Does GNOME have nonfree pieces ?

To cite the documentation:
"Trisquel is a composed only of free software packages, under the criteria of the Free Software Foundation. To read the license of each specific package, refer to /usr/share/doc/[program name]/copyright.

The user has the right to copy, modify, and redistribute this software, as well as use it in any number of computers and for any purpose.

Trisquel is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or without ensuring FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE."

Source: https://trisquel.info/en/under-what-license-trisquel-distributed

regards

What knife implicitly writes is that you need not check the licenses when installing packages downloaded from Trisquel's repository: the Trisquel developers exclude proprietary software for us. That peace of mind is the main reason most of us use Trisquel. If proprietary software slips into the repository, it is considered a bug to be fixed with the highest priority.

That said, you asked about the GNOME project, not the Trisquel project. As far as I know, the GNOME project has never included proprietary software.

Here is a manual if you want to install GNOME or maybe only GNOME Shell on Trisquel: https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/installing-gnome-shell

You can check some blacklists at

https://git.parabola.nu/blacklist.git/

and

https://git.hyperbola.info:50100/software/blacklist.git/

to see if Gnome has things like non-free artwork parts and/or recommends other non-free things/parts.

Though these blacklists may also be about problems that only are problems in those distros.
As these distros may also check other parts than just software.

I do not know yet if other distros also have blacklists.

Though you can also check "upstream" code to report non-free software problems and maybe get "gnu bucks" in some cases for helping.

https://www.gnu.org/help/gnu-bucks.html

https://gitlab.trisquel.org/groups/trisquel/-/issues

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

shows in part

A free system distribution must not steer users towards obtaining any nonfree information for practical use, or encourage them to do so. The system should have no repositories for nonfree software and no specific recipes for installation of particular nonfree programs. Nor should the distribution refer to third-party repositories that are not committed to only including free software; even if they only have free software today, that may not be true tomorrow. Programs in the system should not suggest installing nonfree plugins, documentation, and so on.

For instance, a free system distribution must not contain browsers that implement EME, the browser functionality designed to load DRM modules.

Some nonfree distros offer an installation option to exclude nonfree packages. That option is a step forward, since it makes avoiding them much easier, provided the distro's implementation of the option is fully correct. However, the nonfree packages are nonetheless included in the distro. Moreover, we know that most users are not strongly committed to software freedom, and will not reject packages that seem handy just for being nonfree. Practically speaking, to list one of these distros as free would mostly lead people to install nonfree software. For these reasons, we do not list them.

There's a lot of code in most free system distributions today; the amount of effort it would take to audit it all directly is impractical for most teams. In the past, some nonfree code has accidentally been included in free system distributions. We don't de-list distributions because of this; instead, we only ask that a distribution's developers make a good faith effort to avoid including nonfree software, and commit themselves to removing such programs if any are discovered.

Though I do not know all the free software distros also check for artwork problems like non-free artwork being included in any program in their distro.

Including things like that may not break gnu free system distribution guidelines, but there could be other problems if a distro includes non-free artwork or other "non-functional data" or some types of trademarks.

Mostly if that artwork also could not at least be distributed at all "legally".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari,_Inc._v._North_American_Philips_Consumer_Electronics_Corp.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyan_Cat#Lawsuit

The book

Against intellectual property
by Kinsella, N. Stephan

https://archive.org/details/kinsella-against-ip-lfb-2012

has more information about copyright, patents, trademarks, and other "IP" things.

Though I did not yet check all the files included in Gnome, or/and most things/distros , so I do not know.

I think most are checked for both software and licensing problems by those who distribute/make distros.

A license list showing both what is compatible as well as free can be found at

https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html

There's a lot of code in most free system distributions today; the amount of effort it would take to audit it all directly is impractical for most teams.

And also artwork, and other files, so as I'm not a laywer, so I do not know if all files have been checked.

I think most are checked for both software and licensing problems by those who distribute/make distros.

