Debian: too free? And hardware technical documentation... [LWN.net]

Debian: too free? And hardware technical documentation...

Posted Apr 30, 2004 9:12 UTC (Fri) by ortalo (subscriber, #4654)
Parent article: Debian: too free?

Of course, as probably anyone not informed already, I've read this news with strong initial disappointement. More Debian delays are really annoying. *Really*!
However, when thinking to it longer, I have to admit that hardware manufacturers are also very annoying. For example, I've been waiting much longer for *complete* technical hardware documentation from Matrox (for the G200/G400/G450 series of graphic chipsets and especially their 3D hardware setup engine which documentation chapter has been removed from the available documents) than for a Debian release. Not to speak about 3Dfx several years ago, NVidia, etc. Graphics hardware technical documentation is really a pain to obtain (browse GGI/KGI related issues on the net to see my own research over the years). Of course, a lot of XFree, FBDev or other developpers are doing their best to hide this situation from final users and give them operational device drivers; but this hidden work is extremely painful. This situation in the graphics hardware field is bad, but seems to extend to other areas over the years: remember WinModems, those USB modems, all these USB gadgets? More examples are likely to come in the future.
There are other reasons to complain from such lack of freedom than simply the inability to hack at leisure: no documentation usually means no quality, or short time support; confidential documentation sometimes means buggy or over-expensive hardware; NDA documentation may also mean paying device drivers someday; etc.
Maybe it is time now for a big Linux distribution to start simply *dropping support* for such things? That is to say to use its weight to influence the world in order to get rid of such painful work, horrible interlocutors, and such hardware.
Probably, most computer users do not really care if they buy hardware with full technical documentation available somewhere. I do. And I really think they should too.
The Debian policy movement may be about this, that is to say about a practical and pragmatic problem, not only a theoretical issue. (I am not a Debian developer, so I cannot say. But I think it's worth wondering.)

(Log in to post comments)

Debian: too free?

Posted Apr 30, 2004 12:58 UTC (Fri) by jondkent (subscriber, #19595) [Link]

I must admit that I read about this with a sense of both disappointment and understanding. I do think that at times Debian worry excessively about what is really free to the detriment of their user base, which, as a previously post points out, should be evenly matched in the Debian social contract.

However, I do understand where they are coming from yet I think that alot of the recent policy modifications have not been thought though enough. Debian stable is so old that its almost becoming irrelvant (note the stable release _not_ Debian itself). I too think that they must pass another GR to get a new release out of the door this year.