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Groups > linux.debian.devel > #104164 > unrolled thread

Firmware - what are we going to do about it?

Started bySteve McIntyre <steve@einval.com>
First post2022-04-19 02:30 +0200
Last post2022-04-30 14:10 +0200
Articles 20 on this page of 148 — 47 participants

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Contents

  Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> - 2022-04-19 02:30 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Ansgar <ansgar@43-1.org> - 2022-04-19 08:40 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Devin Prater <r.d.t.prater@gmail.com> - 2022-04-19 10:00 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Marco d'Itri <md@Linux.IT> - 2022-04-19 10:30 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? parodper <parodper@disroot.org> - 2022-04-19 10:40 +0200
      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2022-04-19 10:50 +0200
        Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> - 2022-04-19 12:00 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Luca Boccassi <bluca@debian.org> - 2022-04-19 11:40 +0200
      Re: Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it Steven Robbins <steve@sumost.ca> - 2022-04-23 20:40 +0200
        Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> - 2022-04-24 01:30 +0200
          Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it Luca Boccassi <bluca@debian.org> - 2022-04-25 09:40 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Christian Kastner <ckk@debian.org> - 2022-04-19 12:00 +0200
      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2022-04-19 12:10 +0200
      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Jonas Smedegaard <jonas@jones.dk> - 2022-04-19 12:50 +0200
        Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? intrigeri <intrigeri@debian.org> - 2022-04-19 13:40 +0200
          Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Jonas Smedegaard <jonas@jones.dk> - 2022-04-19 14:40 +0200
            Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2022-04-19 14:50 +0200
              Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Jonas Smedegaard <jonas@jones.dk> - 2022-04-19 16:20 +0200
              Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Tim Woodall <debiandevel@woodall.me.uk> - 2022-04-19 17:50 +0200
                Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2022-04-19 18:10 +0200
                  Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Timothy M Butterworth <timothy.m.butterworth@gmail.com> - 2022-04-19 18:30 +0200
                  Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Jonas Smedegaard <jonas@jones.dk> - 2022-04-19 19:00 +0200
                    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Ansgar <ansgar@43-1.org> - 2022-04-19 19:10 +0200
                    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2022-04-19 20:00 +0200
                      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Jonas Smedegaard <jonas@jones.dk> - 2022-04-19 23:10 +0200
                        Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Ansgar <ansgar@43-1.org> - 2022-04-20 08:10 +0200
                        Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 08:20 +0200
                  Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Tim Woodall <debiandevel@woodall.me.uk> - 2022-04-19 19:00 +0200
            Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> - 2022-04-19 19:30 +0200
              Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Jonas Smedegaard <jonas@jones.dk> - 2022-04-19 23:40 +0200
                Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 00:00 +0200
                  Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Jonas Smedegaard <jonas@jones.dk> - 2022-04-20 11:10 +0200
                  Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> - 2022-04-20 18:20 +0200
                    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Ansgar <ansgar@43-1.org> - 2022-04-20 18:30 +0200
                      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> - 2022-04-20 18:50 +0200
                        Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 20:00 +0200
                          Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Sam Hartman <hartmans@debian.org> - 2022-04-21 02:10 +0200
                          Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> - 2022-04-21 15:50 +0200
                          writing good GR ballots (Re: Firmware - what are we going to do  about it?) Holger Levsen <holger@layer-acht.org> - 2022-04-22 12:00 +0200
                Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Luca Boccassi <bluca@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 00:30 +0200
        Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Christian Kastner <ckk@debian.org> - 2022-04-19 14:10 +0200
          Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Jonathan Dowland <jmtd@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 12:50 +0200
      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Paul Wise <pabs@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 09:30 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Timo Röhling <roehling@debian.org> - 2022-04-19 12:10 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Jeremy Stanley <fungi@yuggoth.org> - 2022-04-19 14:40 +0200
      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Bastian Blank <waldi@debian.org> - 2022-04-19 23:10 +0200
        Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Jeremy Stanley <fungi@yuggoth.org> - 2022-04-20 01:00 +0200
      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> - 2022-04-20 17:40 +0200
    Keep both images but stop pretending no-free is unofficial Sam Hartman <hartmans@debian.org> - 2022-04-19 16:30 +0200
