[Fedora-music-list] Alsa tools and firmware

[Tim Mayberry]

Sorry I didn't mean to reply to Thorsten off-list.

On 5/10/06, Tim Mayberry <mojofunk at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 5/9/06, Thorsten Leemhuis <fedora at leemhuis.info> wrote:
> > Am Dienstag, den 09.05.2006, 16:31 +1000 schrieb Tim Mayberry:
> >
> > The old plan was to move alsa-firmware to livna. The current plan is to
> > solve the problems with alsa-firmware and ship what can be shipped.
> > Someone (Legal, FESCo) simply has to say what files from alsa-firmware
> > are okay for Extras, and what not. The last I heard was this:
> >
> > ----
> >
> > > I maintained some alsa-firmware in the old fedora.us days. During the
> > > transition to Fedora Extras the package got "lost" -- it was unclear if
> > > the files in it were okay for the official Fedora Extras. See
> > > https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=143249#c3
> > >
> > > We dropped it then and forwarded the issue to legal. It got lost or was
> > > forgotten, I can't remember. But I'd like to get this solved now that
> > > someone asked for a Extras package of alsa-firmware in bugzilla.
> > >
> > > So, where were the problems? Here is the main one:
> > >
> > > > $ file ./mixartloader/miXart8.elf
> > > > ./mixartloader/miXart8.elf: ELF 32-bit MSB executable, PowerPC or cisco 4500, version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, not stripped
> >
> > That is a pretty big problem.
> >
> > Some of this is probably ok for FE, but only those bits which are not
> > libraries or binaries.
> >
>
> As I remember this issue was debated a fair bit on the debian lists a
> while back, I didn't follow it too closely but I think they ended up
> splitting the alsa-tools source package into alsa-tools and
> alsa-firmware-loaders, with alsa-tools corresponding to roughly what
> is in the FE alsa-tools package currently and alsa-firmware-loaders
> being what is   not. You then have to download the alsa-firmware
> package from the ALSA website and configure it etc, which is not at
> all ideal and I'm not suggesting it but it would still be better than
> it is currently.
>
> I haven't been able to find a clear explanation of the Fedora Extras
> policy on packaging firmware but I haven't looked that hard
> yet(perhaps you could offer some pointers), I'd be surprised if any of
> the files in alsa-firmware would be able to be ok for FE.
>
> > We should split alsa-firmware -- the "mostly free" parts should land in
> > Extras, the others in Livna. Are you interested in doing this. I simply
> > have no time for it ATM, never really was interested this alsa-firmware
> > stuff and I don't even have hardware to test. Are you interested in
> > driving this forward? You can of course count on my help.
>
> The problem then becomes defining what can and cannot be packaged and
> where. I'm quite willing to help driving this forward but I am not
> qualified to work through any legal issues. I'd rather solve this
> problem more quickly on a technical level if possible, even if it is
> only somewhat temporary until a better arrangement can be worked out.
>
> It seems like you are suggesting splitting the upstream alsa-tools and
> alsa-firmware into 4 or 5 packages that would then reside in 2
> separate repositories...
>
> FE repo:
>
> alsa-tools.srpm -> alsa-tools.rpm, alsa-firmware-loaders-for-free-firmware.rpm
> alsa-firmware.srpm -> alsa-firmware-free.rpm (If there is such a thing)
>
> Livna/other repo:
>
> alsa-tools.srpm -> alsa-firmware-loaders-for-non-free-firmware.rpm
> alsa-firmware.srpm -> alsa-firmware-non-free.rpm
>
> Apart from all the obvious issues with something like that there is
> still then the problem that some of the tools from the alsa-tools
> package are still indirectly dependent on non-free firmware unless you
> further split the packages.
>
> I think I would prefer to modify the alsa-tools package so that it
> builds everything from the upstream source including firmware loaders
> as there are no legal issues with that as far as I know(only with the
> firmware itself). Then for an alsa-firmware rpm to reside in an
> external repository and require alsa-tools from FE.
>
> Or alternatively, do what debian has done and split alsa-tools into
> alsa-tools and alsa-firmware-loaders and have an externally hosted
> alsa-firmware package dependent on alsa-firmware-loaders.
>
> I'm a bit rushed today so I hope that all came out alright. I look
> forward to help resolving this issue.
>
> Tim.
>