MJ Ray <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 2004-01-09 03:48:49 +0000 Joel Konkle-Parker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > I guess the meat of my question applies to ndiswrapper > > <http://ndiswrapper.sf.net> as well. ndiswrapper itself is GPL, but > > to work > > properly, requires the Windows drivers for the network devices it is > > trying > > to configure. Does this somehow prevent it from going into Debian, or > > could > > the package just request those files from a Windows partition or > > something? > > Does ndiswrapper require them to work properly? The main part of > ndiswrapper is a kernel module that I think provides an API normally > found on Windows. The package also provides tools to load and use the > Windows drivers. Even with no Windows driver loaded, the API is there, > so it could be seen as "working properly" but unused. As far as I can > tell, the Windows drivers are not used by the build process at all.
I think it is analogous to Quake. Quake's source is free, but to do anything useful (or fun) requires the shareware wads. So until someone actually writes a free driver that ndiswrapper can use, I would say that it belongs in contrib. > I await the replies of others wiser than myself with interest. Still waiting... Regards, Walter Landry [EMAIL PROTECTED]
