How to make sure I'm not using any proprietary software after instalation? [duplicate]











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This question already has an answer here:




  • What is the “Free software only” option when installing Ubuntu?

    3 answers



  • How to list all installed packages from a specific category (component)

    1 answer



  • Why is there proprietary software in Ubuntu Software Center?

    4 answers




I know I can check the currently installed ones with the following command (assuming aptitude is FOSS):



aptitude search '?installed (?section(restricted) | ?section(multiverse))'


And I can remove the "restricted" and "multiverse" sources (and not add any PPA's) to keep that list empty. I'm assuming from this point, whenever I apt install something, that something is either in the allowed sources or it is not found.



Is this enough? Does this make sure all software I'm running (in Ubuntu) is open-source?










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marked as duplicate by N0rbert, popey, muru, Zanna, Eric Carvalho Nov 21 at 9:45


This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.











  • 2




    Related: How can I remove Proprietary Sources
    – wjandrea
    Nov 17 at 16:13















up vote
50
down vote

favorite
10













This question already has an answer here:




  • What is the “Free software only” option when installing Ubuntu?

    3 answers



  • How to list all installed packages from a specific category (component)

    1 answer



  • Why is there proprietary software in Ubuntu Software Center?

    4 answers




I know I can check the currently installed ones with the following command (assuming aptitude is FOSS):



aptitude search '?installed (?section(restricted) | ?section(multiverse))'


And I can remove the "restricted" and "multiverse" sources (and not add any PPA's) to keep that list empty. I'm assuming from this point, whenever I apt install something, that something is either in the allowed sources or it is not found.



Is this enough? Does this make sure all software I'm running (in Ubuntu) is open-source?










share|improve this question















marked as duplicate by N0rbert, popey, muru, Zanna, Eric Carvalho Nov 21 at 9:45


This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.











  • 2




    Related: How can I remove Proprietary Sources
    – wjandrea
    Nov 17 at 16:13













up vote
50
down vote

favorite
10









up vote
50
down vote

favorite
10






10






This question already has an answer here:




  • What is the “Free software only” option when installing Ubuntu?

    3 answers



  • How to list all installed packages from a specific category (component)

    1 answer



  • Why is there proprietary software in Ubuntu Software Center?

    4 answers




I know I can check the currently installed ones with the following command (assuming aptitude is FOSS):



aptitude search '?installed (?section(restricted) | ?section(multiverse))'


And I can remove the "restricted" and "multiverse" sources (and not add any PPA's) to keep that list empty. I'm assuming from this point, whenever I apt install something, that something is either in the allowed sources or it is not found.



Is this enough? Does this make sure all software I'm running (in Ubuntu) is open-source?










share|improve this question
















This question already has an answer here:




  • What is the “Free software only” option when installing Ubuntu?

    3 answers



  • How to list all installed packages from a specific category (component)

    1 answer



  • Why is there proprietary software in Ubuntu Software Center?

    4 answers




I know I can check the currently installed ones with the following command (assuming aptitude is FOSS):



aptitude search '?installed (?section(restricted) | ?section(multiverse))'


And I can remove the "restricted" and "multiverse" sources (and not add any PPA's) to keep that list empty. I'm assuming from this point, whenever I apt install something, that something is either in the allowed sources or it is not found.



Is this enough? Does this make sure all software I'm running (in Ubuntu) is open-source?





This question already has an answer here:




  • What is the “Free software only” option when installing Ubuntu?

    3 answers



  • How to list all installed packages from a specific category (component)

    1 answer



  • Why is there proprietary software in Ubuntu Software Center?

    4 answers








apt software-installation proprietary open-source






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share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Nov 18 at 15:36









Tim

19.5k1483138




19.5k1483138










asked Nov 17 at 15:50









Public Void

356125




356125




marked as duplicate by N0rbert, popey, muru, Zanna, Eric Carvalho Nov 21 at 9:45


This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.






marked as duplicate by N0rbert, popey, muru, Zanna, Eric Carvalho Nov 21 at 9:45


This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.