      Re: Keep both images but stop pretending no-free is unofficial Marc Haber <mh+debian-devel@zugschlus.de> - 2022-04-19 19:00 +0200
        Re: Keep both images but stop pretending no-free is unofficial Sam Hartman <hartmans@debian.org> - 2022-04-19 22:10 +0200
          Re: Keep both images but stop pretending no-free is unofficial Bastian Blank <waldi@debian.org> - 2022-04-19 23:10 +0200
            Re: Keep both images but stop pretending no-free is unofficial Pirate Praveen <praveen@onenetbeyond.org> - 2022-04-20 09:30 +0200
              Re: Keep both images but stop pretending no-free is unofficial Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 09:50 +0200
                Re: Keep both images but stop pretending no-free is unofficial Pirate Praveen <praveen@onenetbeyond.org> - 2022-04-20 10:00 +0200
                  Re: Keep both images but stop pretending no-free is unofficial Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 10:10 +0200
                    Re: Keep both images but stop pretending no-free is unofficial Polyna-Maude Racicot-Summerside <debian@polynamaude.com> - 2022-04-20 14:30 +0200
                      Re: Keep both images but stop pretending no-free is unofficial Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 15:10 +0200
              Re: Keep both images but stop pretending no-free is unofficial Ansgar <ansgar@43-1.org> - 2022-04-20 10:30 +0200
                Re: Keep both images but stop pretending no-free is unofficial Samuel Thibault <sthibault@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 16:30 +0200
                Re: Keep both images but stop pretending no-free is unofficial Ansgar <ansgar@43-1.org> - 2022-04-20 16:40 +0200
          Re: Keep both images but stop pretending no-free is unofficial Marco d'Itri <md@Linux.IT> - 2022-04-19 23:10 +0200
        Re: Keep both images but stop pretending no-free is unofficial Gunnar Wolf <gwolf@debian.org> - 2022-04-21 20:20 +0200
          Re: Keep both images but stop pretending no-free is unofficial Hakan Bayındır <hakan@bayindir.org> - 2022-04-21 20:30 +0200
            Re: Keep both images but stop pretending no-free is unofficial Gunnar Wolf <gwolf@debian.org> - 2022-04-21 21:20 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Diederik de Haas <didi.debian@cknow.org> - 2022-04-19 21:40 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Paul Wise <pabs@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 09:40 +0200
      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Paul Wise <pabs@debian.org> - 2022-04-21 08:20 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Pirate Praveen <praveen@onenetbeyond.org> - 2022-04-20 09:50 +0200
      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Devin Prater <r.d.t.prater@gmail.com> - 2022-04-20 12:10 +0200
        Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Polyna-Maude Racicot-Summerside <debian@polynamaude.com> - 2022-04-20 14:40 +0200
          Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> - 2022-04-20 17:50 +0200
        Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Polyna-Maude Racicot-Summerside <debian@polynamaude.com> - 2022-04-20 14:40 +0200
          Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Samuel Thibault <sthibault@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 14:50 +0200
            Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Polyna-Maude Racicot-Summerside <debian@polynamaude.com> - 2022-04-20 15:10 +0200
              Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Samuel Thibault <sthibault@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 15:20 +0200
              Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Jonathan Dowland <jmtd@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 15:40 +0200
              Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Devin Prater <r.d.t.prater@gmail.com> - 2022-04-20 17:00 +0200
                Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Steve Langasek <vorlon@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 18:40 +0200
                  Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Devin Prater <r.d.t.prater@gmail.com> - 2022-04-20 20:00 +0200
                    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 21:20 +0200
                      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> - 2022-04-21 16:00 +0200
        Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 19:20 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Jonathan Dowland <jmtd@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 12:50 +0200
      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Simon Richter <sjr@debian.org> - 2022-04-21 22:10 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Russell Stuart <russell-debian@stuart.id.au> - 2022-04-20 13:40 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Paul Wise <pabs@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 14:40 +0200
      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> - 2022-04-20 18:00 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Steve Langasek <vorlon@debian.org> - 2022-04-20 21:30 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? nervuri <nervuri@disroot.org> - 2022-04-20 22:20 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Paul Wise <pabs@debian.org> - 2022-04-21 08:00 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Hakan Bayındır <hakan.bayindir@tubitak.gov.tr> - 2022-04-21 09:30 +0200
      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Hakan Bayındır <hakan@bayindir.org> - 2022-04-21 10:00 +0200
        Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2022-04-21 10:20 +0200
          Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Hakan Bayındır <hakan@bayindir.org> - 2022-04-21 12:50 +0200
            Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2022-04-21 18:40 +0200
      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2022-04-21 10:00 +0200