I do not yet know how to check if everything was/is properly put under what license.
I think both laywers and programers would be needed to check that.
I think most of the things that are in Trisquel's repository are under a free license.

F-droid lists anti-features such as advertising, user tracking, or dependence on non-free software are flagged in app descriptions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-Droid

https://f-droid.org/en/docs/Anti-Features/

Though I do not know if a list has been made for anti-features for free software distros. Maybe because there are not many anti-features in them.

The list there shows 12 types of anti-features.

Ads - advertising
I do not think Trisquel has ads.

I do not think there are things like this in Gnome also.

Disabled Algorithm - signed using an unsafe algorithm
I do not think Trisquel has things signed using an unsafe algorithm.

I do not think there are things like this in Gnome also.

Known Vulnerability - known security vulnerability
I do not think Trisquel has any known security vulnerability.

I do not think there are things like this in Gnome also, though I did not check.

Non-Free Addons - promotes other non-libre apps or plugins
Some programs may have non-libre plugins for them. I do not know if any of Trisquel's programs make these easy to install.

I do not know if there are things like this in Gnome.

Non-Free Assets - non-libre media in things that are not code (e.g. images, sound, music, 3D-models, or video)
I do not think Trisquel's programs have much non-libre media, but there may be some non-free things in "upstream" that could make it into "downstream" as well as data that may be without an easy way to edit it in some programs, i.e. no sources for things like models.

Or also some non-free artwork in some programs. Not much though. And I do not think yet know of any, other than what is typed about trademarks in Gnome. I only remember the fish pedicure case, and that was free to use in that way.

Non-Free Dependencies - needs a non-libre app to work (e.g. Spotify, Whatsapp)
Maybe there are some things for Youtube in Trisquel, but likely free/libre apps. I think Youtube uses some non-free things, as well as most videos that are posted on that side.

I do not think there are things like this in Gnome.

Non-Free Network Services - promotes or depends entirely on a non-free network service
Maybe there are some things for Youtube in Trisquel.

I do not think there are things like this in Gnome.

No Source Since - source code no longer available, making new releases impossible
Not likely in free software distros.

NSFW - contains content that the user may not want to be publicized or visible everywhere
OpenArena text shows

OpenArena is an open-source content package for the Quake III
engine, effectively creating a free stand-alone game similar to
Quake III Arena.

In Debian, OpenArena game data are divided into several packages, to
fit better onto CD releases.

This package contains player graphics from OpenArena 0.8.1 which contain
partial nudity (the Angelyss, Arachna, Ayumi and Sorceress models).
In OpenArena 0.8.1 these player models were optional, but the structure
of the 0.8.5 patch means they cannot be removed from 0.8.5 or later
versions.

Maybe these could be removed, but I do not know if any of these models can be easy to edit.

I do not think there are things like this in Gnome.

Tethered Network Services - depends entirely on a certain instance of a network service
I do not know if Youtube things count, but maybe not much else.

I do not think there are things like this in Gnome.

Tracking - tracks and/or reports your activity to somewhere, even when it can be turned off
https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html

shows

No Malware

The distro must contain no DRM, no back doors, and no spyware.

so unless tracking, but telling you about it does not count as spyware, there is not this, as far as I know in Trisquel.

Also I do not think there is even tracking with telling you about it in Trisquel.

I do not think there are things like this in Gnome.

Upstream Non-Free - upstream source code is not libre, and this version has those parts replaced or rewritten

There is "rebranding" of some non-free things, I think, in Trisquel.

These is a Gnome trademark, but I do not know yet if it was like the Debian–Mozilla trademark dispute.

I think there may have been an icon use once with the GNOME Logo and a fish pedicure shop, but it may not have been infringement, as fish pedicure and a computer desktop are not something that may cause confusion.

https://www.producingoss.com/en/trademarks.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian%E2%80%93Mozilla_trademark_dispute

https://wiki.gnome.org/FoundationBoard/Resources/LicensingGuidelines