Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[白い熊]

Clément Lassieur <address@hidden> writes:

> Guix allows one to customize their packages through inheritance.  You
> could create a custom linux package that inherits Guix's linux-libre,
> with, say a differente source.  When linux-libre is updated, my-linux
> would be updated as well, since it inherits linux-libre.  Thus, you
> would have no maintainance to do.
>
> (define-public my-linux
>  (package
>     (inherit linux-libre)
>     (name "my-linux")
>     (source ...)))

Sorry to revive an extra-old topic, however my problem now is exactly 
this – I've purchased the GPD Pocket 3 which is a very nice little 
machine, powerful, and have to use it without a USB dongle. It uses Intel 
AX210 802.11ax (2.4/5/6Ghz), BT 5.2, so needs iwlwifi modules.

I'm running Ubuntu Mate on it in parallel – without any issues.

Now, I've set up Guix System on it without problems.

However am not fluent enough to utilize the above solution to define an 
inheritance for the current Linux kernel from git and put it in 
system.scm to reconfigure the system with it.

Could someone share with me the system.cfg snippet that would enable me 
to load the non-free firmware?

Many thanks.

-- 
Best regards / 宜しく御願い致します / S pozdravem / C уважением / Z poważaniem / 
Mit freundlichen Grüßen

白い熊

Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[yasu]

This is also an old topic, but we need lesser-help-guix@... 
The help-guix@... seems so much against even discussion of such
things...

So for now (and let me stress, I do not like this situation of self-
imposed-gagging and would like to help create alternative communication
forums), let me send you something personally!

-Yasu


On Wed, 2022-05-11 at 12:19 +0000, 白い熊 wrote:
> Clément Lassieur <address@hidden> writes:
> 
> > Guix allows one to customize their packages through inheritance. 
> > You
> > could create a custom linux package that inherits Guix's linux-
> > libre,
> > with, say a differente source.  When linux-libre is updated, my-
> > linux
> > would be updated as well, since it inherits linux-libre.  Thus, you
> > would have no maintainance to do.
> > 
> > (define-public my-linux
> >   (package
> >      (inherit linux-libre)
> >      (name "my-linux")
> >      (source ...)))
> 
> Sorry to revive an extra-old topic, however my problem now is exactly
> this – I've purchased the GPD Pocket 3 which is a very nice little 
> machine, powerful, and have to use it without a USB dongle. It uses
> Intel 
> AX210 802.11ax (2.4/5/6Ghz), BT 5.2, so needs iwlwifi modules.
> 
> I'm running Ubuntu Mate on it in parallel – without any issues.
> 
> Now, I've set up Guix System on it without problems.
> 
> However am not fluent enough to utilize the above solution to define
> an 
> inheritance for the current Linux kernel from git and put it in 
> system.scm to reconfigure the system with it.
> 
> Could someone share with me the system.cfg snippet that would enable
> me 
> to load the non-free firmware?
> 
> Many thanks.
> 

Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[白い熊＠相撲道]

On 2022-05-11 14:31, yasu wrote:
> This is also an old topic, but we need lesser-help-guix@...
> The help-guix@... seems so much against even discussion of such
> things...
> 
> So for now (and let me stress, I do not like this situation of self-
> imposed-gagging and would like to help create alternative communication
> forums), let me send you something personally!

Many thanks, Yasu.

I was able to get it working according to the instructions sent 
privately, including adding a channel for the kernel source etc.

Seeing as how there might have been criticism in the past here on the 
list in discussing topics, which some think are inconducive to promote 
software freedom - I don't wish to damage the culture here and fully 
describe the solution, if it is indeed frowned upon here.

On the other hand, I feel the same way as Yasu describes above - for 
instance for me I think seeing the solution, which I could not have 
figured out myself is actually conducive towards learning more guix and 
scheme and perhaps developing some snippets in the future that could 
help someone else.

For this reason I'd think it'd be beneficial to fully discuss the Guix 
solution here. Moderators - can you give guidance on this?

---
Best regards / 宜しく御願い致します / S pozdravem / C уважением / Z poważaniem / 
Mit freundlichen Grüßen

白い熊

Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[zimoun]

Hi,

On Thu, 12 May 2022 at 09:37, 白い熊＠相撲道 <help-guix_gnu.org@sumou.com> wrote:

> For this reason I'd think it'd be beneficial to fully discuss the Guix 
> solution here. Moderators - can you give guidance on this?

I am not a moderator and it is not a guidance.

The Guix project is part of the GNU project; for the good, the bad or
the ugly.  What it implies is documented, for instance:

<https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.en.html>


Therefore, we – users and contributors – do not speak about non-free on
GNU mailing lists.  Nothing more to discuss.


Note that it does not mean people contributing to Guix cannot help for
non-free.  However, not here.  Using your favorite search engine, it
seems easy to find relevant information.

As I sometimes redirect people from Reddit (to name one forum) to here,
I suggest you to ask such questions about non-free to these forums.


Cheers,
simon

Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[David Lecompte]

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Hi,

Le jeudi 12 mai 2022 à 18:00 +0200, zimoun a écrit :
> The Guix project is part of the GNU project; for the good, the bad or
> the ugly.  What it implies is documented, for instance:
> 
> <  
> https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.en.html
> > 
> 

These rules are for GNU/Linux distros in general, they are not specific
to the GNU project, e.g. they are also followed by Trisquel, Parabola and
Hyperbola.

I only use and recommend distros that follow these rules because with
other distros, it is frequent to receive "solutions" by using non-free
software, while the people proposing the "solutions" don't even mention
it is non-free software because they don't care.

Some may say it is censorship, for me it is commitment not to mislead
people.

For wifi, since linux-libre has support for wifi USB dongle using ath9, I
guess it should work fine with Guix SD (but I haven't tried actually).

David.


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Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Yasuaki Kudo]

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One phrase I heard recently and struck a chord:

Needs Unite, Ideas Divide

We all need Free Software but I think the attitude toward non-free seems to vary - I seem to be on the side of "I don't care as long as I know where they are on my system"

So yes, I think we just need to have a separate community and happily work together 😄

-Yasu

> On May 13, 2022, at 05:19, David Lecompte <david.lecompte@protonmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
>> Le jeudi 12 mai 2022 à 18:00 +0200, zimoun a écrit :
>> The Guix project is part of the GNU project; for the good, the bad or
>> the ugly.  What it implies is documented, for instance:
>> 
>> <  
>> https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.en.html
>>> 
>> 
> 
> These rules are for GNU/Linux distros in general, they are not specific
> to the GNU project, e.g. they are also followed by Trisquel, Parabola and
> Hyperbola.
> 
> I only use and recommend distros that follow these rules because with
> other distros, it is frequent to receive "solutions" by using non-free
> software, while the people proposing the "solutions" don't even mention
> it is non-free software because they don't care.
> 
> Some may say it is censorship, for me it is commitment not to mislead
> people.
> 
> For wifi, since linux-libre has support for wifi USB dongle using ath9, I
> guess it should work fine with Guix SD (but I haven't tried actually).
> 
> David.
> 

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Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Tobias Geerinckx-Rice]

There's nothing I can add to Zimoun & Maxim's excellent answers.

I completely agree with Maxim: this is a feature, a positive choice; not a bug, nor some fearful refusal to hear loud 'voices' that are already wildly overrepresented.

If the urge to promote proprietary software/vendors/misinformation/status quo is so strong,   *almost the entire Internet* is available to do so.  Literally.  No need to insist we give up our space, or slather it with false balance.  A lot of us would leave.

Just a note on 'moderation': as a 'moderator': I weed out spammy spams (many, so many, a day) and trolly trolls (once a year in a good year).  I have never moderated good-faith conversation beyond that - as long as it doesn't veer into either.

Kind regards,

T G-R

Sent on [a touchscreen].  Excuse or enjoy my [terrible editing].

Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Maxim Cournoyer]

Hello,

白い熊＠相撲道 <help-guix_gnu.org@sumou.com> writes:

> On 2022-05-11 14:31, yasu wrote:
>> This is also an old topic, but we need lesser-help-guix@...
>> The help-guix@... seems so much against even discussion of such
>> things...
>> So for now (and let me stress, I do not like this situation of self-
>> imposed-gagging and would like to help create alternative communication
>> forums), let me send you something personally!
>
> Many thanks, Yasu.
>
> I was able to get it working according to the instructions sent
> privately, including adding a channel for the kernel source etc.
>
> Seeing as how there might have been criticism in the past here on the
> list in discussing topics, which some think are inconducive to promote
> software freedom - I don't wish to damage the culture here and fully
> describe the solution, if it is indeed frowned upon here.
>
> On the other hand, I feel the same way as Yasu describes above - for
> instance for me I think seeing the solution, which I could not have
> figured out myself is actually conducive towards learning more guix
> and scheme and perhaps developing some snippets in the future that
> could help someone else.
>
> For this reason I'd think it'd be beneficial to fully discuss the Guix
> solution here. Moderators - can you give guidance on this?

Nothing has changed regarding the GNU Guix policy regarding free
software, which stems from the requirements of a GNU FSDG distribution
[0]; it is about including only free software in the distribution and
providing support only for free software.  This means this is not the
right place to discuss how to install/configure nonfree software which
is not part of GNU Guix.

Yasu, you've been sharing your opinion about this many times here;
enough times that it's starting to be mildly annoying, to me at least
:-).  GNU Guix is not and won't be a place to discuss nonfree software;
I'd appreciate if you could stop advertising your idea to create some
parallel, nonfree community on Guix channels.  You are free to do so if
you like, but don't please don't advertise it on the Guix project
communication channels.

I personally think this policy is a plus that makes the project stand
out; GNU FSDG distributions are rarer than non-FSDG ones, after all, and
free software as at the heart of GNU and GNU Guix.  We should be
thankful for it :-).

Thank you for your understanding,

Maxim

[0]  https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html

Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Pierre Neidhardt]

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This was posted before:

    https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2017-01/msg00041.html

Unfortunately, I'm not able to acquire a wifi dongle at the moment.
As far as I understand, linux-libre turns off the ability to load
non-free firmware.  Why is it so?

Is it possible to re-enable the feature?
If not, are there other ways around the issue?

-- 
Pierre Neidhardt

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Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Pierre Neidhardt]

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An idea crossed my mind: from a foreign distribution with Guix
installed, run

     guix system init /mnt/etc/config.scm /mnt

The documentation tells us that's not enough though:

> With the target partitions ready and the target root mounted on ‘/mnt’,
> we’re ready to go.  First, run:
>
>      herd start cow-store /mnt
>
>    This makes ‘/gnu/store’ copy-on-write, such that packages added to it
> during the installation phase are written to the target disk on ‘/mnt’
> rather than kept in memory.  This is necessary because the first phase
> of the ‘guix system init’ command (see below) entails downloads or
> builds to ‘/gnu/store’ which, initially, is an in-memory file system.

Is there a simple way to do this without `herd'?

-- 
Pierre Neidhardt

Do you think that illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup?

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Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Carlo Zancanaro]

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Hey Pierre,

On Fri, Mar 02 2018, Pierre Neidhardt wrote:
> An idea crossed my mind: from a foreign distribution with Guix
> installed, run
>
>      guix system init /mnt/etc/config.scm /mnt
>
> [...]
>
> Is there a simple way to do this without `herd'?

There is! I followed the vague instructions in this message to 
convert my debian installation to a GuixSD installation and it 
(broadly speaking) worked.

https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2017-04/msg00139.html

The trick is not to "init", but just to "reconfigure" into GuixSD. 
It feels a bit hacky, but it works.

Carlo

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Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Adonay Felipe Nogueira]

> As far as I understand, linux-libre turns off the ability to load
> non-free firmware.  Why is it so?

It's a bug in the Linux kernel itself, caused by how it actually looks
and loads stuff. See the reply given by Alexandre Oliva ([1]).

[1] <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/gnu-linux-libre/2018-01/msg00032.html>.

-- 
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- Palestrante e consultor sobre /software/ livre (não confundir com
  gratis).
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  (apenas sem DRM), PNG, TXT, WEBM.

Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Adonay Felipe Nogueira]

> Is it possible to re-enable the feature?
> If not, are there other ways around the issue?

I want to make it clear that the solution seems to be for you to acquire
a copy of the GNU Linux-libre scripts' source code, modify then so that
they don't block that specific non-free part, and then have these
modified scripts run over a copy of the source files for Linux.

-- 
- https://libreplanet.org/wiki/User:Adfeno
- Palestrante e consultor sobre /software/ livre (não confundir com
  gratis).
- "WhatsApp"? Ele não é livre. Por favor, veja formas de se comunicar
  instantaneamente comigo no endereço abaixo.
- Contato: https://libreplanet.org/wiki/User:Adfeno#vCard
- Arquivos comuns aceitos (apenas sem DRM): Corel Draw, Microsoft
  Office, MP3, MP4, WMA, WMV.
- Arquivos comuns aceitos e enviados: CSV, GNU Dia, GNU Emacs Org, GNU
  GIMP, Inkscape SVG, JPG, LibreOffice (padrão ODF), OGG, OPUS, PDF
  (apenas sem DRM), PNG, TXT, WEBM.

Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Clément Lassieur]

Pierre Neidhardt <ambrevar@gmail.com> writes:

> This was posted before:
>
>     https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2017-01/msg00041.html
>
> Unfortunately, I'm not able to acquire a wifi dongle at the moment.
> As far as I understand, linux-libre turns off the ability to load
> non-free firmware.  Why is it so?
>
> Is it possible to re-enable the feature?
> If not, are there other ways around the issue?

Hi Pierre,

Guix allows one to customize their packages through inheritance.  You
could create a custom linux package that inherits Guix's linux-libre,
with, say a differente source.  When linux-libre is updated, my-linux
would be updated as well, since it inherits linux-libre.  Thus, you
would have no maintainance to do.

(define-public my-linux
  (package
    (inherit linux-libre)
    (name "my-linux")
    (source ...)))

This custom package's definition needs to be within GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH.
See
https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/manual/html_node/Package-Modules.html#Package-Modules
for more information.

Clément

Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Pierre Neidhardt]

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Clément Lassieur <clement@lassieur.org> writes:

> Guix allows one to customize their packages through inheritance.  You
> could create a custom linux package that inherits Guix's linux-libre,
> with, say a differente source.  When linux-libre is updated, my-linux
> would be updated as well, since it inherits linux-libre.  Thus, you
> would have no maintainance to do.
>
> (define-public my-linux
>   (package
>     (inherit linux-libre)
>     (name "my-linux")
>     (source ...)))
>
> This custom package's definition needs to be within GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH.
> See
> https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/manual/html_node/Package-Modules.html#Package-Modules
> for more information.

Thanks for the tip, it seems to be working perfectly so far!

-- 
Pierre Neidhardt

No matter what other nations may say about the United States,
immigration is still the sincerest form of flattery.

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Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Chris Marusich]

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Hi Pierre,

Pierre Neidhardt <ambrevar@gmail.com> writes:

> linux-libre turns off the ability to load non-free firmware.  Why is
> it so?

I did a little bit of searching on the Internet, and it seems to me like
the reason why Linux-libre turns off the ability to load non-free
firmware is because the project does not want to induce you to use
non-free software.  For details, you may find this article and the
linked email threads interesting:

"The trouble with firmware" by Jake Edge, January 5, 2011
https://lwn.net/Articles/421680/

> Is it possible to re-enable the feature?

My understanding is that discussions about how to use non-free software
are not allowed on the GNU Guix email lists.  We're happy to help you
figure out how to solve your problems using free software, though!

> If not, are there other ways around the issue?

As Ludo mentioned elsewhere, using a dongle is one good option.  What
prevents you from using a dongle?

Another option is to find a system that respects your freedom and does
not require proprietary software to run.  I have a LibreBoot laptop I
purchased from MiniFree, and I love it!  I know that purchasing a
replacement computer that respects your freedom can seem like an
expensive option, but if you have the money, then it's an option:

https://minifree.org/

You may also be interested in looking at:

https://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/endorsement/respects-your-freedom

-- 
Chris

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Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Pierre Neidhardt]

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> "The trouble with firmware" by Jake Edge, January 5, 2011
> https://lwn.net/Articles/421680/

Interesting article.  I share similar views and I believe that making
proprietary code hard to proliferate is laudable.  See the GPL license.
I'm not completely convince how Linux-libre would work towards that end
though.

That said, I'm now stuck with an iwlwifi card and I have to live with
that much backward practices.

> As Ludo mentioned elsewhere, using a dongle is one good option.  What
> prevents you from using a dongle?

A nit, really, but I have an rather extreme life-style that pushes me to
travel as lightweight as possible.  A dongle is not much for sure, but
if I can I'd rather avoid it.

The other issue is that when I initially wrote this e-mail I could not
buy one and could not even order online.  Not a problem anymore for now.

Being even more picky, dongles have drawbacks:
- They occupy a USB port (I have only 2).
- They stick out... :p

> https://minifree.org/

Thanks for the link, I did not know about it.  Very nice initiative.

I am now running the ultra-thin laptop Xiaomi Air 13, which, beside the
non-free iwlwifi card, is an excellent piece of hardware in my opinion.
Way ahead of the offers on minifree.  I wish there would be something
similar and a 100% free.  Anyone aware of such a machine?

--
Pierre Neidhardt

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Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Hartmut Goebel]

Am 25.03.2018 um 07:34 schrieb Chris Marusich:
> As Ludo mentioned elsewhere, using a dongle is one good option.  What
> prevents you from using a dongle?

Why should I punish myself just for to says "Hey, I'm using only free
software"? This benefits nobody! [1]

Please don't get me wrong: free software is to be preferred and we
should push users and vendors towards it. But if for any reason one owns
a device demanding non-free firmware, using e.g. a dongle would not
benefit anybody.[1] The vendor already has the money. In contrary:
buying a dongle adds to environmental pollution and sweating in poor
countries.

The only thing we achieve is distracting users from free software since
it "doe not work".

[1] Given that you basically "trust" the non-free software. Bu if you
don't, you'll not going to use it anyway.

-- 
Regards
Hartmut Goebel

| Hartmut Goebel          | h.goebel@crazy-compilers.com               |
| www.crazy-compilers.com | compilers which you thought are impossible |

Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hey Hartmut,

Hartmut Goebel <h.goebel@crazy-compilers.com> skribis:

> Am 25.03.2018 um 07:34 schrieb Chris Marusich:
>> As Ludo mentioned elsewhere, using a dongle is one good option.  What
>> prevents you from using a dongle?
>
> Why should I punish myself just for to says "Hey, I'm using only free
> software"? This benefits nobody! [1]

You can do what you want.  Guix as a project is committed to software
freedom, that’s our “contract” with our users, and I think giving them
individual and collective control over the software they use is highly
beneficial to them.

That said, we all prefer when hardware vendors do not make our lives
more difficult, no doubt!

Ludo’.

Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Mark H Weaver]

Hartmut Goebel <h.goebel@crazy-compilers.com> writes:

> Am 25.03.2018 um 07:34 schrieb Chris Marusich:
>> As Ludo mentioned elsewhere, using a dongle is one good option.  What
>> prevents you from using a dongle?
>
> Why should I punish myself just for to says "Hey, I'm using only free
> software"? This benefits nobody! [1]
>
> Please don't get me wrong: free software is to be preferred and we
> should push users and vendors towards it. But if for any reason one owns
> a device demanding non-free firmware, using e.g. a dongle would not
> benefit anybody.[1] The vendor already has the money. In contrary:
> buying a dongle adds to environmental pollution and sweating in poor
> countries.
>
> The only thing we achieve is distracting users from free software since
> it "doe not work".

I disagree.  We achieve something indispensible.  We make it far more
likely that the next time users purchase hardware, they will avoid
hardware that would require their operating system to include nonfree
software.  This creates incentives for the manufacturers to create
freedom-respecting hardware.

The alternative approach of including nonfree software in our OS, in
order to make non-freedom-respecting hardware "just work", makes this
problem invisible to most people, and thus creates no incentive for
users or manufacturers to change their behaviors at all.

This is not a small problem.  It's becoming increasingly difficult to
find any modern computer that can be operated without many megabytes of
nonfree software, in an age of ubiquitous surveillance that threatens
our democracies.  Please, we must not sweep this problem under the rug.

