On Mar 24, 2008, Bill Nottingham <notting@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Alexandre Oliva (aoliva@xxxxxxxxxx) said: >> > Are you asking for a separate kernel-libre component be made part of the >> > fedora repository? >> >> Yep. The idea is to have a kernel that people could use to create >> 100% Free spins of Fedora, while still calling it Fedora. > Then please work upstream (with linux-kernel, and the Fedora kernel > maintainers) to pull the firmware into 'standard' packages that use > the firmware loader Why should I work to promote this non-Free firmware and devices that require it in the first place, if my goal is precisely to work against the deprivation of freedoms over software? It would be nonsensical for me to prioritize this. Please don't suggest me to work against my personal goals, that's just silly. Now, once that package is in, it will take effort to maintain, and then I can split firmware out of the kernel because this would make it easier to maintain the Free kernel. But I won't be doing this just because it's becomes easier to manage the non-Free firmware, but rather because it becomes easier to manage the Free Software. Non-Free Software, be it firmware or not, is offensive and immoral. I have no intent whatsoever of encouraging people to use it. And if Fedora is serious about its stated goals, it should take this stance as well. Promoting non-Free codecs were another facet of the same problem, and I'm happy to see that go away, and that many people realized the mistake it was. I'm not holding my breath for people to realize endorsing and promoting non-Free firmware are sufficiently similar to deserve the same solution but, unlike the non-Free codecs, that were optional and not distributed by Fedora proper, the non-Free firmware included in the Fedora kernel are unavoidable and are distributed by Fedora, so I'm working to at least offer people an option to avoid them without having to ditch Fedora. Of course, whether Fedora wants that or not is not up to me. I'm going to maintain these kernels one way or another. I didn't foresee any opposition to something that's so clearly in line with Fedora's goals, and that would cost very little to everyone else. But if there is opposition, or if there are demands for me to do things in a way that are against my personal goals, that's fine, I can live with that. We're all free to choose what to do, right? -- Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/ FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/ Red Hat Compiler Engineer aoliva@{redhat.com, gcc.gnu.org} Free Software Evangelist oliva@{lsd.ic.unicamp.br, gnu.org} -- fedora-devel-list mailing list fedora-devel-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list
