[GNU-linux-libre] Nouveau: NONFSDG listing and current status?

[Brett Smith]

Right now a nouveau-kernel-source package is listed on the NONFSDG page 
(http://libreplanet.org/wiki/NONFSDG#nouveau-kernel-source).  As it's 
currently written, though, it's a little hard to tell whether this is a 
problem that simply affects how Nouveau is packaged, or whether the 
driver depends on blobs on a more fundamental level.

From reviewing last year's thread about this 
(http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/gnu-linux-libre/2010-04/msg00002.html), 
unfortunately, it sounds like it's somewhere in between: apparently it's 
possible to build Nouveau without any blobs, but nobody's tested the 
results.  I'd guess that they'd be comparable to the way other free 
drivers work in this situation: you can make the card work but you get 
no acceleration.

Can anybody confirm whether this understanding is correct?  Especially 
if somebody knows where things stand with Nouveau today, rather than a 
year ago.  Ultimately I'd like to clarify Nouveau's NONFSDG entry so 
it's easier to understand what must be excluded from a free 
distribution, and what can be kept in.

Thanks,

--
Brett Smith
License Compliance Engineer, Free Software Foundation

Support the FSF by becoming an Associate Member: http://fsf.org/jf