GPL Software in the Base System
One of the ongoing goals for the FreeBSD base system is a migration to modern, copyfree or at least more permissively licensed components. This page aims to summarise the aged or unmaintained GPL components in the base system, potential replacements, and progress.
Unowned Components
The following may have potential replacements but integrating them is not yet planned. If you are looking for a project, please evaluate how feasible the replacement is, or if there are any other alternatives.
Name |
Potential Replacement |
Comment |
dialog |
LGPL. WITHOUT_DIALOG added in r306375 but removes bsdinstall, bsdconfig, dpv |
|
libssp |
It can probably be removed |
This is part of GCC. NetBSD and Bionic have it in libc for FORTIFY_SOURCE but we didn't implement it and it appears we never used it at all. See D15687 for failed removal attempt. |
Works in Progress
Name |
Potential Replacement |
Percent Complete |
Comment |
Responsible |
as |
nasm, yasm, create new llvm-based as (see e.g. llvm-mc), create new elftoolchain as, or just remove |
50% |
On amd64 required for skein_block_asm.s. See PR233611 |
emaste@ |
diff3 |
OpenBSD diff3 |
40% |
See GSoC 2012: BSD-licensed Text-Processing Tools and GSoC 2010: BSD-licensed Text-Processing Tools |
bapt@ |
dtc |
dtc2 |
90% |
Switched to BSDL reimplementation by theraven@ in r320127 when compiler supports C++11 |
theraven@, emaste@ |
ld |
90% |
Is the default on arm64, armv7, and amd64, and bootstrap linker on i386. Ports are in good shape with lld, with some outstanding work to fix issues on i386. Other archs less well supported. See LLVM PR23214 for details. |
emaste@ |
|
libgomp |
70% |
Reported to be production quality as of LLVM 3.5+ |
dim@, emaste@ |
|
gcc |
90% |
Default compiler for tier 1, other archs in progress, needs external toolchain support before gcc can be removed from tier 2. Also see PortsAndClang. |
dim@ |
|
gdb |
lldb, ports gdb |
80% |
Basic functionality works for amd64 and arm targets. See GdbRetirement and lldb. Ports gdb includes kgdb. |
emaste@, jhb@ |
grep |
80% |
BSD grep has been imported into HEAD, but GNU grep is still default. Use WITH_BSD_GREP to test. Optimization and bugfixing needed. Tracking PR |
gabor@, KyleEvans |
|
objdump |
llvm-objdump |
75% |
Some differences from GNU objdump including formatting, but broadly compatible. Not required by the build. |
dim@, emaste@ |
Sunset Components
The following are dependencies of other components, and will be removed when all dependent components are removed.
Name |
Comment |
Ports Impact |
gperf |
Not installed (for non-gcc architectures) as of 272849 |
|
libgnuregex |
Used by GNU gdb and grep |
|
Reviews / Call for Testing
These changes are available for review and testing:
Description |
Review Link |
Retire WITHOUT_ELFCOPY_AS_OBJCOPY option |
|
Disconnect objdump from the build |
|
Switch to LLVM libgcc_eh, libgcc_s |
Ports exp-runs are requested for these changes:
Description |
Exp-run link |
Remove /usr/bin/as |
|
Remove /usr/bin/objdump |
|
lld as /usr/bin/ld |
|
LLD_BOOTSTRAP on i386 |
See also the BSDToolchain page for more information.
Notes
Completed
Name |
Comment |
addr2line |
Switched to ELF Tool Chain in r276796 |
ar |
Replaced with one based on libarchive |
bc |
GNU version replaced with OpenBSD's bc |
c++filt |
Switched to ELF Tool Chain in r282285 |
cpio |
Replaced with bsd-cpio |
crt |
Switched to bespoke 1-Clause replacement by default in r340841 |
cvs |
Removed in r251794 |
diff |
Switch to a BSD licensed version in r317209 |
diff3 |
Imported from OpenBSD in r318888 |
gdbtui |
Removed from base in r328925 |
gcov |
llvm-cov installd as gcov in r340289 |
gnu-sort |
Replaced with bsdsort, and removed in r241511 |
groff |
Removed in r319664 |
ident |
Replaced by a bsd licensed version in r285890 |
libf2c |
Was unused, removed in HEAD in r212592 |
libgcc |
Replaced by a combination of compiler-rt and LLVM libunwind in r308308 |
libobjc |
libobjc2 is MIT licensed, but in the absence of any Objective-C code in base it was removed |
libodialog |
Remaining libodialog users (tzsetup, sade) converted to new libdialog |
libreadline |
Removed from base in r328928 |
libstdc++ |
libc++ was imported and newer versions of libstdc++ are available in the ports tree |
lmc(4) |
Retired in r333144 |
nm |
Switched to ELF Tool Chain in r276796 |
objcopy |
Switched to ELF Tool Chain in r296096, backwards compat removed in r306649 |
patch |
Replaced with an enhanced variant of Larry Wall's patch from the other BSDs |
ranlib |
Replaced with one based on libarchive |
rcs |
Removed from base in r307351 |
readelf |
Switched to ELF Tool Chain in r280859 |
reiserfs |
Removed in r300062 |
sdiff |
Switch to a BSD compatible version in r298823 |
send-pr |
Obsoleted by Bugzilla migration |
size |
Switched to ELF Tool Chain in r276796 |
strings |
Switched to ELF Tool Chain in r276796 |
strip |
Switched to ELF Tool Chain in r276796 |
texinfo |
Removed in r268496 |
[z|bz|xz|lz]grep |
replaced by a BSD licensed script in r332993 |