LibreCMC

LibreCMC is a Linux-libre distribution for computers with minimal resources, such as the Ben NanoNote, ath9k-based Wi-Fi routers, and other hardware with emphasis on free software. Based on OpenWrt, the project's goal is to aim for compliance with the GNU Free System Distribution Guidelines (GNU FSDG) and ensure that the project continues to meet these requirements set forth by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). LibreCMC does not support ac (Wi-Fi 5) or ax (Wi-Fi 6) due to a lack of free chipsets.^[3]

LibreCMC

OS family	Linux (Unix-like)
Working state	Active
Initial release	20 October 2012; 12 years ago (2012-10-20)
Latest release	v6.1 / 26 August 2024
Repository	gogs.librecmc.org/libreCMC/libreCMC.git
Available in	English
Platforms	MIPS
Kernel type	Monolithic (Linux-libre)
Userland	GNU
License	GPLv2[1][2]
Preceded by	LEDE/LibreWRT
Official website	librecmc.org

As of 2020, releases do not utilize codenames anymore. The acronym "CMC" in the libreCMC name stands for "Concurrent Machine Cluster".^[4]

History

On April 23, 2014, libreCMC's first public release is mentioned in a Trisquel Linux forum.^[5] On September 4, 2014, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) added libreCMC to its list of endorsed distributions.^[6][7] Shortly afterwards, on September 12, 2014, the FSF awarded their Respects Your Freedom (RYF) Certification to a new router pre-installed with libreCMC.^[8]

On May 2, 2015, libreCMC merged with the LibreWRT project.^{[9][10][11][12]} LibreWRT, initially developed as a case study, was listed by the website prism-break.org^[13] as one of the alternatives to proprietary firmware,^[14] but today the website lists libreCMC.

On March 10, 2016, the FSF awarded their RYF certification to a new router pre-installed with libreCMC.^[15]

On March 29, 2017, libreCMC began its first release based upon the LEDE (Linux Embedded Development Environment) 17.01 codebase.^[16]

On January 3, 2020, libreCMC began its first release based upon the OpenWrt 19.07 codebase.^[16]

Release history

• Source^[16]

Version	Codename	Codebase	Release	Linux-Libre Kernel Version	Annotation / Improvements
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.2.x	Delusional Dan[17]		2014		First public binary release[17]
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.3.x	Elegant Eleanor[17]		2015		LibreWRT merged to the project, LTS
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.4	Frivolous Fred[17]	LEDE 17.01	29 March 2017		Release based on LEDE
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.4.1			7 October 2017		Fixes various security issues (including dnsmasq and openvpn)
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.4.1a			17 October 2017		Fixes various security issues including: dnsmasq, openvpn and KRACK
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.4.2			1 January 2018	4.4.108	OpenVPN 2.4.4 Openssl-1.0.2n (to fix CVE-2017-3735, CVE-2017-3736) Busybox CVE-2017-16544 fix curl CVE-2017-8816, CVE-2017-8817 fix Samba CVE-2017-15275 fix
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.4.3			1 April 2018	4.4.120	openvpn 2.4.5 mbedtls 2.8.0 Tor was moved into base
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.4.4			6 July 2018	4.4.138	openvpn 2.4.6 mbedtls 2.9.0 Various other fixes Complete removal of references to GitHub repositories
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.4.5			4 October 2018	4.4.159	wireguard 0.0.20181006 Introduced TL-WR1043N v5 Various other fixes
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.4.6			4 Jan 2019	4.4.167	uhttpd 2018-11-28 Wireguard 0.0.20181218 openssl 1.0.2q mbedtls 2.14.1 Various other fixes
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.4.7			1 April 2019		Fixes CVE 2019-8912 Bump OpenVPN to 2.4.7 Added support for the TPE-R1200
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.4.8			30 June 2019	4.4.183	OpenSSL 1.0.2s wolfssl 1.15-stable mbedtls 1.16.1 Wireguard 0.2019.06.01
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.4.9			2 October 2019	4.4.195	OpenSSL 1.0.2t Tor 0.4.1.6 Wireguard 0.0.20190913
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.5	N/A	OpenWRT 19.07	3 January 2020		ath79 replaces ar71xx targets tiny sub-target replaces the old legacy images First release built on Power9 hardware
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.5.0a	N/A		31 January 2020		Fixes CVE-2020-7982 Fixes CVE-2020-7248
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.5.1	N/A		1 April 2020	4.14.173	Updated Wireguard to 1.0.20200330 Updated Tor to 0.4.2.7 to fix CVE-2020-10592 and init script issues Fixes CVE-2020-8597 Other fixes picked from upstream 19.07.x
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.5.2	N/A		29 June 2020
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.5.3	N/A		2 October 2020	4.14.199	Updated Wireguard to 1.0.20200908 Added wolfssl support to luci OpenSSL 1.1.1h Mbedtls 2.16.8 Other fixes picked from upstream 19.07.x
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.5.4	N/A		31 December 2020	4.14.212	Updated Wireguard to 1.0.20201221 OpenSSL 1.1.1i OpenVPN 2.4.10 Fixes CVE-2020-28928, CVE-2020-8037 Other fixes picked from upstream 19.07.x
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.5.4a	N/A		24 January 2021	4.14.216	Updated dnsmasq to Addresses critical security issues in dnsmasq to address: CVE-2020-25681, CVE-2020-25682, CVE-2020-25683, CVE-2020-25684, CVE-2020-25685, CVE-2020-25686, and CVE-2020-25687
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.5.5	N/A		1 April 2021	4.14.224
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.5.7	N/A		1 October 2021	4.14.248
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.5.8	N/A		21 January 2022	4.14.261
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.5.9	N/A		4 April 2022	4.14.273
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.5.10	N/A		28 June 2022	4.14.284
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.5.12	N/A		24 January 2023	4.14.303	wolfssl 5.5.4-stable openssl 1.1.1s Adds support for the TPE-R1400, a rockchip RK3328 based router
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.5.13	N/A		1 April 2023	4.14.311	openssl 1.1.1t openvpn 2.5.8, which adds wolfssl support
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.5.14	N/A		29 September 2023	4.14.325	openssl 1.1.1w wolfssl 5.6.3 openvpn 2.5.9 tor 0.4.8.5
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.5.15	N/A		31 December 2023	4.14.334	wolfssl 5.6.6
Current stable version: 6.1	N/A		26 August 2024	5.15.164	wolfssl 5.7.2

