Glenn Maynard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Fundamentally, if I can say "apt-get install driver" and have the driver > work (at least for some hardware), it's main; if I have to first track > down and install some non-free pieces, it's contrib. This "but it's not > the driver that needs it, the driver just gives it to the device!" just > feels like yet more flimsy rationalizing-around-the-social-contract.
Oh, come off it. The social contract says: "We provide the guidelines that we use to determine if a work is "free" in the document entitled "The Debian Free Software Guidelines". We promise that the Debian system and all its components will be free according to these guidelines. We will support people who create or use both free and non-free works on Debian. We will never make the system require the use of a non-free component." I see nothing that suggests that "non-free component" is only meant to apply to material shipped by Debian. Nor is there any suggestion that it applies only to software (which is unsurprising, given the care taken to remove all reference to software). How do you claim that the social contract allows us to ship any drivers that require non-free firmware, even if they're on the PCB? -- Matthew Garrett | [EMAIL PROTECTED]
