Non-free Linux Code

[Alexandre Oliva]

[adding the mailing list]

On May 26, 2021, BTD Master <btdmaster at disroot.org> wrote:

> I noticed PureOS mentioned. However, in its repositories it seems to
> use the vanilla Debian kernel

*nod*; Debian cleans up Linux, and PureOS relies on that.

> what exactly the Linux-libre kernel has
> that is important for free software.

We also disable loading of known non-free firmware, so that, even if you
install it on a hostile distro that automates installation of non-free
firmware based on kernel requests, you won't get any.

That's important for GNU FSDG-compliance of a kernel distribution.

For a distro that encompasses the other pieces and knows they won't
induce users to error, this extra step is not essential.


> Looking through deblob-check, however, I could not find anything beyond
> MIT-licensed assembly code with magic bytes being removed

Which version did you look at, and what specifically did you see?
I don't think that description is fitting for anything we do or did.


> though not copyleft C code, it is nothing like the awful things that
> go on in linux-firmware.

MIT/X11-licensed sourceless binary code is just as non-Free as something
distributed under an obnoxious license.  Either one distributed in
combination with a GPLed program deviates from the terms of the GPLv2
and triggers its automatic termination.  So it's not like it wouldn't be
awful in its own way.


> Is there something I am missing that makes the mainline
> kernel tree
> (https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/)
> objectively non-free?

https://www.fsfla.org/pipermail/linux-libre/2020-August/003400.html
is still applicable.


-- 
Alexandre Oliva, happy hacker                https://FSFLA.org/blogs/lxo/
   Free Software Activist                       GNU Toolchain Engineer
Disinformation flourishes because many people care deeply about injustice
but very few check the facts.  Ask me about <https://stallmansupport.org>