Re: LCC and blobs
On Sat, Dec 11, 2004 at 11:50:44AM -0800, Thomas Bushnell BSG wrote:
> Brian Nelson <pyro@debian.org> writes:
>
> > It's a completely inconsistent and arbitrary policy.
>
> It's hardly that. We distribute only free software, that's our rule.
> The rest, as you say, is for the manufacturer and the user to work
> out, but we disvalue non-free software, and so we don't distribute it
> in main. (And packages which require it go into contrib.)
The device drivers in question *are* 100% free software!
You say they should go into contrib because they depend on non-free
software. However, *all* device drivers depend on non-free software.
Why does it matter if that non-free stuff is stored on the device itself
or is loaded externally?
> You only see it as inconsistent because you think the relevant
> consideration is "do we support this hardware", and you don't care how
> we support it.
I didn't say that. I'm saying we should distribute all free device
drivers in main because they are free. Binary blobs are a non-issue.
> Most of us *do* care; we support it provided we can do
> so without distributing non-free software, because Debian is 100% Free
> Software. Things we cannot support with free software we do not
> support. This is not an inconsistent policy; this is the core of what
> Debian stands for.
All hardware depends on non-free software. If you want to lobby for all
hardware to be free, including the firmware/BIOS/whatever, then fine.
That's a noble war to wage and I'd support your efforts.
However, requiring a policy like this at this time is completely insane
because no hardware exists that meets this requirement.
> To say it is arbitrary is worse, because that insults the motives of
> the people who disagree with you.
Your motives baffle me, and I can't say I feel any shame in insulting
them.
--
For every sprinkle I find, I shall kill you!
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