Librem 5 nears reality

GNOME Foundation supports the open source phone project.

Last issue we reported on the Librem 5, a device that’s being billed as the world’s first free and open smartphone with end-to-end encryption built in. It’s currently raising funds via crowd sourcing ( https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5 – due to end 31 October), and the project has now had a major boost with the news that the GNOME Foundation is partnering with Purism, the company behind the Librem 5, to make it a reality.

The GNOME Foundation promises to provide hackfests, tools, emulators and build awareness that surround moving GNOME/GTK onto the Librem 5 phone. This is a big sign of confidence in the project at such a crucial time in raising funds, with Neil McGovern, executive director of the GNOME Foundation, saying that “having a Free/ Libre and Open Source software stack on a mobile device is a dream come true for many people, and Purism has the proven team to make this happen.”

It’s not just the GNOME Foundation that is putting its weight behind Purism’s Librem 5 either, PostmarketOS ( https://postmarketos.org) has created a touch-optimised, pre-configured version of Alpine Linux that can be installed on smartphones and other mobile devices, and also endorses the handset. While Librem 5 will use a form of Debian, there are many shared goals between the Librem 5 project and postmarketOS, which could lead to a version of that operating system being made for the Librem 5.

Let’s hope this spirit of cooperation continues as Librem 5 nears its funding goal.