Re: Why doesn't debian remove the proprietary software from it's servers?

[Klistvud <quotations@aliceadsl.fr>]

Dne, 27. 04. 2011 12:36:03 je Andrei Popescu napisal(a):
> On Mi, 27 apr 11, 12:09:56, Klistvud wrote:
> >
> > Seems a quite reasonable policy to me. Of course, we all wish we
> > could run free software ponly on our machines, but the time doesn't
> > seem ripe for that.
>
> But we are getting closer every year:
>
> $ aptitude search '~s"non-free|contrib"~i!~M'
> i   firmware-iwlwifi                - Binary firmware for Intel  
> Wireless 3945, 4
> i   flashplugin-nonfree             - Adobe Flash Player - browser  
> plugin
> i   nvidia-glx                      - NVIDIA binary Xorg driver
> i   nvidia-settings                 - Tool for configuring the NVIDIA  
> graphics d
> i   opera                           - A fast and secure web browser  
> and Internet
> i   skype                           - Skype
> i   sun-java6-plugin                - The Java(TM) Plug-in, Java SE 6
> i   unrar                           - Unarchiver for .rar files  
> (non-free versio
>
> of these I could get rid of Opera anytime (I don't actually use it,  
> but
> I test it from time to time) and probably the Java plugin (I don't  
> even
> recall why it's installed).
>
> There is work in progress for replacements for the nvidia driver and  
> the
> flash plugin (but still not entirely there).
>
> firmware-iwlwifi will be tough, because Intel claims it has to do with
> (FCC?) compliance and unrar because it's still quite widespread (but
> actually useless for compressed movies and mp3s, so it's more of a  
> user
> education thing).

After the recent radeon improvements, my list is even shorter --  
although by only one line:

i    
broadcom-sta-modules-2.6.32-5-amd64                                                              
- broadcom-sta modules for Linux (kernel 2.6.32-5-amd64)
i    
broadcom-sta-source                                                                              
- Source for the Broadcom STA Wireless driver
i    
conky                                                                                            
- highly configurable system monitor (transitional package)
i    
firmware-linux-nonfree                                                                           
- Binary firmware for various drivers in the Linux kernel
i    
flashplugin-nonfree                                                                              
- Adobe Flash Player - browser plugin
i    
ttf-mscorefonts-installer                                                                        
- Installer for Microsoft TrueType core fonts
i    
unrar                                                                                            
- Unarchiver for .rar files (non-free version)

Of which I could easily get rid of ttf-mscorefonts, and potentially of  
unrar and conky too (but I'm a huge fan of conky). And this is on a  
laptop, which are notorious for requiring proprietary drivers and stuff.

On my desktop, the list is even more optimistic:

i    
flashplugin-nonfree                                                                              
- Adobe Flash Player - browser plugin
i    
ttf-mscorefonts-installer                                                                        
- Installer for Microsoft TrueType core fonts
i    
unrar                                                                                            
- Unarchiver for .rar files (non-free version)

of which I could easily discard all but the flashplugin-nonfree  
(although it's a piece of software I utterly despise).

--
Cheerio,

Klistvud                              
http://bufferoverflow.tiddlyspot.com
Certifiable Loonix User #481801      Please reply to the list, not to  
me.