Overview
- The Free Software Foundation announced Librephone as a multi‑year push to create free‑software substitutes for undocumented phone firmware.
- Veteran developer Rob Savoye was hired with funding from FSF board member John Gilmore to lead the reverse‑engineering effort.
- The first targets are cellular, Wi‑Fi and Bluetooth components, with later work planned for GPU, touchscreen and media functions.
- Savoye cites missing chipset datasheets, Secure Boot and firmware signing, along with U.S. rules including the DMCA and FCC regulations, as major hurdles.
- The project aims to free low‑level hardware control layers rather than build a new OS, and GrapheneOS has publicly rejected FSF endorsement over security concerns.