On Fri, Dec 01, 2017 at 08:28:49AM +0000, Simon McVittie wrote:
I doubt there was any such decision, except by not knowing there was a decision that could be made. The official, fully Free ISO (which is OK for VMs and some embedded systems, but normally a trap for the PCs we expect new users to be using) is the one you get when you point a browser to debian.org and click the prominent "Download Debian" link. The one with the firmware is hidden behind a door marked "beware of the leopard" because we don't want to be seen to be endorsing or recommending non-free software.
Simon, your mail has really motivated me to stick my head up a bit, because I'm really uncomfortable with the status quo with this exact issue in Debian, and although I think it will be very difficult and quite possibly painful, I think something needs to change, and your mail has helped me to face up to that. IMHO, we need to go (more) one way or the other. We either reaffirm that firmware is in-scope for our DFSG values and stop compromising it with the non-free install images, or we look to revise the DFSG in line with modern realities and can "promote" the status of the installer images with firmware. That seems much harder: there have been brave efforts to reform the DFSG before, not least by Ian; and they have not succeeded. However, I think the project is healthier in one way from those days, we've weathered some fierce debates and I think we've grown as a project in the way we communicate together to resolve problems. I know I've needed non-free firmware on every single laptop I've ever used Debian with and I suspect that's true for nearly everyone. -- ⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀ ⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Jonathan Dowland ⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://jmtd.net ⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀ Please do not CC me, I am subscribed to the list.
