ath9k not free?
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It appears my wifi needs the driver/firmware htc_9271. Debian says its non free. Why was it included in trisquel?
https://wiki.debian.org/ath9k_htc
https://packages.debian.org/wheezy/firmware-atheros
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On 14.11.2014 08:31, name at domain wrote:
> It appears my wifi needs the driver/firmware htc_9271. Debian says its
> non free. Why was it included in trisquel?
>
> https://wiki.debian.org/ath9k_htc
> https://packages.debian.org/wheezy/firmware-atheros
Debian endorses the nonfree one. In the "see also" section you will find
the link to the free firmware:
https://wiki.debian.org/ath9k_htc/open_firmware
Better use the already compiled one signed by Trisquel:
http://packages.trisquel.info/en/toutatis-updates/open-ath9k-htc-firmware
Thanks,
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Hmm... why isn't there a debian compiled free version? It seems strange they wouldn't offer the open source free version. I have testing included in my repo so I thought i'd get mostly everything
Because the Debian Project doesn't care about software freedom. They wouldn't distribute proprietary software in the first place if they did so that is prima facie evidence they do not. I mean, it's been almost two years after all so it's not as if there hasn't been time to make the change.
Debian cares alot about software freedom and they contributed more than any other project out there.
You wouldn't have a free operating system without them, would you?
Well, maybe you could use 'parabola' or 'dragora'' - good luck with those two.
"You wouldn't have a free operating system without them, would you?"
Um, yes we would.
We would!....Whether it'd be comfortable and easy to use right after the install (and beyond) being a different matter altogether, of course!
Having said that I wouldn't say Debian doesn't care about software freedom. I think they do, just not enough. Far from it, perhaps.
'..Whether it'd be comfortable and easy to use right after the install (and beyond) being a different matter altogether, of course!'
That's what i was trying to say....
Without debian, thr whole free software world would look a lot worse.
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I just thought I'd chime in here and say that Debian requires everything that goes into the main repository and core distribution to be automatically built on a build server and as the build process is unusual they don't have the tools/setup to automate it (yet?). If this is not the case even if it is free it has to go into the non-free repository. As free firmware is a 'new' thing there has never been a solution needed for it. Everything has simply been handed to them in binary form and then packaged for the non-free repository. Regardless of if the particular firmware in Debian's non-free repository is free or not Debian's policy prevent it from being moved to the main repository. Trisquel isn't bound by these policies. Simply that it can be built from source is good enough.
Now this differs from the firmware Debian use to include (and might still, although I think not, as the newer firmware that is needed by the newer kernel is only available under a free software license). The documentation is probably just out of date and why it indicates ath9k-htc is non-free rather than it being because the version included is non-free.
That said if somebody wants to resolve this problem I'd encourage you to try. I've talked with the developers and they would like to include ath9k-htc in the installation CD. However nobody has had the time or interest to fix this problem.
As this is not a critical issue for those running Debian (we make the assumption your a bit more experienced if your running Debian) we simply document the free software friendly solution on our web site (the Debian solution is basically to add the non-free repsoitory and apt-get install the atheros firmware package, I won't document that though here, as it would be encouraging the installation of non-free firmware):
cd /lib/firmware
sudo wget https://www.thinkpenguin.com/files/ath9k_firmware_free-version/htc_9271.fw
sudo wget https://www.thinkpenguin.com/files/ath9k_firmware_free-version/htc_7010.fw
reboot
* See our support page for source code and license information:
Sorry, but this is wrong. Debian makes an exception for firmware. If a firmware is free and can be built with free tools, Debian places it in the main repository, and the source package consists of the binary firmware along with the source (but it doesn't compile from the source). The real reason Debian hasn't put the free firmware in the repository is because the free firmware hasn't reached linux-firmware.git.
https://lists.debian.org/debian-kernel/2013/03/msg00210.html
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Skimmed your link. Interesting.
My understanding was they made an exception for non-free firmware, but have removed it from the main repository (and that policy has changed between one version and the next a few times), and instead placed this firmware in the non-free repository.
Now if there is an exception carved out for free firmware that can't be built automatically on the build server I'm not aware of it and apparently neither was the Debian developer I spoke to. I don't believe he was the one responsible for ath9k-htc / wireless though.
That said doesn't the latest kernel in Debian depend on a newer version of the ath9k-htc firmware? Isn't that new version *only* licensed under a set of free software licenses? Debian is built off an older software stack than most distributions so maybe the older non-free licensed firmware works with the current Debian kernel still.
If it does depend on the newer free firmware then Debian is probably violating the free software licenses these newer versions are licensed under by including it in the atheros package in the non-free repository. Unless they've also included sources... anyway.
I think the newest version of Debian is somewhat equal with Ubuntu precise (at least looking at the GNOME version)
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