Re: Bug#239952: kernel-source-2.6.4: qla2xxx contains non-freefirmware
- To: debian-legal@lists.debian.org
- Subject: Re: Bug#239952: kernel-source-2.6.4: qla2xxx contains non-freefirmware
- From: Henning Makholm <henning@makholm.net>
- Date: 30 Mar 2004 00:47:01 +0100
- Message-id: <[🔎] 87r7vbfc7e.fsf@kreon.lan.henning.makholm.net>
- In-reply-to: <87isgngtlh.fsf@kreon.lan.henning.makholm.net>
- References: <20040325162144.GA8720@wonderland.linux.it> <1080238533.2106.45.camel@atari.stigge.org> <20040325214939.GX16746@fs.tum.de> <c424er$1i9$4@sea.gmane.org> <20040327010802.GA6561@thunk.org> <c44nru$i1j$1@sea.gmane.org> <20040327232724.GA6906@wonderland.linux.it> <c48nae$nah$1@sea.gmane.org> <87isgngtlh.fsf@kreon.lan.henning.makholm.net>
Scripsit Henning Makholm <henning@makholm.net>
> It ought not to be difficult (neither in a technical or in a
> economic/legal sense) for manufacturers to ship the standard firmware
> as a separate file on the driver CD that usually accompanies such
> hardware, and for the authors of free drivers to make the kernel look
> for the firmware on the file system when the device is first accessed.
> The driver could log an appropriate message during boot-up which
> some appropriate package could inspect (during installation, or even
> at each boot if so configured) and ask the user to insert the vendor's
> driver CD in order to copy firmware from it.
A side question: Does -legal think that it would be OK for Debian to
distribute *checksums* of the non-free magic blob-of-bits, such that
it can be located inside a Windows driver on a disk without needing to
know its exact position?
--
Henning Makholm "Al lykken er i ét ord: Overvægtig!"
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