Non-free drivers (Re: Invitation to ubuntu developers)

[Matt Zimmerman]

On Tue, Nov 28, 2006 at 11:20:11PM -0500, Tim Schmidt wrote:
> Sorry I didn't quote the stated language verbatim...
> 
> "...we recognise that in some cases binary drivers are the only way to
> make your hardware work."  implies that without the binary driver,
> your hardware doesn't work.  At all.  The work / doesn't work boolean
> literally doesn't leave any room whatsoever for "works for 2D" or
> "doesn't do WPA".  Hence the fairly harsh statement.  (sorry).

That is your interpretation, but mine would be closer to "works to an extent
which meets user expectations".  This necessarily changes with time, and
incorporates things like WPA, 3D acceleration, connecting laptops to
projectors, multihead support, etc.

> As stated previously, I'm all for making non-free drivers easily
> installable (assuming they do something the Free ones don't - which
> should be obvious anyway).  So long as end-users are informed before
> making the choice to use them, at a minimum that they may be less
> secure, and can't effectively be supported (mainly for the sake of
> upstream).

The drivers in question are installed by default, and have been since the
very first release of Ubuntu.  The change under discussion is configuring
the X server to use (one of) them by default.

> A bonus would be a link or example of a similar piece of hardware that has
> Free drivers (surprisingly, it can be _very_ hard to do the required
> research to find hardware that will work with Free software - it's not
> proselytizing so much as being helpful).

Yes, it is very hard work, and in many cases there aren't reasonable
alternatives, setting aside the fact that this information doesn't help the
user until it's too late (and their Ubuntu system doesn't work as expected).

> "Every computer user should have the freedom to run, copy, distribute,
> study, share, change and improve their software for any purpose..."

Absolutely.  However, we acknowledge that we aren't there yet when it comes
to drivers, and have done so since the project's inception.

> "... we are working to ensure that every single piece of software you need
> is available under a licence that gives you those freedoms.  Currently, we
> make a specific exception for some "drivers" which are only available in
> binary form, without which many computers will not complete the Ubuntu
> installation."
> 
> That seems to suggest the binary drivers are going away...  not getting
> pushed into main, and installed by default.  :)

No one is proposing changing the guidelines for main, and the drivers in
question have been in 'restricted' and installed by default since day one.

I'm not presenting my own position on this, only clarifying the facts of the
situation.  There is a very specific decision under discussion here, and it
involves the interpretation of the language we've just discussed, and the
selection of installed drivers to use by default.

There is no change proposed regarding the classification of the software,
the selection of software included on the CDs, the selection of software
installed by default, or anything else other than the above.

-- 
 - mdz