On 7/28/05, Tao Chen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On 7/28/05, Shawn Walker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > I don't think that's a very practical view. There is a *lot* of > > hardware out there that cannot be used without some binary component. > > Not just wifi, but many others. Quite frankly, it should be more about > > the user and less about ivory tower academic principles. Taking the > > attitude of "open source only or the highway" sounds very noble, but > > it doesn't accomplish much. Many companies *will never* provide the > > necessary information to develop drivers for their hardware, whether > > because of legal obligations to others, *government restrictions*, or > > otherwise. > > > > I think many people are looking at the OpenSolaris project as one that > > is willing to support the user instead of taking the rather unhelpful > > attitude of "no binary drivers" that other operating system projects > > take. When it comes down to it, the user doesn't give a flying pig > > about whether a driver is binary only or not. They just want their > > hardware to work, and if binary only components is the only choice > > then it's a reasonable thing to accept to many of us. Those who don't > > like it can just not use that hardware, the rest of us would like our > > hardware to work out of the box :) > > I fail to see where you disgree with Roy's statement, unless your > definition of "OpenSolaris" > is different Roy's in this context. > > On 7/28/05, Roy T. Fielding <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Then they aren't in OpenSolaris. Not being in our products > > doesn't mean they can't be downloaded from somewhere else or > > obtained as part of a proprietary distribution. > > Since any close source binary can be put into any OpenSolaris-based > _distribution_ > (up to the owner to decide), such as Solaris, what exactly is not > "practical"? > > We simply can't claim the binary is _ours_ (the OpenSolaris community), > i.e. belongs to the OpenSolaris (in its strict meaning), even if it's > Sun's. > > That doesn't mean we cannot discuss it, test its integration with > OpenSolaris, I suppose.
The point is if a driver exists that can be integrated, but has a required binary only component due to legal or other restrictions and that is the only way that hardware will work, then to me and many others it is perfectly acceptable. This binary only component could be a rom that has to be loaded into flash memory, special software to initialize a device, or perhaps a TV-Out enabler. I don't expect 3rd party binary-only-in-every-single-way drivers to be integrated into the official OpenSolaris project since they're owned by a third party. However, I do expect drivers that are open except for one component or set of components needed to initialize the hardware or otherwise provide legally restricted functionality to be given the option of being included. Wi-Fi drivers are one of many very good examples. At the very least, it must be very easy for a user to install binary drivers, and not have to worry about recompiling their kernel or any of the other dreck that certain unnamed open source projects make their users go through. -- Shawn Walker, Software and Systems Analyst [EMAIL PROTECTED] - http://binarycrusader.blogspot.com/ _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list [email protected]