  • 2




    Related: How can I remove Proprietary Sources
    – wjandrea
    Nov 17 at 16:13














  • 2




    Related: How can I remove Proprietary Sources
    – wjandrea
    Nov 17 at 16:13








2




2




Related: How can I remove Proprietary Sources
– wjandrea
Nov 17 at 16:13




Related: How can I remove Proprietary Sources
– wjandrea
Nov 17 at 16:13










2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
87
down vote



accepted










vrms (Virtual Richard M. Stallman) to the rescue:



sudo apt install vrms
vrms


and you'll get something like:



      Non-free packages installed on computer-name

app-shortname1 Application long name 1
app-shortname2 Application long name 2
app-shortname3 Application long name 3

Contrib packages installed on computer-name

app-contrib1 Application Contrib Name 1

3 non-free packages, 0.4% of 2381 installed packages.
1 contrib packages, 0.1% of 2381 installed packages.


that will ensure you do / do not have any proprietary software installed.



Note: CPU firmware patches are non-free but absolutely needed to protect you from some processor flaws and their ilks, so don't go overboard! ;-)






share|improve this answer



















  • 12




    Intel's Intellectual property: CPUs are still closed source except RISC-V. @PublicVoid and as you're a new user: If one of the answers solved your problem, don't forget to click the grey at the left of its text, which means Yes, this answer is the most useful of all! ;-)
    – Fabby
    Nov 17 at 19:01








  • 6




    No, you'd have to buy an entire new computer with another CPU and supporting chipsets: it would not be an Intel system any more. Give it a few more years until someone in Taiwan starts building Risc-V processors for a rock bottom price @PublicVoid
    – Fabby
    Nov 17 at 19:16








  • 2




    Hi! Could you explain what *contrib" means? Is a contrib package not open source?
    – Matt Ellen
    Nov 18 at 1:11






  • 3




    @Fabby: Not just future. Skylake has had at least 1 correctness problem before Meltdown/Spectre that required a microcode update to fix. (Disabling the use of the IDQ as a 64-entry loop buffer (LSD = Loop Stream Detector) because of rare corner cases with inserting (or failing to insert) merging uops for partial registers. Erratum SKL150. See hothardware.com/news/…. See also some low-level microbenchmarks / perf-counter results before the fix
    – Peter Cordes
    Nov 18 at 13:06






  • 4




    I ran vrms and it failed to report Chrome, among others. So, it's not entirely reliable.
    – Paddy Landau
    Nov 20 at 9:37


















up vote
41
down vote













If you're keen on having only Free Software (although you used the term Open Source) on your computer, you may want to consider installing Ubuntu with the "Free Software Only" option. You can find out more over at this question.



Free software only option






share|improve this answer

















  • 13




    Good one for everyone that comes here before the fact ;-) +1
    – Fabby
    Nov 17 at 18:46


















2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes








2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes








up vote
87
down vote



accepted










vrms (Virtual Richard M. Stallman) to the rescue:



sudo apt install vrms
vrms


and you'll get something like:



      Non-free packages installed on computer-name

app-shortname1 Application long name 1
app-shortname2 Application long name 2
app-shortname3 Application long name 3

Contrib packages installed on computer-name

app-contrib1 Application Contrib Name 1

3 non-free packages, 0.4% of 2381 installed packages.
1 contrib packages, 0.1% of 2381 installed packages.


that will ensure you do / do not have any proprietary software installed.