      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> - 2022-04-21 19:20 +0200
        Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Andreas Tille <andreas@an3as.eu> - 2022-04-22 07:20 +0200
          Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Hakan Bayındır <hakan@bayindir.org> - 2022-04-22 08:40 +0200
          Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? IOhannes m zmölnig <umlaeute@debian.org> - 2022-04-22 09:40 +0200
        Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Marc Haber <mh+debian-devel@zugschlus.de> - 2022-04-23 12:20 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Thomas Goirand <zigo@debian.org> - 2022-04-21 09:40 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Mattias Wadenstein <maswan@acc.umu.se> - 2022-04-21 11:30 +0200
      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Paul Wise <pabs@debian.org> - 2022-04-21 11:50 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Hakan Bayındır <hakan@bayindir.org> - 2022-04-21 11:40 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Moritz Mühlenhoff <jmm@inutil.org> - 2022-04-21 20:10 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Leandro Cunha <leandrocunha016@gmail.com> - 2022-04-22 00:30 +0200
      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Philip Hands <phil@hands.com> - 2022-04-22 11:20 +0200
        shim-signed (was: Firmware - what are we going to do about it?) Marc Haber <mh+debian-devel@zugschlus.de> - 2022-04-23 12:30 +0200
          Re: shim-signed (was: Firmware - what are we going to do about it?) Ansgar <ansgar@43-1.org> - 2022-04-23 14:00 +0200
            Re: shim-signed (was: Firmware - what are we going to do about it?) Marc Haber <mh+debian-devel@zugschlus.de> - 2022-04-26 16:10 +0200
              Re: shim-signed (was: Firmware - what are we going to do about it?) Ansgar <ansgar@43-1.org> - 2022-04-26 17:00 +0200
          Re: shim-signed (was: Firmware - what are we going to do about it?) Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> - 2022-04-23 19:30 +0200
            Re: shim-signed (was: Firmware - what are we going to do about it?) Paul Wise <pabs@debian.org> - 2022-04-24 04:40 +0200
            Re: shim-signed (was: Firmware - what are we going to do about it?) Marc Haber <mh+debian-devel@zugschlus.de> - 2022-04-26 16:20 +0200
              Re: shim-signed (was: Firmware - what are we going to do about it?) Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> - 2022-04-26 18:40 +0200
              Re: shim-signed (was: Firmware - what are we going to do about it?) Bastian Blank <waldi@debian.org> - 2022-04-26 21:10 +0200
                Re: shim-signed (was: Firmware - what are we going to do about it?) Paul Wise <pabs@debian.org> - 2022-04-27 00:10 +0200
                  Re: shim-signed The Wanderer <wanderer@fastmail.fm> - 2022-04-27 00:40 +0200
                    Re: shim-signed Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> - 2022-04-28 18:20 +0200
              Re: shim-signed The Wanderer <wanderer@fastmail.fm> - 2022-04-27 00:40 +0200
                Re: shim-signed Tollef Fog Heen <tfheen@err.no> - 2022-04-28 06:30 +0200
                Re: shim-signed Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> - 2022-04-28 18:30 +0200
          Re: shim-signed Tollef Fog Heen <tfheen@err.no> - 2022-04-24 09:00 +0200
            Re: shim-signed Hanno 'Rince' Wagner <wagner@debian.org> - 2022-04-24 09:20 +0200
              Re: shim-signed Tollef Fog Heen <tfheen@err.no> - 2022-04-28 06:30 +0200
                Re: shim-signed Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> - 2022-04-28 18:30 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Holger Levsen <holger@layer-acht.org> - 2022-04-22 11:50 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Paul van der Vlis <paul@vandervlis.nl> - 2022-04-23 15:30 +0200
      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2022-04-23 16:10 +0200
        Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Paul van der Vlis <paul@vandervlis.nl> - 2022-04-23 23:00 +0200
          Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Iustin Pop <iustin@debian.org> - 2022-04-23 23:10 +0200
            Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Simon Richter <sjr@debian.org> - 2022-04-24 05:10 +0200
              Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2022-04-24 09:50 +0200
          Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Timothy M Butterworth <timothy.m.butterworth@gmail.com> - 2022-04-23 23:20 +0200
          Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2022-04-23 23:30 +0200
            Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Paul van der Vlis <paul@vandervlis.nl> - 2022-04-25 18:10 +0200
              Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2022-04-25 18:50 +0200
                Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Hakan Bayındır <hakan@bayindir.org> - 2022-04-25 22:50 +0200
                  Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Ansgar <ansgar@43-1.org> - 2022-04-26 08:20 +0200
                    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Hakan Bayındır <hakan@bayindir.org> - 2022-04-26 09:50 +0200
                      Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Ansgar <ansgar@43-1.org> - 2022-04-26 10:40 +0200
                        Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Hakan Bayındır <hakan@bayindir.org> - 2022-04-26 11:00 +0200
                          Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2022-04-26 11:10 +0200
                            Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Hakan Bayındır <hakan@bayindir.org> - 2022-04-26 11:50 +0200
              Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Hans <hans.ullrich@loop.de> - 2022-04-26 11:50 +0200
    Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it? Helmut Grohne <helmut@subdivi.de> - 2022-04-30 14:10 +0200

