This project builds and loads a kernel module as root, and that module can hard-freeze a 2016/2017 MacBook Pro if loaded incorrectly (see below). Treat it with the same care as any out-of-tree driver. This page explains what it does, how it's authored, and how to report a problem.

The installer (the firmware Touch Bar driver) only:

• writes /etc/modprobe.d/apple-touchbar.conf, /etc/modules-load.d/apple-touchbar.conf, /etc/udev/rules.d/99-ibridge.rules,
• installs DKMS sources under /usr/src/apple-ib-drv-0.1/ and builds the module,
• reaches the network only via apt (to pull build-essential, dkms, linux-headers).

No data leaves the machine, nothing is piped from the network into a shell, and nothing is written outside /etc, /usr/src, and DKMS. You can verify all of this by reading install.sh — it supports --dry-run to print every action without doing it.

On the T1 (MacBookPro13,x/14,x), the ACPI method ASOC.SOCW(1) hard-freezes the machine — only a forced power-off recovers, with a small risk of filesystem damage. The driver skips this call by default on T1 hardware (DMI-gated), the installer also pins skip_acpi_power=1 in modprobe.d, and all three call sites (probe, suspend, resume) honour the skip — so the supported path is safe. The only way to trigger the freeze is to force the power-on with skip_acpi_power=0; don't.

Commits are authored by AJ-dev-i60 and co-authored by Claude — this project is developed with Claude Code as an AI pair-programmer, which is the source of the Claude / Co-Authored-By trailers in the git history. They are not a sign of compromised or misattributed commits.

Open a GitHub issue at https://github.com/AJ-dev-i60/t1-touchbar/issues. For anything you'd rather not disclose publicly, say so in a minimal issue ("found a security problem, please provide a private contact") and a maintainer will follow up. There is no formal SLA — this is a small, community project — but security reports are triaged first.

If piping curl … | bash as root is not for you, clone and read first:

git clone https://github.com/AJ-dev-i60/t1-touchbar && cd t1-touchbar
less install.sh              # read it
sudo ./install.sh --dry-run  # preview every action
sudo ./install.sh            # then, if you're satisfied