List of supported hardware

LibreCMC supports the following devices:^[18]

Buffalo (Melco subsidiary)

• WZR-HP-G300NH
• WHR-HP-G300NH

Netgear

• WNDR3800: v1.x

TP-Link

• TL-MR3020: v1
• TL-WR741ND: v1 - v2, v4.20 - v4.27
• TL-WR841ND: v5.x, v8.x, v9.x, v10.x, v11.x, v12.x
• TL-WR842ND: v1, v2
• TL-WR1043ND: v1.x, v2.x, v3.x, v4.x, v5.x

ThinkPenguin

• TPE-NWIFIROUTER2
• TPE-R1100
• TPE-R1200
• TPE-R1300
• TPE-R1400 ^[19]

Qi-Hardware

• Ben Nanonote

See also

• Free and open-source software portal
• Linux portal

• Comparison of Linux distributions
• Linksys WRT54G series
• List of router firmware projects

References

1. "libreCMC 1.5.x LICENSE file". Retrieved 3 July 2020.
2. "List of Free GNU/Linux Distributions". Retrieved 22 December 2014.
3. "libreCMC FAQ". librecmc.org. Retrieved 2020-07-03.
4. "libreCMC: libreCMC". 2014-07-12. Archived from the original on 2014-07-12. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
5. "LibreCMC: Free Software Router Distribution Beta | Trisquel GNU/Linux - Run free!". 2014-04-23. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
6. "Free Software Foundation adds libreCMC to its list of endorsed distributions — Free Software Foundation — Working together for free software". www.fsf.org. 2014-09-04. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
7. "Free Software Supporter - Issue 78, September 2014 — Free Software Foundation — Working together for free software". www.fsf.org. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
8. "ThinkPenguin wireless router now FSF-certified to respect your freedom — Free Software Foundation — Working together for free software". www.fsf.org. 2014-09-12. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
9. "libreCMC: The libre embedded GNU/Linux distro". 2015-09-06. Archived from the original on 2015-09-06. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
10. "libreCMC Project News". 2 May 2015. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
11. "LibreWRT: What we use for wifi at the FSF — Free Software Foundation — working together for free software". www.fsf.org. Retrieved 2019-07-04.
12. "List of Free GNU/Linux Distributions - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation".
13. "Looking to hide online? PRISM-break shows you how". Telecom Tech News. 2013-06-14. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
14. Zhong, Peng. "LibreWRT - Projects - PRISM Break". Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
15. "ThinkPenguin VPN mini-router now FSF-certified to respect your freedom — Free Software Foundation — Working together for free software". www.fsf.org. 2016-03-10. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
16. Version-Releases of LibreCMC. Website of the software developer. Accessed on June the 19th in 2019
17. "libreCMC : The libre Embedded GNU/Linux[-libre] distro". 2016-10-27. Archived from the original on 2016-10-27. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
18. "libreCMC: Supported_Hardware". librecmc.org.
19. "Free Software Gigabit Mini VPN Router (TPE-R1400) from ThinkPenguin, Inc. now FSF-certified to Respect Your Freedom — Free Software Foundation — Working together for free software". www.fsf.org. Retrieved 2023-04-06.

External links

• Official website
• LibreCMC package installation tutorial