Re: DFSG violations: non-free but no contrib

[Ben Finney <ben+debian@benfinney.id.au>]

Aurelien Jarno <aurelien@aurel32.net> writes:

> This look complicated. Everyone agrees that firmwares are a bit
> special in the world of software due to the fact they don't run on
> the host CPU.

I disagree.

That makes them special, but it doesn't at all affect the rules that
should be applied to determine whether they are free.

Anything which we propose to distribute as part of Debian must follow
the DFSG rules; otherwise, we violate our promises in the Social
Contract. There's nothing special about the *vendor-intended use* of a
collection of bits that exempts it from the standard that we apply to
the rest of the operating system.

-- 
 \       “A ‘No’ uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater |
  `\       than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to |
_o__)                                  avoid trouble.” —Mahatma Gandhi |
Ben Finney