Re: Bug#285518: misdn-utils includes a firmware loader
On Thu, Dec 16, 2004 at 12:02:30AM +0000, Jonathan McDowell wrote:
> If we refuse to handle non-free firmware being loaded onto devices and
> require they come with it already inside then we get to play the "I
> can't see it, it doesn't matter" game, which gives the purists a warm
> fuzzy feeling, knowing no dirty non-free 0s and 1s live on their hard
> disc.
>
> This improves the experience for our users - they get to have the warm
> fuzzy feeling too, knowing that in sacrificing the ability to use many
> modern toys and gadgets they are purer of mind and body. Even better is
> the fact that they doubley can't use the hardware because we're too busy
> arguing about the firmware to make a release!
No, there's a very concrete reason: given an installation of Debian
main, the driver works. Drivers that require non-free firmware don't
work out of the box; they say "sorry, for [legal|philosophical][1]
reasons, we can include this driver but we can't completely the
installation automatically like everything else; go hunt down the
firmware and come back". Any other software doing that would go
straight to contrib, but people want to make an exception for drivers.
Your sarcasm and condescension make me wonder why you're here at all,
though; you appear to regard Debian's founding principles with contempt.
[1] depending on whether we're allowed to distribute the firmware at all:
if the firmware isn't even in non-free, then it's a legal issue and philosophy
doesn't enter into it.
--
Glenn Maynard
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