Vincent Bernat dijo [Mon, Aug 22, 2022 at 10:46:56PM +0200]: > Back to the vote, another option would be to not consider firmware (not > running on the CPU) as software and we keep the 100% free software images > with non-free firmware included. This implies this new component should only > include firmware (there were discussions to broaden its use in the past). > > I can briefly rehash the rationale: firmware were previously shipped in a > ROM with the hardware and they have been moved to being loaded by the OS > instead for various reasons (cost, ease of update), but this does not > fundamentally change their nature, except that we have to distribute them. > There is no difference in the level of "freeness" we provide to the user, > but there is a huge difference in usability.
I think this would not fly. Back in 2004, the "Editorial amendments" GR¹ that led to several long mail threads²,³,⁴ (well, our project was way more hostile 18 years ago than what it is today!), but most particularly, the thread started by our then-Release Manager Anthony Towns⁵. ¹ https://www.debian.org/vote/2004/vote_003 ² https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/04/msg00910.html ³ https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/04/msg01115.html ⁴ https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/04/msg01488.html ⁵ https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/04/msg01929.html Of course, it is not set in stone -- but these threads, and particularly the last one, did shape Debian's work long-term. They did carry a _lot_ of beneficial stuff (i.e. the firmware is no longer bundled within Linux source), but Sarge's release was delayed at least by a year from the original plans. There are many, many, many (, many, many, many... Did I mention we were more verbose and had stricter habits of beating dead horses until their fleas were also dead?) mails where this discussion is re(tro)hashed.
