The creator of systemd (Lennart Poettering) has recently created a new company dedicated to bringing hardware attestation to open source software.
What might this entail? A previous blog post could provide some clues:
So, let’s see how I would build a desktop OS. The trust chain matters, from the boot loader all the way to the apps. This means all code that is run must be cryptographically validated before it is run. This is in fact where big distributions currently fail pretty badly. This is a fault of current Linux distributions though, not of SecureBoot in general.
If this technology is successful, the end result could be that we would see our Linux laptops one day being as locked down as an Iphone or Android device.
There are lots of others who are equally concerned about this possibility: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46784572
The option of having a full auth trust chain would be nice for some security applications, but the implication that it could be made compulsory is terrifying.
It’ll start as an option and slide into compulsory later. It’s the Systemd way.
You can already secure boot if you want. But like always, you gotta set it up yourself in a complicated manner :D
It’s Linux. In what world do you imagine there wouldn’t be 87 forks that went in a different direction.
Linux cannot be controlled, at least as it stands today.
When Linux disappears I have some fears. But jerk as he may be, he’s also incredibly effective at keeping it open.
In every world. Linux is not just the codebase, it’s all the developer work going into it daily. Hundreds of forks and downstreams can pick whichever direction they want, most of that work will still be directed one way.
But this proposal for a full auto-chain isn’t a proposal by Linus and many thousands contributors. It’s the proposal of a commercial entity that doesn’t control Linux in any way.
Yes, this commercial entity founded by people who have a literal track record of doing exactly that
Volunteer adoption of a system found to be better by distro maintainers is not the same as forced adoption of a system distro maintainers don’t find to be better.
“Found to be better” because of commercial resources and support pouring in and outcompeting grassroots alternatives to gain market share. Do you share the same lukewarm acceptance for what chromium is doing for web browsers?
I’m not sure what we’re arguing about now, but I’m convinced it’s not the original point I was trying to make. I think both of our lives are too short to carry this one. Have a good evening.
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