I want to apologize for bringing up the topic the way I did. I'm fairly new to Free Software, and not very technical either. I didn't realize that Debian's Intel update was proprietary software. This supports jxself's assertion that Debian may drive a naive users like myself towards proprietary software. I wholeheartedly agree with Trisquel's stance on not providing this "security update". (As who knows what's included in the latest microcode)
> The situation isn't ideal, but I can see where Debian are coming from here. > > The Intel microcode is non-free. It comes pre-installed in the processor. It > contains a security vulnerability. > > Intel releases a security update to said non-free microcode. What's a free > distribution to do? If they don't pass on the update, their users are stuck > with the vuln for ever. > > AIUI this update does not contain any non-free code that is executed by the > system. It's simply a free package (from contrib) to load the firmware into > the chip. The firmware itself is non-free (Intel's fault), and is therefore > stored in the non-free repository. > > Consider the alternative - a distro like Trisquel refuses the update because > it's non-free. The old version of the microcode continues to reside inside > its users' CPUs, and they are vulnerable to the security issue indefinitely. > The irony is that Trisquel's users will still have non-free code in their > system, just an older version. Worst of both worlds. That said, this seems like a real concern for free software users. Right now many Trisquel users have a fully free software, except for some microcode and the BIOS. And that microcode is now vulnerable. As lloydsmart said,it truly does feel like the worse of both worlds. That said, I reiterate that accepting proprietary microcode is unacceptable. I don't know if a free software hack is possible - like Nouveau for Nvidia drivers - but if at all possible, it should be a top priority. (And I realize there is probably a vast difference between free software drivers and a free software update for a non-free microcode) If anything, this illustrates the importance for fully free computer systems (including BIOSes) and ultimately the necessity for free and open hardware. We simply can't trust the likes of Intel anymore.
