Bug#502959: general: raff.debian.org uses non-free software

[Romain Beauxis <toots@rastageeks.org>]

Le Tuesday 21 October 2008 13:10:28 Peter Clifton, vous avez écrit :
> Having no source-code for firmware is hardly that different to having a
> completely open-source driver which does un-told magic by poking
> un-documented registers in a complex chip. Think Intel graphics before
> they released documentation for (some of) their chips.

Agreed, though it does not restrain us from asking for free firmware.

If I recall well, one of the origin of the GNU fondation was the fact that 
having free drivers alowed one to actually *fix* issues he may have with his 
*own* hardware. Then, the very same reasoning can apply to binary firmware.

So, yes this is a brand new issue, that comes from the new way of designing 
hardware. But that doesn't mean we should give up and remain behind the line 
that was drawn 20 (or so) years ago. We now should also ask for open source 
firmware for the very same reason that this huge effort toward free drivers 
was done. If we did it for drivers, there's no reason we can't suceed for 
firmwares.


Romain