Is Ubuntu commited to free software?

[Daniel Chen]

On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 12:57 PM, "Danny Piccirillo"
<danny.piccirillo at ubuntu.com> wrote:
>> * This would require supporting the linux libre kernel (it doesn't have to
>>be by default, but the option should be available.

On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 1:19 PM, Scott Kitterman <ubuntu at kitterman.com> wrote:
> No. It doesn't. That kernel removes the ability to run non-free drivers. The
> exact same amount of non-free code runs if you don't have any installed.
> Just about the last thing Ubuntu needs is the maintenance overhead of
> another kernel that only serves ideological purposes.

Noting what Scott mentioned above, I'll add that *changing hardware
enablement fundamentally alters an Ubuntu experience*.

Let's pause and think on what removing support for non-Free drivers
actually means. Suppose you're low-vision/hard-of-seeing/blind, and
you need a screen reader. Now let's remove a nontrivial number of
sound driver blobs[0]. That pretty much neuters any sort of session
accessibility you're going to get, no?

That was a fairly specific use case, but it's fairly trivial to see
how providing an easy path for people to install these markedly
different *foundational* components into an Ubuntu system is a very
slippery slope to madness.

Best,
-Dan


[0] Now, I know that there is the option delimited within the F6 menu,
but Linux-libre appears to be much more comprehensive, e.g.,
http://www.fsfla.org/svn/fsfla/software/linux-libre/scripts/deblob-2.6.34.