On 06/06/15 11:35, Todd Mortimer wrote: > Hi tech@ > > It seems that this question comes up frequently enough that people might be > tired > of answering it. > > Not sure if this is the right spot in the FAQ to put this, or even if this is > something > that people want included in there at all. Rejections, corrections and > bikeshedding welcome. > > Cheers, > Todd
I'm not against this, but lemme see what I can come up with, got a few additional points I'd like made. Nick. > > Index: faq12.html > =================================================================== > RCS file: /cvs/www/faq/faq12.html,v > retrieving revision 1.117 > diff -u -p -u -p -r1.117 faq12.html > --- faq12.html 25 May 2015 03:48:24 -0000 1.117 > +++ faq12.html 6 Jun 2015 15:17:36 -0000 > @@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ Questions</font></h1> > <li><a href="#ami">12.1.7 - My ami(4) card will only support one > logical disk!</a> > <li><a href="#cryptohw">12.1.8 - How do I activate my crypto accelerator > card?</a> > + <li><a href="#blobs">12.1.9 - Does OpenBSD include any binary-only device > drivers (blobs)?</a> > </ul> > <li><a href="#alpha">12.2 - DEC Alpha </a> > <li><a href="#amd64">12.3 - AMD 64</a> > @@ -280,6 +281,41 @@ much or all of the benefit of offloading > tasks. > Your results may vary widely depending on the task you have to > accomplish. > + > +<h3 id="blobs">12.1.9 - Does OpenBSD include any binary-only device drivers > (blobs)?</h3> > + > +No. The source code for all of the device drivers in the OpenBSD kernel is > +available in <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/anoncvs.html";>CVS</a>. OpenBSD > has > +rejected binary device drivers (a.k.a. blobs) for many years, and this was > even > +the subject of the <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/lyrics.html#39";>3.9 > release song</a>, > +which was released in 2006. > + > +<p> > +Some people are confused about the distinction between device drivers, > +which run in the kernel, and firmware, which runs on the many hardware > +parts that collectively make up your computer. Devices such as hard > +disks, network cards, and even CPUs generally contain firmware that runs on > the device > +itself and transforms the physical collection of transistors and > +wires into something that acts like a hard disk, network card or CPU. > +This firmware is usually included with the device itself on a ROM chip. > +In some cases the vendor does not include the firmware with the device, > +and expects the firmware to be loaded onto the device at run time by the > +operating system. For these cases, OpenBSD can load the firmware onto the > device > +and includes the > +<a > href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi/OpenBSD-current/man1/fw_update.1";>fw_update(1)</a> > +utility, which can fetch non-free firmware from the Internet if the vendor > has > +made it available. > + > +<p> > +Before posting to the mailing lists and objecting to binary firmware, > +please remember that firmware does not run in the kernel (and is therefore > not a > +part of the operating system), and if it is not loaded onto the device at run > +time, then that usually means that it was loaded from ROM when the device was > +powered on. Users who wish to use only hardware which has freely available > +firmware source code are encouraged to seek out and buy only that hardware. > If > +OpenBSD does not yet support that hardware, then users can submit new device > drivers > +or patches to the <a > href="http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq2.html#MailLists";>tech</a> > +mailing list. > > <h2 id="alpha">12.2 - DEC Alpha</h2> > [nothing yet] >