Page 2 of 8 — ← Prev page 1 [2] 3 4 5 6 7 8  Next page →


#104188

FromTimothy M Butterworth <timothy.m.butterworth@gmail.com>
Date2022-04-19 18:30 +0200
Message-ID<EdYTL-9OIi-1@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104187

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

>
> My laptop requires the non-free binary blobs for WiFi, AMD GPU and HDMI
> Sound. I think making the non-free images easier to find is a good idea. I
> didn't know they even existed until I got this new laptop and nothing was
> working with the regular installer. Placing the non-free and non-free live
> images along side with the free installer images would be very nice.
>

Tim

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#104189

FromJonas Smedegaard <jonas@jones.dk>
Date2022-04-19 19:00 +0200
Message-ID<EdZmN-9OSv-1@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104187

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

Quoting Andrey Rahmatullin (2022-04-19 18:01:10)
> On Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 04:30:44PM +0100, Tim Woodall wrote:
> > > On Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 02:38:03PM +0200, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
> > > > When I install systems, I consider non-free blobs more risky 
> > > > than other code.
> > > Do you consider loadable non-free blobs more risky than their 
> > > older versions soldered onto the hardware?
> > > 
> > Definitely "more risky" possibly not "less secure"
> > 
> > One of my biggest frustrations is that it's impossible to 
> > selectively apply "security patches" and companies are wont to 
> > "smuggle" in feature changes along with security fixes.
> [...]
> > No, but I do see a benefit in them not being applied automatically 
> > as part of a standard update. And for something like a firmware 
> > upgrade for a network card, I might only want to install it if there 
> > was a security issue that might actually impact me or I was having a 
> > problem. Otherwise it's hard to imagine a scenario where a firmware 
> > upgrade can make things better but it's easy to imagine it making 
> > things much worse.
> Then what about hardware that doesn't have soldered firmware, only 
> loadable one? Would you not use it at all?

I notice that you shift the conversation topic from *upgrading* firmware 
to *introducing* firmware.

I already mentioned that I would sometimes upgrade to newer firmware, 
which I mean to imply that yes I would sometimes dare to permit my 
devices to execute firmware.  Sorry if that was unclear.

My concern is about hardware changing behavior.  I.e. hardware not being 
stable.  Sometimes I choose to let my devices be broken (e.g. not load 
firmware onto a builtin wifi or audio device that I don't really use).  
Sometimes I choose to let my devices work like they did last year (e.g. 
not upload newer firmware onto a bluetooth or ethernet device that last 
year worked fine with its builtin firmware).


