Manoj Srivastava wrote:
Can you explain to me why it matters which processing unit the
software runs on? Why does it matter whether the software being
executed on the central unit matters, and that on the peripheral
processing unit gets off scott free?
I don't think it does matter.
On a related note though, compare to hardware vendors:
A) provides all firmware, in binary only form, without source code, on
board device ROM that cannot be changed.
B) provides all firmware on disk, in binary only form, without source
code, in form that must be downloaded to device after every boot.
A hardware is usable with Debian main. B is not.
Is this really a win? Have we gained anything for freedom? I suspect
not. In both cases the firmware cannot be modified. At least for B there
is some hope because the open source code to perform the downloading of
the firmware has been written, where as doing that for A that might be
harder.
The only benefit I see is a technical one - it is easy to draw the line
and say Debian must exclude all binary blobs that don't comply with the
DFSG. I can't see it helping in any practical manner achieve the goal of
the DFSG by increasing the freedoms we get with Debian. Users will still
have the same restrictions and not be able to make modifications. Not
until we can get open source hardware will this change.
I haven't heard a good answer to the problem that some types of firmware
can only be legally endorsed if the manufacturer ensures users can't
change it - e.g. firmware for wireless interfaces.
Brian May
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