Hello, sorry for being late on this, I took a couple of days off from "everything firmware" and this got inbetween.
The Proposal worked out by Sven covers the consensual position of the kernel team, as discussed on the last kernel team meeting. I think this GR should be voted upon, as it considers all aspects of the issue. I hope we can vote on this despite the already running GRs, thus I second the following proposal: > === START OF PROPOSAL === > Definition: For the purpose of this resolution, the "firmware" mentioned below > designates binary data included in some of the linux kernel drivers, usually > as > hex-encoded variables and whose purpose is to be loaded into a given piece of > hardware, and be run outside the main memory space of the main processor(s). > > 1. We affirm that our Priorities are our users and the free software > community (Social Contract #4); > > 2. We acknowledge that there is a lot of progress in the kernel firmware > issue, both upstream and in the debian packaging; however, it is not > yet finally sorted out. > > 3. We give priority to the timely release of Etch over sorting every bit > out; > for this reason, we will treat removal of problematic firmware as a > best-effort process, and in no case add additional problematic material > to the upstream released kernel tarball. > > 4. We allow inclusion of such firmware into Debian Etch, even if their > license > does not normally allow modification, as long as we are legally allowed > to > distribute them. > > 5. We further note that some of these firmware do not have individual > license, > and thus implicitly fall under the generic linux kernel GPL license. > We will include these firmware in Debian Etch and review them after the > release. Vendors of such firmware may wish to investigate the licensing > terms, and make sure the GPL distribution conditions are respected, > especially with regards to source availability. > > 6. We will include those firmware into the debian linux kernel package as > well > as the installer components (.udebs) used by the debian-installer. > ==== END OF PROPOSAL ==== Best regards Frederik Schueler -- ENOSIG
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