 - Jonas

-- 
 * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
 * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

 [x] quote me freely  [ ] ask before reusing  [ ] keep private

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#104192

FromAnsgar <ansgar@43-1.org>
Date2022-04-19 19:10 +0200
Message-ID<EdZwt-9PaZ-5@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104189
On Tue, 2022-04-19 at 18:51 +0200, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
> I notice that you shift the conversation topic from *upgrading*
> firmware to *introducing* firmware.
> 
> I already mentioned that I would sometimes upgrade to newer firmware,
> which I mean to imply that yes I would sometimes dare to permit my 
> devices to execute firmware.  Sorry if that was unclear.
> 
> My concern is about hardware changing behavior.  I.e. hardware not
> being stable.

Firmware shipped as packages part of stable releases will probably
change the same way as software (i.e., security updates, other
important updates). So there should be not much reason for such
concern.

Such concerns would be more relevant for firmware updates using other
update channels such as `fwupd` uses.

And there is still the option to not install the firmware packages and
managing firmware files on your own, but I do not think this is a good
default.

Ansgar

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#104194

FromAndrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org>
Date2022-04-19 20:00 +0200
Message-ID<Ee0iR-9Prj-9@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104189

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 06:51:16PM +0200, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
> > > > > When I install systems, I consider non-free blobs more risky 
> > > > > than other code.
> > > > Do you consider loadable non-free blobs more risky than their 
> > > > older versions soldered onto the hardware?
> > > > 
> > > Definitely "more risky" possibly not "less secure"
> > > 
> > > One of my biggest frustrations is that it's impossible to 
> > > selectively apply "security patches" and companies are wont to 
> > > "smuggle" in feature changes along with security fixes.
> > [...]
> > > No, but I do see a benefit in them not being applied automatically 
> > > as part of a standard update. And for something like a firmware 
> > > upgrade for a network card, I might only want to install it if there 
> > > was a security issue that might actually impact me or I was having a 
> > > problem. Otherwise it's hard to imagine a scenario where a firmware 
> > > upgrade can make things better but it's easy to imagine it making 
> > > things much worse.
> > Then what about hardware that doesn't have soldered firmware, only 
> > loadable one? Would you not use it at all?
> 
> I notice that you shift the conversation topic from *upgrading* firmware 
> to *introducing* firmware.
You partially narrowed the topic to upgrading firmware in
<165037188392.1708.14819384411900940205@auryn.jones.dk>, so yes, I'm
asking about both sides of the question. I will even say that the
situation where some perfectly usable firmware is already available on the
device, and Debian just offers an update to it, is much less important
(but still very important for e.g. intel-microcode) than the situation
where the device is not usable without firmware loaded by Debian, which is
the main usability problem with the status quo.

-- 
WBR, wRAR

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#104200

FromJonas Smedegaard <jonas@jones.dk>
Date2022-04-19 23:10 +0200
Message-ID<Ee3gJ-9RpH-19@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104194

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

Quoting Andrey Rahmatullin (2022-04-19 19:49:59)
> On Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 06:51:16PM +0200, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
> > > > > > When I install systems, I consider non-free blobs more risky 
> > > > > > than other code.
> > > > > Do you consider loadable non-free blobs more risky than their 
> > > > > older versions soldered onto the hardware?
> > > > > 
> > > > Definitely "more risky" possibly not "less secure"
> > > > 
> > > > One of my biggest frustrations is that it's impossible to 
> > > > selectively apply "security patches" and companies are wont to 
> > > > "smuggle" in feature changes along with security fixes.
> > > [...]
> > > > No, but I do see a benefit in them not being applied 
> > > > automatically as part of a standard update. And for something 
> > > > like a firmware upgrade for a network card, I might only want to 
> > > > install it if there was a security issue that might actually 
> > > > impact me or I was having a problem. Otherwise it's hard to 
> > > > imagine a scenario where a firmware upgrade can make things 
> > > > better but it's easy to imagine it making things much worse.
> > > Then what about hardware that doesn't have soldered firmware, only 
> > > loadable one? Would you not use it at all?
> > 
> > I notice that you shift the conversation topic from *upgrading* 
> > firmware to *introducing* firmware.
> You partially narrowed the topic to upgrading firmware in 
> <165037188392.1708.14819384411900940205@auryn.jones.dk>, so yes, I'm 
> asking about both sides of the question. I will even say that the 
> situation where some perfectly usable firmware is already available on 
> the device, and Debian just offers an update to it, is much less 
> important (but still very important for e.g. intel-microcode) than the 
> situation where the device is not usable without firmware loaded by 
> Debian, which is the main usability problem with the status quo.

