[Freedombox-discuss] Retiring Two Hardware Models

[Danny Haidar]

Hi everyone,

I'm following up on a discussion we had on December 8, 2018 about
retiring the Dreamplug and Raspberry Pi 1 hardware models from our
supported hardware. You can read the call notes here:
https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/ProgressCalls/2018-12-08

For a number of reasons which are recorded in the call notes, the
FreedomBox community decided to stop creating new images for the
DreamPlug and Raspberry Pi 1 hardware models. But before making the
decision official, we wanted to test the Backups feature to ensure that
it works for every app and feature. Over the past week, I tested the
v0.45.0 Testing image on a Raspberry Pi 2, and managed to successfully
install every app and feature (with the exception of SIP/repro which is
not currently available). After installing every app and feature, I
tested the backups feature. I can confirm that I successfully created a
backup archive and restored a backup archive for the following apps and
features:

 1.

    Service Discovery

 2.

    BIND

 3.

    Cockpit

 4.

    Firewall

 5.

    Name Services

 6.

    Coquelicot

 7.

    Date & Time

 8.

    Deluge

 9.

    Diagnostics

10.

    Dynamic DNS Client

11.

    ejabberd

12.

    ikiwiki

13.

    infinoted

14.

    JSXC

15.

    Let's Encrypt

16.

    Matrix Synapse

17.

    MediaWiki

18.

    Minetest

19.

    Monkeysphere

20.

    Mumble

21.

    PageKite

22.

    Power

23.

    Privoxy

24.

    Quassel

25.

    Radicale

26.

    Roundcube

27.

    Searx

28.

    Security

29.

    Shadowsocks

30.

    Sharing

31.

    Secure Shell (SSH) Server

32.

    Storage

33.

    Tahoe-LAFS

34.

    Tor

35.

    Transmission

36.

    Update

With this successful test, we can now make the news official: FreedomBox
developers will stop creating new images for the Dreamplug and Raspberry
Pi 1 hardware models. Since we have added a Raspberry Pi 3B+ target and
are planning to add a Pine A64+ target, this news will ultimately not
change the total number of supported hardware models. But it may affect
some users who plan to repurpose their Raspberry Pi 1's or Dreamplugs
into FreedomBoxes.

What does this mean for users of the Dreamplug and Raspberry Pi 1?
Technically, users who have already installed FreedomBox on either of
these two hardware models can continue to use FreedomBox on their
devices. But users who have not yet installed FreedomBox on these
devices cannot install latest images using the custom-built images
available for download on freedombox.org/download/.

And what if you have a Dreamplug or a Raspberry Pi 1 and want to use it
as a FreedomBox anyway? Neither the FreedomBox community nor the
FreedomBox Foundation could stop users from using our software on
whatever hardware they want, nor would we want to. The right of users to
run our software is protected by the GPL, and respect for the right of
users to pick their own hardware is a principle upon which our project
was founded. After all, any device that can run Debian can be turned
into a FreedomBox. But as a community, we can no longer recommend that
users purchase the Dreamplug or Raspberry Pi 1 hardware models for the
purpose of turning them into FreedomBoxes.

If you want to learn more about our reasoning, I encourage you to read
our call notes and discussion on GitLab:

Call notes: https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/ProgressCalls/2018-12-08

GitLab issue:
https://salsa.debian.org/freedombox-team/freedom-maker/issues/150

Best,

Danny

-- 
Danny Haidar*
Vice-President for Product & Development
FreedomBox Foundation

* Not admitted to practice in any jurisdiction.
Nothing in this email constitutes legal advice.
I cannot establish any attorney-client relationships.

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