OpenBSD: Software Freedom

Contributed by deanna on 2007-08-28 from the lists dept.

Will Backman writes:

KernelTrap reports on a recent discussion on software freedom and binary kernel drivers. The thread started when Theo commented on a recent NetBSD commit to work around some issues in their binary Atheros HAL.

Full Story (kerneltrap.org)

(Comments are closed)

Comments

By Anonymous Coward (24.89.228.211) on 2007-08-28 19:57

Two obvious points:

1) Theo is 100% correct.

2) The FreeBSD people, and especially the NetBSD people, are -- childish as this may be -- unlikely to welcome and value his opinion (and will be just that much more annoyed because of point #1).

Let's hope they eventually do the obvious thing, admit the error, and ditch blob.
Comments
1. By Anonymous Coward (24.37.242.64) on 2007-08-28 20:16
  
  > Two obvious points:
  >
  > 1) Theo is 100% correct.
  >
  > 2) The FreeBSD people, and especially the NetBSD people, are -- childish as this may be -- unlikely to welcome and value his opinion (and will be just that much more annoyed because of point #1).
  >
  > Let's hope they eventually do the obvious thing, admit the error, and ditch blob.
  
  I agree, 100%.
By Anonymous Coward (24.226.127.231) on 2007-08-28 21:29

While its true that the FreeBSD and NetBSD drivers support more Atheros chips, I'd rather that they at least give the option to use OpenBSD's driver, as maintainability is far more important than features.

Moot point tho, as OpenBSD has an open driver that can be improved, and anyone with half a clue (who isn't dead broke) will be buying hardware from manufacturers that freely give specs to interested developers, instead of buying mystery hardware.

I am very glad that the OpenBSD developers stick to their guns on this issue, not because of some ideology, but because its just common sense and good engineering.
By Justin (216.17.75.74) on 2007-08-29 03:01

hahaha... logic (in the form of TdR) strikes to the heart of the matter, again (and again, and again). I wonder if at this point they are preferring not to adopt the intelligent models obsd is founded upon just for spite of tdr more than any other reason.

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