Brian Thomas Sniffen writes: > Matthew Garrett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > Brian Thomas Sniffen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Michael Poole <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > >>> Lots of people cannot write or modify C code, but we accept as free > >>> many programs that include C code. The user being inexpert in some > >>> technique does not render a thing non-free. > >> > >> But something being *not software* does render it *not software*. > > > > dd if=/dev/mem of=/tmp/bios bs=1k skip=960 count=64 > > > > will happily present you with a copy of your system firmware (assuming > > you're on x86). If you run ndisasm over it, you'll find it's x86 machine > > code. You can even extract bits of it and run them. It looks awfully > > like software. The fact that you lack the skills to turn it into > > something that you recognise as software doesn't mean it isn't software. > > And putting a paper copy into a good scanner will transform a printout > of a program into software. The fact that something has a two-way > conversion to software doesn't make it software. I've asked several > times for a delineation, in the world where anything convertible to > software is software, between what is software and what is not. I > have yet to read such.
Paper is not analogous to a BIOS, and your question is neither useful nor pertinent. Almost everything in the world can be represented using some digital representation. However, the DFSG does not mention "things convertible to software" -- it mentions "software." A BIOS is normally stored in binary form as executable or interpretable code plus associated data. Most people would call executable code in binary form "software;" Debian uses a broader definition than that. The real question is why you think that executable binary data is not software. Michael Poole