Note: CPU firmware patches are non-free but absolutely needed to protect you from some processor flaws and their ilks, so don't go overboard! ;-)






share|improve this answer



















  • 12




    Intel's Intellectual property: CPUs are still closed source except RISC-V. @PublicVoid and as you're a new user: If one of the answers solved your problem, don't forget to click the grey at the left of its text, which means Yes, this answer is the most useful of all! ;-)
    – Fabby
    Nov 17 at 19:01








  • 6




    No, you'd have to buy an entire new computer with another CPU and supporting chipsets: it would not be an Intel system any more. Give it a few more years until someone in Taiwan starts building Risc-V processors for a rock bottom price @PublicVoid
    – Fabby
    Nov 17 at 19:16








  • 2




    Hi! Could you explain what *contrib" means? Is a contrib package not open source?
    – Matt Ellen
    Nov 18 at 1:11






  • 3




    @Fabby: Not just future. Skylake has had at least 1 correctness problem before Meltdown/Spectre that required a microcode update to fix. (Disabling the use of the IDQ as a 64-entry loop buffer (LSD = Loop Stream Detector) because of rare corner cases with inserting (or failing to insert) merging uops for partial registers. Erratum SKL150. See hothardware.com/news/…. See also some low-level microbenchmarks / perf-counter results before the fix
    – Peter Cordes
    Nov 18 at 13:06






  • 4




    I ran vrms and it failed to report Chrome, among others. So, it's not entirely reliable.
    – Paddy Landau
    Nov 20 at 9:37















up vote
87
down vote



accepted










vrms (Virtual Richard M. Stallman) to the rescue:



sudo apt install vrms
vrms


and you'll get something like:



      Non-free packages installed on computer-name

app-shortname1 Application long name 1
app-shortname2 Application long name 2
app-shortname3 Application long name 3

Contrib packages installed on computer-name

app-contrib1 Application Contrib Name 1

3 non-free packages, 0.4% of 2381 installed packages.
1 contrib packages, 0.1% of 2381 installed packages.


that will ensure you do / do not have any proprietary software installed.



Note: CPU firmware patches are non-free but absolutely needed to protect you from some processor flaws and their ilks, so don't go overboard! ;-)






share|improve this answer



















  • 12




    Intel's Intellectual property: CPUs are still closed source except RISC-V. @PublicVoid and as you're a new user: If one of the answers solved your problem, don't forget to click the grey at the left of its text, which means Yes, this answer is the most useful of all! ;-)
    – Fabby
    Nov 17 at 19:01








  • 6




    No, you'd have to buy an entire new computer with another CPU and supporting chipsets: it would not be an Intel system any more. Give it a few more years until someone in Taiwan starts building Risc-V processors for a rock bottom price @PublicVoid
    – Fabby
    Nov 17 at 19:16








  • 2




    Hi! Could you explain what *contrib" means? Is a contrib package not open source?
    – Matt Ellen
    Nov 18 at 1:11






  • 3




    @Fabby: Not just future. Skylake has had at least 1 correctness problem before Meltdown/Spectre that required a microcode update to fix. (Disabling the use of the IDQ as a 64-entry loop buffer (LSD = Loop Stream Detector) because of rare corner cases with inserting (or failing to insert) merging uops for partial registers. Erratum SKL150. See hothardware.com/news/…. See also some low-level microbenchmarks / perf-counter results before the fix
    – Peter Cordes
    Nov 18 at 13:06






  • 4




    I ran vrms and it failed to report Chrome, among others. So, it's not entirely reliable.
    – Paddy Landau
    Nov 20 at 9:37













up vote
87
down vote



accepted







up vote
87
down vote



accepted






vrms (Virtual Richard M. Stallman) to the rescue:



sudo apt install vrms
vrms


and you'll get something like:



      Non-free packages installed on computer-name

app-shortname1 Application long name 1
app-shortname2 Application long name 2
app-shortname3 Application long name 3

Contrib packages installed on computer-name

app-contrib1 Application Contrib Name 1

3 non-free packages, 0.4% of 2381 installed packages.
1 contrib packages, 0.1% of 2381 installed packages.


that will ensure you do / do not have any proprietary software installed.