Ah, so your view is that newer blob might...

 * fix bugs
 * add functionality that I want

I can understand how in such a World there is no sense in avoiding newer 
blobs: They are only ever improvements.

We do not share that view, though.

Quoting Ansgar (2022-04-19 19:04:36)
> Firmware shipped as packages part of stable releases will probably 
> change the same way as software (i.e., security updates, other 
> important updates). So there should be not much reason for such 
> concern.
>
> Such concerns would be more relevant for firmware updates using other 
> update channels such as `fwupd` uses.

I wonder how you can confidently know that non-free blobs packages for 
Debian are only likely to be improvements, when you cannot verify their 
contents.

And how is it that fwupd distributed blobs are less likely to be 
reliable.  What am I missing here?


 - Jonas

-- 
 * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
 * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

 [x] quote me freely  [ ] ask before reusing  [ ] keep private

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#104207

FromAnsgar <ansgar@43-1.org>
Date2022-04-20 08:10 +0200
Message-ID<EebHj-9WsC-11@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104200
On Tue, 2022-04-19 at 23:00 +0200, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
> Quoting Ansgar (2022-04-19 19:04:36)
> > Firmware shipped as packages part of stable releases will probably 
> > change the same way as software (i.e., security updates, other 
> > important updates). So there should be not much reason for such 
> > concern.
> > 
> > Such concerns would be more relevant for firmware updates using
> > other 
> > update channels such as `fwupd` uses.
> 
> I wonder how you can confidently know that non-free blobs packages
> for  Debian are only likely to be improvements, when you cannot
> verify their contents.

I did not say that.

It was a reply to "My concern is about hardware changing behavior", but
you are shifting the conversation topic to something different (reverse
engineering firmware or other things to know it only includes
improvements[1]) now?

If you care about "hardware changing behavior" due to firmware updates,
feel free to check how many firmware updates stable gets.

  [1]: And not also sometimes regressions like Debian's regular
       security or other stable updates. Or behavior changes between
       different Firefox ESR releases.

> And how is it that fwupd distributed blobs are less likely to be 
> reliable.  What am I missing here?

I did not say that.

It was still a reply to the same topic as above.

Ansgar

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#104208

FromAndrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org>
Date2022-04-20 08:20 +0200
Message-ID<EebQZ-9WvD-3@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104200

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 11:00:23PM +0200, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
> > > > > > > When I install systems, I consider non-free blobs more risky 
> > > > > > > than other code.
> > > > > > Do you consider loadable non-free blobs more risky than their 
> > > > > > older versions soldered onto the hardware?
> > > > > > 
> > > > > Definitely "more risky" possibly not "less secure"
> > > > > 
> > > > > One of my biggest frustrations is that it's impossible to 
> > > > > selectively apply "security patches" and companies are wont to 
> > > > > "smuggle" in feature changes along with security fixes.
> > > > [...]
> > > > > No, but I do see a benefit in them not being applied 
> > > > > automatically as part of a standard update. And for something 
> > > > > like a firmware upgrade for a network card, I might only want to 
> > > > > install it if there was a security issue that might actually 
> > > > > impact me or I was having a problem. Otherwise it's hard to 
> > > > > imagine a scenario where a firmware upgrade can make things 
> > > > > better but it's easy to imagine it making things much worse.
> > > > Then what about hardware that doesn't have soldered firmware, only 
> > > > loadable one? Would you not use it at all?
> > > 
> > > I notice that you shift the conversation topic from *upgrading* 
> > > firmware to *introducing* firmware.
> > You partially narrowed the topic to upgrading firmware in 
> > <165037188392.1708.14819384411900940205@auryn.jones.dk>, so yes, I'm 
> > asking about both sides of the question. I will even say that the 
> > situation where some perfectly usable firmware is already available on 
> > the device, and Debian just offers an update to it, is much less 
> > important (but still very important for e.g. intel-microcode) than the 
> > situation where the device is not usable without firmware loaded by 
> > Debian, which is the main usability problem with the status quo.
> 
> Ah, so your view is that newer blob might...
I thought I shifted the conversation topic from *upgrading* firmware to
*introducing* firmware?
I even called this situation "much less important" than the other one.

