Re: [GNU-linux-libre] The "Free" Kernel In Debian Squeeze

[Sam Geeraerts]

Jason Self wrote:
> John Sullivan <address@hidden> wrote ..
>
> > If this log shows that there is still nonfree firmware in
> > the kernel...
>
> There does seem to be. For example /Documentation/video4linux/extract_xc3028.pl 
> is still around. The program itself is free software, but its sole purpose 
> appears to be extracting non-free firmware out of a Windows driver so that it 
> can be used on GNU/Linux. There also appears to be some stuff still hanging out 
> in /firmware as well.

The request_firmware calls are also less than ideal. IIRC, it writes a 
log message about needed firmware if the firmware file is missing, thus 
suggesting that the users should install said firmware. I also seem to 
recall some mechanism that could even automatically download missing 
firmware (e.g. from the manufacturer's website), but I could be wrong.