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Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2022 22:03:25 +0200
Message-Id: <CNOGTU7H8RZ5.3BK216FYLUEVO@sumire>
From: "alice" <alice@ayaya.dev>
To: "Ariadne Conill" <ariadne@dereferenced.org>
Cc: "Riccardo Mottola" <riccardo.mottola@libero.it>, "Winston Weinert"
 <winston@ml1.net>, <~alpine/users@lists.alpinelinux.org>
Subject: Re: ipw2100 wifi card firmware
References: <bdb05306-0f84-50d6-c71c-ff4b311d7ffb@libero.it>
 <005dc987-0461-9189-383e-d690b7686e96@ml1.net>
 <d03805ad-4f6e-ef23-db58-dde2bf32ae45@libero.it>
 <CNOFY00I1FSZ.294LCIZHOORKP@sumire>
 <eda4842d-5be7-5dfb-c9c6-23f927764d46@dereferenced.org>
In-Reply-To: <eda4842d-5be7-5dfb-c9c6-23f927764d46@dereferenced.org>

On Mon Oct 17, 2022 at 9:28 PM CEST, Ariadne Conill wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Mon, 17 Oct 2022, alice wrote:
>
> > On Mon Oct 17, 2022 at 9:07 PM CEST, Riccardo Mottola wrote:
> >> Hi Winston,
> >>
> >> I was unable to download the firmware directly from sourceforge.net, m=
y
> >> browser(s) continue to fail the accept test!
> >> However, I did as you suggested: got the Debian package, "ar x" and th=
en
> >> tar the data file... put the firmware in /lib/firmware... and yes, my
> >> ThinkPad connects to the wireless, the WiFi LED lights up.
> >>
> >> I wonder why Alpine cannot have such a package? I have seen other
> >> non-free firmware (how much I hate that... a reason why I skipped all
> >> those "libre" distributions: without binary blobs a laptop is almost
> >> useless nowadays).
> > alpine doesn't ship anything non-free, with really the only exception
> > being firmware under the "linux-firmware" project umbrella (and anythin=
g
> > overlooked, of course). that project (afaik) has the vendors adding
> > firmware to it by petitioning it directly, and it's more or less a
> > community consensus that it gets a pass since otherwise nothing is
> > really usable at all. that part is the distinction from "libre" distros
> > that ship nothing and let you use them on like 5 laptops (maybe a bit
> > harsh, but you know what i mean).
> >
> > but as for everything else, it is all free software. no shortcuts there=
.
> >
> > as for the ipw2x00 firmware, the licence isn't really much different th=
an a
> > lot of things in linux-firmware:
> >
> > ipw2100 firmware license For OEMs, IHVs, and ISVs:
> > =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D
> >
> > LICENSE. This Software is licensed for use only in conjunction with
> > Intel component products. Use of the Software in conjunction with
> > non-Intel component products is not licensed hereunder. Subject to the
> > terms of this Agreement, Intel grants to you a nonexclusive,
> > nontransferable, worldwide, fully paid-up license under Intel's
> > copyrights to: (i) copy the Software internally for your own developmen=
t
> > and maintenance purposes; (ii) copy and distribute the Software to your
> > end-users, but only under a license agreement with terms at least as
> > restrictive as those contained in Intel's Final, Single User License
> > Agreement, attached as Exhibit A; and (iii) modify, copy and distribute
> > the end-user documentation which may accompany the Software, but only i=
n
> > association with the Software.
> >
> > but it's still nonfree. i guess adding it to the repositories would
> > require the same exemption linux-firmware does.
> >
> > https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware=
.git/
> > (read the various LICENSE.* files in there)
>
> I think it would be better if Intel just submitted it to linux-firmware=
=20
> instead.
"just" is certainly doing a lot of heavy lifting there. i wouldn't mind
perhaps sending an email somewhere, but i don't really know where to
even start aside from generic-corporate-support-address or
very-specific-personal-email-to-intel-linux-engineer-via-lkml (bad). i
doubt they'd do it anyway, but it's worth a try if there's a non-generic
point of contact you can point me to.

>
> Ariadne