Re: Kernel Modules in Fedora -x

[Jon Masters <jcm redhat com>]

On Fri, Aug 03, 2007 at 07:47:01PM +0200, Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
> On 03.08.2007 19:13, Jesse Keating wrote:
> > On Fri, 03 Aug 2007 17:57:46 +0200
> > Thorsten Leemhuis <fedora leemhuis info> wrote:
> > 
> >> As kmods are on the way out in
> >> general in Fedora (which is something I in parts agree with) it's even
> >> more unlikely now.
> > kmods as separate packages is what's hopefully on the way out.
> 
> As I said, I agree in parts with it -- I'm these days against having
> them in the "Fedora Everything" spin. But I still think we should have a
> place for kernel-module packages in the Fedora project. A kind of
> "alphaworks", "testing kitchen" or something like that for this and
> other stuff that's not in shape for Fedora proper (or rawhide) yet --
> with a big fat warning sign "use on your own risk" "this *will* eat
> babies" on the front of course. Sure, some people won't read that, but
> that's not enough reasons to *not* do it IMHO.

It's *essential* that Fedora provide a mechanism for this. To not do so
makes the distribution *less free* not more so. FLOSS is so great because
of the person choice that it imparts to users - the freedom to do what
I, you, or they, want to do with a system. It's not your place, or mine
to say what a user should or should not do on their own system.

Fedora should perhaps not ship kmod packages, but there should be a process,
there should be a mechanism, and in fact, it should be extended to include
online automated updates and various other capabilities missing right now.

Think about why the upstream Linux kernel didn't kill off non-GPL exported
symbols (though I don't want to turn this into a binary driver driver
discussion per se. everything I'm talking about applies also to non-non-GPL
drivers) in the end. User choice. Quite frankly (from my person viewpoint),
if a user wants to install a proprietary graphics driver on their system,
I think that should be their call. I don't do it myself, and that's my call
to make for myself also. Let each person decide how to live their life :-)

Jon.