Non-Free

Sirs:
I operate a small business out of my home and have been using Red Hat
Software and have virtually disbanded all my Windoze machines. I hate
Microslop and have been very pleased to run my whole business under
Linux for about 4 years now. My Red Hat 7.1 systems are aging and
there are frequent library incompatibilities with new software packages
I download from the web so it was time for a change. I thought I'd try
a new Debian release.

Woody installed OK, but when I loaded the (binary) driver module for my
Belkin Network Card I got an error message that basically said the
driver module was a "non-free" piece and was not being linked into the
kernel for that reason. This is quite distressing. I bought a
different (major brand) network card and got the same result with that
driver. It appears that current debian policy is so radical about the
free/non-free issue that they have put a little facist policeman inside
of my box who is going to tell me what I can and cannot do.

I thought only the people from Redmond did that!

I'm hesitant to complain about this issue because I believe that people
who write software for free have the right to put out anything they
desire, users can just like it or lump it (or possibly change it).

If I had the skill (I almost do) to safely hack my kernel and/or
modutils to remove the little policeman, I'd do it, and share it with my
friends that may be having the same problem, but I'm not comfortable
enough with C yet to do it.

As a result of this no-linking of non-free software policy, my network
is unusable therefore the machine is unusable therefore I'm going back
to Red Hat which supports my network cards (both of 'em) just fine.

I wish I didn't have to, - I really like the debian distribution (except
for this problem). I like the Social contract (with clause #5 intact)

Dave Crosby
Everett Washington USA
(425) 347-2037




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Hi Dave!

You wrote:

> Woody installed OK, but when I loaded the (binary) driver module for my
> Belkin Network Card I got an error message that basically said the
> driver module was a "non-free" piece and was not being linked into the
> kernel for that reason. This is quite distressing. I bought a
> different (major brand) network card and got the same result with that
> driver. It appears that current debian policy is so radical about the
> free/non-free issue that they have put a little facist policeman inside
> of my box who is going to tell me what I can and cannot do.

Are you talking about messages like this one?
"XXXXX: module license 'YYYYYY' taints kernel."

In that case, it's just a warning and the module itself should load
fine.
In case it's another message, could you please quote it in full?

PS: debian-policy is a list on which internal Debian policies are
discussed. Questions like this really belong on debian-devel.

--
Kind regards,
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