Re: ITP plex86, if it complies to DFSG
On Sun, Dec 03, 2000 at 12:05:56PM -0800, ferret@phonewave.net wrote:
> Actually, think of it as device firmware; generally firmware (software for
> and executing on a peripheral device instead of on the main CPUs) that has
> to be downloaded at initialisation time has not been required to have
> source available, as long as it is freely redistributable in downloadable
> form along with the host device driver.
Well, we don't allow emulators without open-source ROMs into main,
eg vice, the Commodore emulator, is in contrib and the description
clearly indicates you must supply your own ROM. I don't see how
plex is different -- it's an emulator which needs ROMs.
On the other hand, x48 (an emulator for the HP 48 calculator)
is in main, and its description says you need to supply your
own ROM. As far as I know, it should be in contrib too as vice is.
Firmware I can understand -- but the VGA BIOS ROM image isn't
acting as firmware for a driver in this case.
If a utility was provided to rip the user's system BIOS when
the package was installed, that would be fine. That might
not be possible though (eg the BIOS might not work with plex).
Hamish
--
Hamish Moffatt VK3SB <hamish@debian.org> <hamish@cloud.net.au>
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