Re: [Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>] Re: Debian & BSD concerns
If free software is about choice, the Linux community (YES I said Linux
and not free software) is very much in opposition to choice with regard
to kernels.
I think it is foolish to be emotionally attached to Linux, but that
doesn't mean there is a real benefit in adding a particular new kernel
option.
Binary-only drivers are a real danger, but supporting an alternative
free kernel won't produce more free drivers. After all, the hard part
in producing free drivers is getting the necessary information. If
the FreeBSD kernel has a free driver for card C, we can expect a free
Linux driver for card C soon, because the necessary information is
visible in the former driver.
Non-free drivers for a BSD kernel don't even have to be released
as kernel modules, since the BSD license permits linking them into
the kernel directly. So we cannot expect that using a BSD kernel
will increase the pressure to make free drivers.
It would be much more effective to address the problem directly.
Instead of doing this, I think it is better to get to work
expermenting on cards and writing free drivers for them. A few
noteworthy successes like this will probably convince most companies
that they might as well tell us what we need to know. That would
truly solve the problem.
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