Re: How long is it acceptable to leave *undistributable* files in the kernel package?

[Raul Miller <moth@debian.org>]

On Wed, Jun 16, 2004 at 07:25:17PM -0400, Michael Poole wrote:
> How to use it without Linux?  There is more than one operating system
> in the world.  At least a few of them (including Linux) provide more
> than one way to load firmware to a device, although not all device
> drivers may support all the mechanisms.

Sure.

Likewise, the compression routine in linux can be used without the
kernel -- and if it's available under some other copyright that can
be used in that context.  But this doesn't mean that the compression
routine in the linux kernel can have a conflicting copyright.

I'm trying to ask you about the case you proposed -- where the kernel
is the "medium".  How do you use the firmware without the kernel in that
case?  In what way is this sort of extraction of the firmware different
from the extraction of any other kernel code which happens to be useful
in some specific context?

Thanks,

-- 
Raul