Quoting Renaud OLGIATI (ren...@olgiati-in-paraguay.org): > On the other hand, by making it impossible to install without having > to go and hunt firmwares under the excuse that they are not open > source, open-source talibans are doing exactly what they condemn in > the systemd talibans: both take away from the user his liberty of > choice.
Proprietary firmware BLOBs divide into two subclases: (1) Copyright owner has issued permission for public redistribution under terms a distro can reasonably comply with in creating installation images. (2) Copyright owner has not. Quite a few manufacturers of wireless and even ethernet chipsets routinely fail to issue permission for public redistribution (**cough** Broadcom **cough**). However, a distro like Devuan could certainly include proprietary firmware BLOBs from category #1 inline into installation media. Ones from category #2 tend to require more-complex workarounds, like the b43-fwcutter utility[1] that retrofits proprietary firmware for Broadcom b43-series wireless chips by fetching MS-Windows drivers from the Internet -- obviously, requiring an ethernet link -- and 'cutting' the firmware BLOB out of them and discarding the rest. The overall situation for category #2 could be rectified if, e.g., Broadcom executives could be distracted long enough from snorting net profits up their noses to write a one-paragraph permission letter. Failing that, workarounds are the best that can be done. [1] See http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43/#Device_firmware_installation -- Cheers, "It's easier to act your way into a new way of thinking Rick Moen than think your way into a new way of acting." r...@linuxmafia.com -- Jerry Sternin McQ! (4x80) _______________________________________________ Dng mailing list Dng@lists.dyne.org https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng
