Salix-Libre

[aryr100]

any change of a GNU salix-libre edition
possible a gnome or as a kde version
using the libre-kernel
icecat
icedove
etc...

[thenktor]

What is it good for?

So the answer is no.

[JRD]

I agree with thenktor. For what need ?

[thenktor]

From linux-libre site:

Linux, the kernel developed and distributed by Linus Torvalds et al, contains non-Free Software,

Huh? How can the kernel contain non-free Software? The kernel is GPL.

[JRD]

This depends how you interpret "firmware" (as I understand the question…)
Firmware are microcrodes which are transfered to some microchipt of some devices to make them work. Some devices need these firmware to be transfered at each reboot, some not.

Different thoughts on that.
First vision :
- firmware are in fact compiled source code
- source code is not provided
- so firmware are not free
- so the linux kernel with firmware is not free
Second vision (most shared) :
- firmware execute on a different chipset, and are not executed by the main processor(s)
- it is just a convenient way of telling how the device must work instead of soldering the behavior
- therefore it is part of the hardware, and has nothing to do with software. It's more a question of having free hardware or not.

So depends on how you consider firmware. But, for now, in terms of the FSF and OSI, the Linux kernel is free (libre). All software included in Salix is using GPL, BSD, MPL or the like, and are licenses considered free in the terms of FSF and OSI, so Salix IS free.

[aryr100]

From the FSF
"Nonfree Firmware

Some applications and drivers require firmware to function, and sometimes that firmware is distributed only in object code form, under a nonfree license. We call these firmware programs “blobs.” On most GNU/Linux systems, you'll typically find these accompanying some drivers in the kernel Linux. Such firmware should be removed from a free system distribution.

Blobs can take many forms. Sometimes, they will be provided in separate files. Other times, they may be incorporated into the source of the driver itself—for example, it could be encoded as a large array of numbers. But no matter how it's encoded, any nonfree firmware needs to be removed from a free system.

(To be clear, not every array of numbers in a driver is firmware. It's important to understand the purpose of the data before deciding whether or not it's appropriate for a free system.)

Brian Brazil, Jeff Moe, and Alexandre Oliva have developed a series of scripts to remove nonfree firmware from a stock version of the Linux kernel. You may find them helpful if you would like to develop your own free GNU/Linux distribution—although we recommend joining development of an existing free distro rather than fragmenting effort by starting a new one. The complete source for a blob-free version of the Linux kernel is also available; you can learn more about this project from the Free Software Directory."

This is meant for a debut but as information collection,about a sub-division or a spin-off to Salix was all I was asking

[JRD]

Sorry but whereas I am a strong supporter of the free movement, and it will be great to have free firmware and free hardware, it's also important to be pragmatic. You will have difficulties to make work a computer without any firmware (appart from making the basic usage working). You will also have difficulties using a computer with only free hardware (open specification). It's good to have a goal, and to be pragmatic.
We should ask for free firmware, of course, but for now, providing a distro like Salix without any firmware will just make the whole think quite unusable.
Moreover, if you want to have a blob-free kernel, it's easy, just uninstall "kernel-firmware" package and you're done.
For me (I do not speak for others), it's non a good idea to provide Salix without firmware, and for me firmware ARE hardware.

[schlawi54]

We should ask for free firmware, of course, but for now, providing a distro like Salix without any firmware will just make the whole think quite unusable.
Moreover, if you want to have a blob-free kernel, it's easy, just uninstall "kernel-firmware" package and you're done.
For me (I do not speak for others), it's non a good idea to provide Salix without firmware, and for me firmware ARE hardware.

+1

And besides that, there is LGPL that allows you to ship binary-only using open-source libraries.