      Mark

Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Hartmut Goebel]

Am 28.03.2018 um 00:05 schrieb Mark H Weaver:
> I disagree.  We achieve something indispensible.  We make it far more
> likely that the next time users purchase hardware, they will avoid
> hardware that would require their operating system to include nonfree
> software.  This creates incentives for the manufacturers to create
> freedom-respecting hardware.

I disagree. Your are assuming somebody already convinced on free
software. This might work for these.

I assume somebody who needs to be convinced that there are alternatives
to what they are used to (Windows, macos). These people will not buy a
new device for testing GNU/Linux or GuixSD, but use the one they already
own. They except GNU/Linux to work! It not, they will be scared off -
and it will be even harder to convince them for another try.

The worm must be tasty to the fish, not the fisherman.

If you want to change the world, you will fail when trying to enforce
the big bang. But you will win by making people taking small steps,
learning, becoming confident. If you want someone to become vegan, first
make her/she reducing the meat consumption, make her/him living
vegetarian, an then vegan. This takes long, but even the first step is a
change towards your aim.

-- 
Regards
Hartmut Goebel

| Hartmut Goebel          | h.goebel@crazy-compilers.com               |
| www.crazy-compilers.com | compilers which you thought are impossible |

Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Marius Bakke]

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Chris Marusich <cmmarusich@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi Pierre,
>
> Pierre Neidhardt <ambrevar@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> linux-libre turns off the ability to load non-free firmware.  Why is
>> it so?
>
> I did a little bit of searching on the Internet, and it seems to me like
> the reason why Linux-libre turns off the ability to load non-free
> firmware is because the project does not want to induce you to use
> non-free software.

This is not true.  After all, you may wish to load a firmware that you
have developed yourself, but that is not possible either.  The problem
is a limitation of the kernel interface and/or the deblobbing script:

From an interview with Alexandre Oliva[0]:

"Indeed, I became aware that some users have got the idea that blocking
the loading of blobs is a feature. It's not; it's just a bug that's
quite difficult to fix. The decision on whether or not to use a piece of
software, be it Free or not, should belong to the users, and it's not
our intent to make that difficult."

[0] https://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/blogs/lxo/2013-11-08-linux-libre-interview-by-bruce-byfield.en.html

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Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Chris Marusich]

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Marius Bakke <mbakke@fastmail.com> writes:

> Chris Marusich <cmmarusich@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> Hi Pierre,
>>
>> Pierre Neidhardt <ambrevar@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>>> linux-libre turns off the ability to load non-free firmware.  Why is
>>> it so?
>>
>> I did a little bit of searching on the Internet, and it seems to me like
>> the reason why Linux-libre turns off the ability to load non-free
>> firmware is because the project does not want to induce you to use
>> non-free software.
>
> This is not true.  After all, you may wish to load a firmware that you
> have developed yourself, but that is not possible either.  The problem
> is a limitation of the kernel interface and/or the deblobbing script:
>
> From an interview with Alexandre Oliva[0]:
>
> "Indeed, I became aware that some users have got the idea that blocking
> the loading of blobs is a feature. It's not; it's just a bug that's
> quite difficult to fix. The decision on whether or not to use a piece of
> software, be it Free or not, should belong to the users, and it's not
> our intent to make that difficult."
>
> [0] https://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/blogs/lxo/2013-11-08-linux-libre-interview-by-bruce-byfield.en.html

Thank you for correcting my understanding!  I read the interview you
linked, as well as the original email thread referenced by the LWN
article [1].  My understanding is now that Linux-libre wants both (1) to
avoid inducing users to install non-free firmware (e.g. even logging the
non-free firmware name is something they would consider to be "inducing"
the user to install the non-free firmware), and (2) to allow users to
install whatever firmware they want, regardless of whether it is free or
non-free firmware.  However, due to the way the kernel Linux loads
firmware combined with the way that Linux-libre mangles the non-free
firmware identifiers to accomplish (1), users of Linux-libre currently
need to go through the extra effort of modifying the Linux-libre source
code (which they are free to do) if they want to load non-free firmware
(or firmware they have built themselves but have chosen not to share).

It is good to know that the Linux-libre project intends to allow users
to do whatever they want with the kernel.  I appreciate you taking the
time to clarify this for me!

Footnotes: 
[1]  https://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/gnu-linux-libre/2010-12/msg00022.html

-- 
Chris

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