Ron Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > On Fri, 2004-12-10 at 15:21 -0800, Brian Nelson wrote: >> Matthew Palmer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >> >> > On Fri, Dec 10, 2004 at 01:20:32PM +0100, Marco d'Itri wrote: >> >> On Dec 09, Bruce Perens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > [snip] >> >> Then we might as well remove the whole kernel from main, since most >> devices depend on a non-free firmware blob to operate. Why does it > > Most ?????
I'm no hardware expert, but I assume all ethernet cards, wireless chipsets, and SCSI cards do. At least that's true for all of the hardware I have... > Or are you stretching beyond reason, to include stuff like the > BIOS, which isn't in the kernel? If it made any sense at all for a mainboard's BIOS to loaded by the Linux kernel at boot time with a non-free firmware blob, the current consensus (on debian-legal anyway) seems to be that Debian would not support it. Period. The drivers for it would have to go in contrib. As far as I'm concerned, distribution of the firmware is the manufacturer's realm. Whether the manufacturer distributes it on an EPROM on the device itself, or on a CD shipped with the device, or just provides it for download from a website, I don't care. That's their decision. Debian should not care one bit how the firmware is loaded on the device, and the method used should not dictate whether a driver is DFSG-compliant. As for whether Debian would actually distribute the firmware blobs in main, I would prefer that we do. It can be a real pain installing Debian on a system in which I have to retrieve the firmware from an external source. It's only hurting the end-user by making them jump through more hoops to install Debian, with no obvious benefit. However, there seems to be a strong movement to make Debian 100% free down to the last bit. Reversing this movement is another much more controversial issue. -- For every sprinkle I find, I shall kill you!