Note: CPU firmware patches are non-free but absolutely needed to protect you from some processor flaws and their ilks, so don't go overboard! ;-)






share|improve this answer














vrms (Virtual Richard M. Stallman) to the rescue:



sudo apt install vrms
vrms


and you'll get something like:



      Non-free packages installed on computer-name

app-shortname1 Application long name 1
app-shortname2 Application long name 2
app-shortname3 Application long name 3

Contrib packages installed on computer-name

app-contrib1 Application Contrib Name 1

3 non-free packages, 0.4% of 2381 installed packages.
1 contrib packages, 0.1% of 2381 installed packages.


that will ensure you do / do not have any proprietary software installed.



Note: CPU firmware patches are non-free but absolutely needed to protect you from some processor flaws and their ilks, so don't go overboard! ;-)







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited Nov 18 at 8:42

























answered Nov 17 at 17:59









Fabby

25.6k1359159




25.6k1359159








  • 12




    Intel's Intellectual property: CPUs are still closed source except RISC-V. @PublicVoid and as you're a new user: If one of the answers solved your problem, don't forget to click the grey at the left of its text, which means Yes, this answer is the most useful of all! ;-)
    – Fabby
    Nov 17 at 19:01








  • 6




    No, you'd have to buy an entire new computer with another CPU and supporting chipsets: it would not be an Intel system any more. Give it a few more years until someone in Taiwan starts building Risc-V processors for a rock bottom price @PublicVoid
    – Fabby
    Nov 17 at 19:16








  • 2




    Hi! Could you explain what *contrib" means? Is a contrib package not open source?
    – Matt Ellen
    Nov 18 at 1:11






  • 3




    @Fabby: Not just future. Skylake has had at least 1 correctness problem before Meltdown/Spectre that required a microcode update to fix. (Disabling the use of the IDQ as a 64-entry loop buffer (LSD = Loop Stream Detector) because of rare corner cases with inserting (or failing to insert) merging uops for partial registers. Erratum SKL150. See hothardware.com/news/…. See also some low-level microbenchmarks / perf-counter results before the fix
    – Peter Cordes
    Nov 18 at 13:06






  • 4




    I ran vrms and it failed to report Chrome, among others. So, it's not entirely reliable.
    – Paddy Landau
    Nov 20 at 9:37














  • 12




    Intel's Intellectual property: CPUs are still closed source except RISC-V. @PublicVoid and as you're a new user: If one of the answers solved your problem, don't forget to click the grey at the left of its text, which means Yes, this answer is the most useful of all! ;-)
    – Fabby
    Nov 17 at 19:01








  • 6




    No, you'd have to buy an entire new computer with another CPU and supporting chipsets: it would not be an Intel system any more. Give it a few more years until someone in Taiwan starts building Risc-V processors for a rock bottom price @PublicVoid
    – Fabby
    Nov 17 at 19:16








  • 2




    Hi! Could you explain what *contrib" means? Is a contrib package not open source?
    – Matt Ellen
    Nov 18 at 1:11






  • 3




    @Fabby: Not just future. Skylake has had at least 1 correctness problem before Meltdown/Spectre that required a microcode update to fix. (Disabling the use of the IDQ as a 64-entry loop buffer (LSD = Loop Stream Detector) because of rare corner cases with inserting (or failing to insert) merging uops for partial registers. Erratum SKL150. See hothardware.com/news/…. See also some low-level microbenchmarks / perf-counter results before the fix
    – Peter Cordes
    Nov 18 at 13:06






  • 4




    I ran vrms and it failed to report Chrome, among others. So, it's not entirely reliable.
    – Paddy Landau
    Nov 20 at 9:37








12




12




Intel's Intellectual property: CPUs are still closed source except RISC-V. @PublicVoid and as you're a new user: If one of the answers solved your problem, don't forget to click the grey at the left of its text, which means Yes, this answer is the most useful of all! ;-)
– Fabby
Nov 17 at 19:01






