Re: On the freeness of a BLOB-containing driver

[Bruce Perens]

Glenn Maynard wrote:
It's free, but it has a non-optional dependency on non-free software, which
means contrib, not main.
In the case of a device driver, that dependency would still be there if 
the firmware was in ROM. Which would put pretty much all of our device 
drivers, X (talks to VESA code), APM and ACPI (talks to BIOS), and so 
on, in contrib too.

The only logical demarcation I can see is that we have Free Software 
down to the bus programming interface. What lives on the other side of 
the bus programming interface isn't our problem unless we have to put it 
there, just as the fact that proprietary software runs in the other 
systems that we talk to on the network does not comprimise the freeness 
of our system.

In reality, it doesn't talk to an arbitrary
firmware file; it has to talk to a functional one, or the driver is not
going to do anything useful.
I agree that it would have to be working firmware and it is anticipated 
that it will not be Free Software.

That type of notice is a big hint that something belongs in contrib, IMO; the
real effects are the same as saying "go download and install this non-free
JRE".
 

Stuff in contrib generally has a package dependency on something in 
non-free that is necessary to install it, and the entire package is not 
functional if that dependency is not fulfilled. The driver is a 
component of the larger kernel which remains functional.

One or two people have argued that these drivers still have a use, even when
the firmware is not available: it can be used as a starting point for
implementing a free firmware; and so it should go in main.  I think that's
akin to saying, "this program that requires a non-free shared library can be
used as a starting point for reimplementing the library, so it should go in
main".  That's bogus; by that logic, everything in contrib would be allowed
in main.
 

Moving something from contrib to main doesn't violate Debian's 
principles. Moving something from non-free to main or contrib without 
the necessary license change would. Contrib is there to tell you that 
something is DFSG-free but is not functional without a non-DFSG-free 
component. Contrib provides a a message to the user and a convenience 
for the Debian developers, it is not a purgatory for almost-free software.

   Thanks
   Bruce