[gNewSense-users] Re: Debian kernel cleanup

[Yavor Doganov]

Thanks for the followup.  I think Robert followed the chunks in the
linux-libre deblob script rather than exploring the whole source
himself.  This is already done in gNS, I should have noticed that.

Sam Geeraerts wrote:
> 
> But it shows that there are/were some problems with the freedom
> verification process.

The {K,P}VF process is fundamentally broken (not the specific process
in gNewSense, I'm talking in general).  The solution is to
develop/maintain packages natively rather than performing the
daunting, humiliating, and error-prone task of cleaning the non-free
parts that should never be in the original upstream packages in the
first place.

For the Linux kernel specifically, I think that all fully free distros
should unite around linux-libre.  The linux-libre project should
provide a freed linux tarball which free distributions should use as
"genuine upstream" tarball, rather than deploying custom deblob
scripts and variations.

All "KVF"-capable and aware people should check and track the pristine
kernel.org upstream version, adding and enhancing the deblob script
(that is supposed to generate a free tarball) accordingly for the
common benefit of all free distros.