[Fsf-Debian] Silent here

Andrew Roffey andrew.roffey at connect.qut.edu.au
Sat Nov 24 21:17:41 UTC 2012


On 24/11/12 20:57, Didier 'OdyX' Raboud wrote:
> Le vendredi, 23 novembre 2012 21.18:33, Bryan Baldwin a écrit :
>> Documentation is not software. I wouldn't be surprised to find
>> differences when comparing licenses drawn for software to licenses
>> drawn for documentation. Software freedom guidelines have nothing
>> to do with documentation freedom. Applying one to the other shows
>> profound lack of thought and is going to waste a lot of time.
> [...] Firmware is not software. I wouldn't be surprised to find
> differences when comparing licenses drawn for software to licenses
> drawn for firmaware.

I don't get why firmware isn't software, at least. Not all software has
to run on the CPU.

> Software freedom guidelines have nothing to do with firmware freedom.
> Applying one to the other shows profound lack of thought and is going
> to waste a lot of time.

Here's an example of why firmware freedom might be important: some
wireless adaptor vendors disallow changing a MAC address; having free
firmware might allow that (since firmware normally encapsulates the
link-layer).

Andrew.




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