Re: [Trisquel-users] amdgpu is considered "open source", but how is it considered worthy of deblobbing by the Linux Libre kernel?

[dguthrie]

If the driver is using a firmware blob that does something trivial (for  
example some touchscreens load a file that defines the dimensions of the  
screen), then that is probably not a derivative, and you can make the  
argument that it just about complies with the GPL.
It gets more dubious when the driver's whole purpose is to communicate with a  
blob that implements all the important code (a good example of this are  
ATI/AMD cards), or cameras on smartphones that the firmware does all the  
image processing with. I think with these, actual code is being executed that  
uses the Linux kernel's features, as opposed to the previous example of  
certain touchscreens.
In the end in order to comply wholly with the GPL it is best to not tolerate  
the proprietary firmware blobs at all. We are long past that point though...