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

[Alexandre Oliva]

On Jan 13, 2011, Richard Stallman <address@hidden> wrote:

>> We compute the hash of "`uname -r`/foobar/blobname.fw", and ask the
>> userland hotplug script for %x of that hash number.

>> This does not depend on any session ID.  It will only change if you
>> install a different version of Linux.

>     Yeah, this particular variant doesn't.

>     Other variants, using a kernel-supplied varying hash prefix (which could
>     be exposed through some file named hashprefix within /sys) could.

> What I don't understand is why you entertain the idea of doing so.  It
> would be like our current approach in that it would be impossible to
> put firmware in a file that would load.

No, it wouldn't be impossible.  A suitable userland hotplug script would
be perfectly capable of looking for a local file that satisfies the
request.

What this would do is make it harder for the hashes to become stable
alternate identifiers for the blobs.

-- 
Alexandre Oliva, freedom fighter    http://FSFLA.org/~lxoliva/
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. -- Gandhi
Be Free! -- http://FSFLA.org/   FSF Latin America board member
Free Software Evangelist      Red Hat Brazil Compiler Engineer