On Dec 18, Glenn Maynard <glenn@zewt.org> wrote: > No, because (as has been said already) the existance of cases where you need > non-free stuff isn't the issue; the issue is whether there exist cases where > you don't. If nobody can use the software without needing non-free data, the > software is (at best) contrib. If some people can use it without that data, Just about every driver "needs" some software stored in flash EEPROM chips in your computer. > > Suppose some piece of hardware had a Compact Flash reader, and came > > with a Compact Flash card containing firmware necessary for the > > hardware to run. Would this also be non-free? > I believe software that only works with this reader would go in contrib, > if that's what you mean, unless the data on that card was Free itself. > It's a dependency on non-free software. (It's not the same as having > the firmware stored in flash memory on a device, since removable devices > are expected to be removed, overwritten, or lost; where I'd call a device > with a hosed flash "broken". (The former I'd sell on eBay as "drive Let's suppose that this compact flash card were soldered to a PCI compact flash adapter. Would this still be software and an element of the debian dependecy chain? -- ciao, | Marco | [9901 riFoIPUHY2X7A]
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