The proposal above would still show the name of the firmware programs in source code. I'm not sure they have to be mangled or removed from the sources, because sources are, in a way, passive. I was focused on fixing the problem of actively recommending non-Free Software through request_firmware.
I am not 100% convinced I agree, but I don't see a specific reason to disagree, so I agree tentatively. Per the idea above, if the kernel is not told that a certain piece of firmware is available, it won't issue requests for it, and it will only report an error that firmware is missing: same as currently, minus the unsatisfyable request for a "/*(DEBLOBBED)*/" firmware file. Does "currently" mean "in the current version of Linux Libre"? There is something here I don't follow. I see two separate technical questions, and I don't see how they relate. 1. How and when Linux gets the list of firmware programs installed. It could get this list by reading a directory, or some other way. It could get this list once at startup, or it could check again whenever it wants a firmware program. 2. What it says when the firmware program is not available. To me, these two questions seem independent. You seem to be saying that a change in (1) would affect (2), but I don't see how that is so. Could you explain? -- Richard Stallman President, Free Software Foundation 51 Franklin St Boston MA 02110 USA www.fsf.org, www.gnu.org