Re: Free Software DVD contains non-free firmware
On Sun, Aug 27, 2023 at 04:38:58PM -0700, Birzhan Amirov wrote:
> Additionally,
>
> I've just checked the DVDs of 12.1.0 and 11.6.0, and it looks like all the
> DVDs of 12.1.0 are labeled like the following:
> `Debian GNU/Linux 12.1.0 _Bookworm_ - Official amd64 DVD Binary-{X} with
> firmware 20230722-10:49`, where X is the DVD number.
>
Correct.
> ---
>
> However, the releases of 11.6.0 are labeled as the following:
> `Debian GNU/Linux 11.6.0 _Bullseye_ - Official amd64 DVD Binary-{X}
> 20221217-10:40`, where X is the DVD number.
> Notice how there is no string "with firmware" in these labels.
>
For 11.* and earlier, we had two versions of the images. An image containing
only free firmware and an "unofficial" image containing firmware.
After the GR, it was resolved that we could provide non-free firmware on
the installer in order to install Debian. Especially important when
newer laptops don't have other than WiFi interfaces, for example.
> At the same time, when looking at a community version of 11.6.0 DVD, which
> contains non-free firmware, that's exactly how it's labeled:
> `Debian GNU/Linux 11.6.0 _Bullseye_ - Unofficial amd64 DVD Binary-1 with
> firmware 20221217-10:46`.
> Notice that the string "with firmware" is present in the label of the DVD
> with non-free firmware.
>
Images produced by the same team within Debian, yes.
> ---
>
> I'm still trying to understand what that's supposed to mean.
> Are you `Officially` non-free software now, or is it some insider attack
> trying to compromise your integrity?
We include non-free firmware on the install medium. We keep that in a separate
archive. If you install only main and non free firmware, you are not
installing any more non-free software than necessary to install the operating
system.
> Do you have an `Official` way to de-poison your release, and if so, is it
> published as a document?
>
You can pass various parameters to the installer: you can also uninstall the
non-free firmware after installation - a record of what is installed is recorded
All the best
Andy Cater
> Regards, John.
>
> On Sun, Aug 27, 2023 at 4:12 PM Birzhan Amirov <john.amirov.83@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Hello Debian CD Images team.
> >
> > I decided to switch to the latest version (12.1.0), and encountered the
> > following issues:
> >
> > 1) Looks like this DVD image:
> > https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-dvd/
> >
> > https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-dvd/debian-12.1.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso
> > which is supposed to be Free Software only, actually contains 3rd party
> > non-free firmware.
> > The way I discovered it was that my 6th gen Lenovo ThinkPad x1 carbon wifi
> > card started working, while with 11.6 and prior it didn't have the firmware
> > and was disabled because of that.
> >
> > This image is labeled as
> > "Debian GNU/Linux 12.1.0 _Bookworm_ - Official amd64 DVD Binary-1 with
> > firmware 20230722-10:49".
> > Was there some kind of mistake when publishing the images?
> >
> > 2) Also, when I tried to download this disk [DVD-1] using jigdo, I ended
> > up getting an image of the first disk that wasn't bootable.
> >
> > Thanks and Regards, John Amirov.
> >
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