There's a thread [1] on the gnu-linux-libre mailing list about just how free the kernel in Squeeze really is.
[1] http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/gnu-linux-libre/2010-12/msg00022.html There's a reply that doesn't seem to be in the list archives, so I pasted it below. Richard Stallman <[email protected]> wrote: > It sounds like the new Debian version of Linux will recommend > specific nonfree firmware programs, which is undesirable. > > I talked with Alexandre a few months ago, and we decided to change the > way Linux Libre deals with outside nonfree firmware. > > The current practice is to change the code to fail instead of trying > to load any firmware. > > The change is to obfuscate the names of the firmware files in the > Linux source code. That way, if a user tracks down what firmware to > install and installs it under the name that the code wants, it will. > But Linux Libre will still not suggest installation of the nonfree > firmware file to handle a particular device. > > In either case, it is possible to run the nonfree software. Free > software has no way to stop users from doing something, since users an > change it. > > Alexandre, how is progress on this? > > -- > Richard Stallman > President, Free Software Foundation > 51 Franklin St > Boston MA 02110 > USA > www.fsf.org, www.gnu.org _______________________________________________ linux-libre mailing list [email protected] http://www.fsfla.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linux-libre
