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diff --git a/zarb-ml/mageia-dev/2012-July/017496.html b/zarb-ml/mageia-dev/2012-July/017496.html new file mode 100644 index 000000000..53eee258e --- /dev/null +++ b/zarb-ml/mageia-dev/2012-July/017496.html @@ -0,0 +1,112 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> +<HTML> + <HEAD> + <TITLE> [Mageia-dev] free software purity question + </TITLE> + <LINK REL="Index" HREF="index.html" > + <LINK REL="made" HREF="mailto:mageia-dev%40mageia.org?Subject=Re%3A%20%5BMageia-dev%5D%20free%20software%20purity%20question&In-Reply-To=%3C3ojld9-prd.ln1%40psd.motzarella.org%3E"> + <META NAME="robots" CONTENT="index,nofollow"> + <META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> + <LINK REL="Previous" HREF="017504.html"> + <LINK REL="Next" HREF="017500.html"> + </HEAD> + <BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"> + <H1>[Mageia-dev] free software purity question</H1> + <B>blind Pete</B> + <A HREF="mailto:mageia-dev%40mageia.org?Subject=Re%3A%20%5BMageia-dev%5D%20free%20software%20purity%20question&In-Reply-To=%3C3ojld9-prd.ln1%40psd.motzarella.org%3E" + TITLE="[Mageia-dev] free software purity question">0123peter at gmail.com + </A><BR> + <I>Thu Jul 19 16:55:31 CEST 2012</I> + <P><UL> + <LI>Previous message: <A HREF="017504.html">[Mageia-dev] free software purity question +</A></li> + <LI>Next message: <A HREF="017500.html">[Mageia-dev] free software purity question +</A></li> + <LI> <B>Messages sorted by:</B> + <a href="date.html#17496">[ date ]</a> + <a href="thread.html#17496">[ thread ]</a> + <a href="subject.html#17496">[ subject ]</a> + <a href="author.html#17496">[ author ]</a> + </LI> + </UL> + <HR> +<!--beginarticle--> +<PRE>Johnny A. Solbu wrote: + +><i> On Thursday 19 July 2012 15:08, Christiaan Welvaart wrote: +</I>>><i> Why are you talking about *drivers* when the remark you quote is about +</I>>><i> *firmware* ? Some open source drivers don't work (well) without them +</I>>><i> loading non-free firmware into the device. +</I> +There are two overlapping issues here. + +If you do not trust the competence of the closed source coders then +closed source firmware plus closed source driver is worse than just +closed source firmware. More code, so more chance of hitting a bug. + +If you do not trust the integrity of the closed source coders then +you are completely screwed if you use either. Legend has it that +during the lead up to the first Gulf war the Iraqi military was +compromised when the US managed to get a "special" printer plugged +into the Iraqi network. + +><i> Because it is the same issiue. I treat firmwares the same as I treat any +</I>><i> other software. if a device can't work without installing a package +</I>><i> contaning non-free firmware, I'm not using it. +</I> +Stop right there. That is the issue that I am interested in. + +I am using an old ATI video card. There is no closed source driver. +There *is* a firmware update. If I do NOT load the updated firmware +how does it work? Am I not running any firmware at all? Or am I +just running an older buggier and equally untrustworthy version of +the same code that was burned into the ROM at the factory? + +When I boot my computer the motherboard BIOS hands control over +to the video card's BIOS. (Or is that all of the expansion slots +in turn?) It runs uninspected code from ATI before it even looks +at my hard disks. Is that any less bad than running uninspected +current code from ATI? There is a small chance that the firmware +update is specifically targeted at cracking my computer, but I +doubt it. There is also a small chance that the only fix in the +update is to make the spybot work, but I doubt it. If you handle +state secrets you might want to consider using a pencil and paper. + +><i> In order to use it I might +</I>><i> need to install a non-free software package (rpm, deb, tarball). How is +</I>><i> that any different than a driver? Both have to be installed by the user. +</I>><i> (yes, yes, the default might be to have them preinstalled in some distros, +</I>><i> that is not the issiue.) +</I>><i> +</I> +-- +blind Pete +Sig goes here... + +</PRE> + + + + + + +<!--endarticle--> + <HR> + <P><UL> + <!--threads--> + <LI>Previous message: <A HREF="017504.html">[Mageia-dev] free software purity question +</A></li> + <LI>Next message: <A HREF="017500.html">[Mageia-dev] free software purity question +</A></li> + <LI> <B>Messages sorted by:</B> + <a href="date.html#17496">[ date ]</a> + <a href="thread.html#17496">[ thread ]</a> + <a href="subject.html#17496">[ subject ]</a> + <a href="author.html#17496">[ author ]</a> + </LI> + </UL> + +<hr> +<a href="https://www.mageia.org/mailman/listinfo/mageia-dev">More information about the Mageia-dev +mailing list</a><br> +</body></html> |