Intel's Intellectual property: CPUs are still closed source except RISC-V. @PublicVoid and as you're a new user: If one of the answers solved your problem, don't forget to click the grey at the left of its text, which means Yes, this answer is the most useful of all! ;-)
– Fabby
Nov 17 at 19:01






6




6




No, you'd have to buy an entire new computer with another CPU and supporting chipsets: it would not be an Intel system any more. Give it a few more years until someone in Taiwan starts building Risc-V processors for a rock bottom price @PublicVoid
– Fabby
Nov 17 at 19:16






No, you'd have to buy an entire new computer with another CPU and supporting chipsets: it would not be an Intel system any more. Give it a few more years until someone in Taiwan starts building Risc-V processors for a rock bottom price @PublicVoid
– Fabby
Nov 17 at 19:16






2




2




Hi! Could you explain what *contrib" means? Is a contrib package not open source?
– Matt Ellen
Nov 18 at 1:11




Hi! Could you explain what *contrib" means? Is a contrib package not open source?
– Matt Ellen
Nov 18 at 1:11




3




3




@Fabby: Not just future. Skylake has had at least 1 correctness problem before Meltdown/Spectre that required a microcode update to fix. (Disabling the use of the IDQ as a 64-entry loop buffer (LSD = Loop Stream Detector) because of rare corner cases with inserting (or failing to insert) merging uops for partial registers. Erratum SKL150. See hothardware.com/news/…. See also some low-level microbenchmarks / perf-counter results before the fix
– Peter Cordes
Nov 18 at 13:06




@Fabby: Not just future. Skylake has had at least 1 correctness problem before Meltdown/Spectre that required a microcode update to fix. (Disabling the use of the IDQ as a 64-entry loop buffer (LSD = Loop Stream Detector) because of rare corner cases with inserting (or failing to insert) merging uops for partial registers. Erratum SKL150. See hothardware.com/news/…. See also some low-level microbenchmarks / perf-counter results before the fix
– Peter Cordes
Nov 18 at 13:06




4




4




I ran vrms and it failed to report Chrome, among others. So, it's not entirely reliable.
– Paddy Landau
Nov 20 at 9:37




I ran vrms and it failed to report Chrome, among others. So, it's not entirely reliable.
– Paddy Landau
Nov 20 at 9:37












up vote
41
down vote













If you're keen on having only Free Software (although you used the term Open Source) on your computer, you may want to consider installing Ubuntu with the "Free Software Only" option. You can find out more over at this question.



Free software only option






share|improve this answer

















  • 13




    Good one for everyone that comes here before the fact ;-) +1
    – Fabby
    Nov 17 at 18:46















up vote
41
down vote













If you're keen on having only Free Software (although you used the term Open Source) on your computer, you may want to consider installing Ubuntu with the "Free Software Only" option. You can find out more over at this question.



Free software only option






share|improve this answer

















  • 13




    Good one for everyone that comes here before the fact ;-) +1
    – Fabby
    Nov 17 at 18:46













up vote
41
down vote










up vote
41
down vote









If you're keen on having only Free Software (although you used the term Open Source) on your computer, you may want to consider installing Ubuntu with the "Free Software Only" option. You can find out more over at this question.



Free software only option






share|improve this answer












If you're keen on having only Free Software (although you used the term Open Source) on your computer, you may want to consider installing Ubuntu with the "Free Software Only" option. You can find out more over at this question.



Free software only option







share|improve this answer












share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer










answered Nov 17 at 18:22









popey

12.6k74689




12.6k74689








  • 13




    Good one for everyone that comes here before the fact ;-) +1
    – Fabby
    Nov 17 at 18:46














  • 13




    Good one for everyone that comes here before the fact ;-) +1
    – Fabby
    Nov 17 at 18:46








13




13




Good one for everyone that comes here before the fact ;-) +1
– Fabby
Nov 17 at 18:46




Good one for everyone that comes here before the fact ;-) +1
– Fabby
Nov 17 at 18:46



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