Re: How free is Debian
On Wed 07 Aug 2019 at 21:27:34 (-0700), Shahryar Afifi wrote:
> On Wed, 2019-08-07 at 23:11 -0500, David Wright wrote:
> > On Wed 07 Aug 2019 at 17:33:52 (-0700), Shahryar Afifi wrote:
> > > With respect to all the contributors, developers, hobbyist and
> > > users,
> > > who made GNU/Linux and Debian and all other distributions possible,
> > > here lies a humble, ignorance and yet curious question.
> > >
> > > Are all binaries in the kernel code were writing from scratch? Are
> > > there any binary blobs in the kernel that it was given to
> > > developers?
> > > If amd64 license is not free, how is it that we have amd64
> > > microcode in
> > > the debian free?
> >
> > It isn't free; look:
> > [ … snip …]
> > > and if they are not the same, are we using the full
> > > potential of our hardware?
>
> Very well said. If debian free is not using amd64 microcode, so what
> kernel module runs my cpu as 64bit?
Here's an analogy:
You buy stretch on DVDs on 2017-06-17 and install just "main" on an
isolated machine to do a particular task. Two years later, the
installation is still working just as it was.
Over those two years, however, you could have upgraded the
installation with point-releases, and at any time you could have
chosen to add in non-free amd contrib. These would all have improved
the system (some would say polluted it in the case of non-free).
Most people would consider the point-releases as essential if you ever
connect the system to the Internet.
The first paragraph corresponds to your buying a CPU, which itself
contains what you could call an Operating System in its firmware,
and that OS will already be long in the tooth when you buy it
off the shelf. However, the CPU is still running today, and you expect
another ten years of solid performance.
The second paragraph corresponds to your downloading packages of
microcode and allowing them to be installed when you boot the CPU.
Some people would consider these microcode updates as essential if
the systems are to be connected to the Internet. Others do without.
Cheers,
David.
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