Re: [GNU-linux-libre] Reviewing ConnochaetOS

[Henry Jensen]

Hi Jason,

Am Sat, 05 Aug 2017 22:06:59 -0700 (PDT)
schrieb "Jason Self" <address@hidden>:

> J.B. Nicholson wrote:
> 
> > I see on https://connochaetos.org/wiki/ that ConnochaetOS "is
> > available for x86 (32 bit) only" and directs users looking for an
> > x86_64 libre Slackware GNU/Linux distro elsewhere.  
> 
> That is probably a valid point. I imagine that FSF-endorsed distros  
> should probably not steer people to others that are not?

The link to the freeslack project shouldn't be a problem, since
the page at https://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.html links
to the very same project.


> In addition, I think that the documentation at [0] should probably be
> updated to steer people to the Linux-libre deblob scripts (or their
> already deblobbed tarballs?) The fundamental problem is that the
> method used by the Debian Project leaves the request_firmware calls in
> place, resulting in people's system logs being spammed about how the
> proprietary software is missing from their system. Linux-libre's
> deblob scripts handle this by removing code that induces users to
> install non-Free Software.

I have a diferent view. The statement from the FSF at [1] can be
interpreted in the way, that the de-blobbed Debian Linux kernel is
regarded as entirely free software.

The statement at [2] says it is a problem, that 

"the installer in some cases recommends these nonfree firmware files
for the peripherals on the machine." 

Our installer doesn't do such things. Yes, there may be occurrences of
names of proprietary firmware blobs in log files. But they are not
recommendations, simply names. We do not steer people to this
proprietary files, since we are not telling people how to get them.

I don't see that the pure reference to the name of a proprietary
software would be a recommendation. There are many other parts, in
other FSF endorsed distros as well, where names of non-free software
do occur. E.g. many packages names of Trisquel have the name
"ubuntu" in it. If I would do a full text search on any endorsed system
I am sure, that there would be many occurrences of names of proprietary
software.


Greetings,

Henry



[1]https://www.fsf.org/news/debian-squeeze-makes-key-progress-toward-being-a-fully-free-distribution
[2]https://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.en.html