On Thu, Mar 25, 2004 at 05:05:45PM -0600, Chris Cheney wrote: > On Thu, Mar 25, 2004 at 07:29:49PM +1100, Herbert Xu wrote: > > On Thu, Mar 25, 2004 at 01:45:22AM +0100, Adrian Bunk wrote: > > > Package: kernel-source-2.6.4 > > > Severity: grave > > > > > > It seems the following files of the qla2xxx driver contain non-free > > > firmware: > > > ./drivers/scsi/qla2xxx/ql2100_fw.c > > > ./drivers/scsi/qla2xxx/ql6322_fw.c > > > ./drivers/scsi/qla2xxx/ql2300_fw.c > > > ./drivers/scsi/qla2xxx/ql2200_fw.c > > > ./drivers/scsi/qla2xxx/ql6312_fw.c > > > ./drivers/scsi/qla2xxx/ql2322_fw.c > > > > I presume you're objecting to these firmware on the basis that they > > are being distributed as machine code. > > > > I personally find this attitude to be extreme. However, I have in > > the past removed a number of drivers for exactly this reason at the > > request of other developers. > > > > I would like the opinion of all Debian developers on the general issue > > of firmware in the kernel-source package. > > > > If we do decide to remove them, then we can remove quite a number of > > other drivers for the same reason, I can think of qlogicisp and tg3 > > off the top of my head. > > > > I recall that when this issue was first raised with the keyspan drivers, > > some of the people advocating their removal promised to modify the > > drivers so that the firmware could be loaded from userspace (just like how > > the anti-non-free camp promised to host non-free packages), it appears > > that after three years this support still has not materialised. > > > > Perhaps the easiest solution is to move all kernel packages into non-free. > > > > PS I'm deliberately avoiding debian-legal as the inhabitants there tend > > to have views that are not necessarily representative of the project > > as a whole. > > For this "binary firmware is not preferred form of source" issue to be > resolved coherently all sources that include binary firmware and all > drivers that include undocumented magic numbers and strings must be > removed since of course undocumented magic numbers and strings are not > preferred form of source either! Hence all or at a least a large amount > of reverse engineered drivers would need to be removed at minimum, > besides the drivers vendors provide with binary firmware. I know the > driver I wrote for the linux kernel uses magic strings which might be > firmware, I don't know, and so its certainly not the preferred form of > source. Sophistry. It's clearly the form you "preferred" when you were writing it. The GPL does not require that programs be well-written, it merely requires a level playing field. -- .''`. ** Debian GNU/Linux ** | Andrew Suffield : :' : http://www.debian.org/ | `. `' | `- -><- |
Attachment:
signature.asc
Description: Digital signature