Potential nonfree code in Linux-libre

[Legimet]

On Sun, 22 Aug 2021 05:43:18 -0300
Alexandre Oliva <lxoliva at fsfla.org> wrote:

> Now, your statement could make sense if you could argue that the data
> files are *not* in a preferred form for modification, i.e., that they
> are object code, compiled or otherwise transformed from source code
> that some third party has withheld.

Yes, that is what I'm arguing. I actually did find documents
suggesting that the blob in vs6624.c is executable code that runs on a
microprocessor, in which case we don't have the preferred form (unless
you think someone actually wrote it in binary).

> I could believe it's just configuration data, if someone I trust told
> me so, and that's how it has come to remain: I am trusting the
> judgment of those who first cleaned up Linux, and decided these bits
> were ok to retain.

This seems like wishful thinking, given that the header at the top of
the file literally says "microcode patches". According to one of the
more recent commit messages on that file, "This microcode is provided
by Freescale/NXP ... The binary code is public. The source is not
available."