
Have trademark policies that hinder the ability to package modified versions as part of the project.
Add technical, "social", or "economical" bloat to the Hyperbola project (including excessive dependencies, disrespect of user choice, ignoring backwards compatibility, and replacing existing services), and thus violate the principle of "technical emancipation".
Have "vulnerable and insecure implementations" and do not commit to the principle of long-term support
Are "clearly non-free" in their outcome.

Under these guidelines, the Hyperbola project rejects packages such as D-Bus, PulseAudio, and systemd (bloat), package managers for programming languages (capable of downloading non-free dependencies), Vulkan (only useful for modern GPUs thus breaking backwards compatibility), Zstd (corporate project), and Mozilla Firefox (bloat, trademark policy, encourages use of non-free services; the project maintains a fork of Basilisk known as Iceweasel-UXP).^[19]^[21]

Codenames

Hyperbola aliases its stable releases using galaxy names as codenames^[22] chosen from the list of nearest known galaxies of the Milky Way, in ascending order of distance.^[23]

Release cycle

A stable version of Hyperbola gets released approximately every three years. Point releases will be available every few months. For each Hyperbola release, it will receive two years of extra security updates after its End Of Life (EOL). However, no further point releases will be made. Each Hyperbola release will receive five years of security support in total.^[24]

Installation

Hyperbola GNU/Linux-libre can be installed from scratch using the live images.^[25] Prior to the version 0.4, migrating from an existing Arch-based system was supported.^[26]^[27]^[28]

References

^ "Hyperbola Founders". Archived from the original on 2022-05-03. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
^ ^a ^b "When Hyperbola first started?". Hyperbola Project. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
^ "Milky Way v0.4.4 install medium release". 5 January 2024. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
^ "List of Free GNU/Linux Distributions". Free Software Foundation. 6 December 2018. Archived from the original on 9 January 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
^ "What is Long Term Support (LTS)?". Hyperbola Project. 7 December 2018. Archived from the original on 24 June 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
^ "What is Hyperbola?". Hyperbola Project. Archived from the original on 13 June 2024. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
^ "Hyperbola, the support for 32bit and Debian". Hyperbola Project. Archived from the original on 20 November 2024. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
^ "End of systemd support". Hyperbola Project. 5 August 2017. Archived from the original on 6 August 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
^ "Init Freedom Campaign". Devuan. Archived from the original on 5 May 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
^ "What is the Init Freedom Campaign?". Hyperbola Project. Archived from the original on 24 June 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
^ "If Hyperbola is a fully free distribution, is it following the GNU Free System Distribution Guidelines (GNU FSDG)?". Hyperbola Project. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
^ Robertson, Donald (6 December 2018). "FSF adds Hyperbola GNU/Linux-libre to list of endorsed GNU/Linux distributions". Free Software Foundation. Archived from the original on 7 December 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
^ Larabel, Michael (6 December 2018). "Free Software Foundation Endorses Arch-based Hyperbola GNU/Linux". Phoronix. Archived from the original on 21 September 2009. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
^ "What is the reason about Hyperbola origin name?". Hyperbola Project. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
^ "Milky Way v0.3 release". Hyperbola Project. 23 September 2019. Archived from the original on 23 September 2019. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
^ "Announcing HyperbolaBSD Roadmap". Hyperbola. Archived from the original on 2019-12-28. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
^ "Hyperbola Social Contract". Hyperbola Project. Archived from the original on 29 March 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
^ "Hyperbola Packaging Guidelines". Hyperbola Project. Archived from the original on 29 March 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Incompatible Packages and Projects". Hyperbola. Retrieved 2024-05-11.
^ "Community-oriented software". Hyperbola. Retrieved 2024-05-11.
^ "Iceweasel-UXP". Hyperbola. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
^ "Hyperbola aliases its stable releases using galaxy names as codenames". Hyperbola Project. 20 September 2017. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
^ "Galaxies in the Local Group". University of Northern Iowa. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
^ "Releases". Hyperbola Project. Archived from the original on 29 March 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
^ "Hyperbola live image". Hyperbola Project. Archived from the original on 17 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
^ "Free your Arch GNU/Linux to Hyperbola GNU/Linux-libre". Hyperbola Project. Archived from the original on 17 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
^ "Migrate your Parabola GNU/Linux-libre to Hyperbola GNU/Linux-libre". Hyperbola Project. Archived from the original on 17 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
^ Dausend, Tobias (2022-02-16). "Hyperbola - News: Cleanup of repositories and preparation for Milky Way v0.4 release". www.hyperbola.info. Archived from the original on 2022-09-25. Retrieved 2022-11-20.