-- 
WBR, wRAR

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#104190

FromTim Woodall <debiandevel@woodall.me.uk>
Date2022-04-19 19:00 +0200
Message-ID<EdZmP-9OSv-13@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104187
On Tue, 19 Apr 2022, Andrey Rahmatullin wrote:

> On Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 04:30:44PM +0100, Tim Woodall wrote:
>>> On Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 02:38:03PM +0200, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
>>>> When I install systems, I consider non-free blobs more risky than other
>>>> code.
>>> Do you consider loadable non-free blobs more risky than their older
>>> versions soldered onto the hardware?
>>>
>> Definitely "more risky" possibly not "less secure"
>>
>> One of my biggest frustrations is that it's impossible to selectively
>> apply "security patches" and companies are wont to "smuggle" in feature
>> changes along with security fixes.
> [...]
>> No, but I do see a benefit in them not being applied automatically as
>> part of a standard update. And for something like a firmware upgrade for
>> a network card, I might only want to install it if there was a security
>> issue that might actually impact me or I was having a problem. Otherwise
>> it's hard to imagine a scenario where a firmware upgrade can make things
>> better but it's easy to imagine it making things much worse.
> Then what about hardware that doesn't have soldered firmware, only
> loadable one? Would you not use it at all?
>
No, of course not. But I wouldn't upgrade the firmware by default any
more than I upgrade the firmware of my radio-alarm clock by default. I
upgraded the alarm clock _once_ because it had the new (wanted) feature
of being able to set three differently timed alarms rather than the two
that it had out of the box but since then I've never even looked to see
if there's an upgrade available.

Even if someone discovered a security threat that allowed a rogue actor
to broadcast a signal to it that turned it on at full volume I still
wouldn't bother to upgrade it unless someone actually started doing that
in my neighbourhood. (not that the manufacturer would provide an update
anyway now)

And I cannot buy the same model any more. Subsequent models have the
"feature" that in the event of a power failure the radio turns on when
power is restored, great, I really wanted to be woken up at 2am to be
told that the powercut I didn't know about is over, it has the "feature"
that it only sets the time while the radio is actually on, so the first
alarm after the clocks change is an hour wrong. (I have no idea whether
upgrading the firmware of the one that works the way I want will cause
it to adopt the "new, improved" behaviour and I have no intention of
finding out.)

Those are the sorts of "upgrades" that you'll inadvertently pick up with
closed source firemware upgrades. Most of these devices, like my
automatic sheet feed scanner, have no credible threat to running "out of
date" firmware and unlikely to benefit from an upgrade unless you either
hit a known issue or happen to hit an issue that the manufacturer is
willing to fix after you report it.

Tim.

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#104193

FromRuss Allbery <rra@debian.org>
Date2022-04-19 19:30 +0200
Message-ID<EdZPQ-9Phv-5@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104180
Jonas Smedegaard <jonas@jones.dk> writes:

> Now, some may argue that I am describing a case for package pinning
> here, and that *might* be true but I don't know that yet - because the
> proposed change to the system does not exist yet so I cannot really know
> that yet.  Possibly the implementation will be so that I continuously
> need to check if some new non-free blobs was introduced and block those,
> instead of the current situation of not needing to do anything actively
> to keeping most possible risky "stuff" away from my systems.

I feel like Debian already offers multiple mechanisms to prevent
installation or updates of packages, both specific packages and packages
by suite, archive, etc.  I'm dubious that we need some additional
extra-special mechanism just for firmware, as opposed to documenting the
many and varied mechanisms we already support for pinning old packages,
disabling automated upgrades, and so forth.

We need some way to clearly label non-free firmware packages so that you
can apply whatever installation or upgrade policy locally that you want to
apply, but solution #5 provides that by keeping the non-free firmware in a
separate archive area (which apt calls "components") to which you can
apply different apt policy.

Given your problem description above where you want to manually review
each new non-free package, I suspect you will want to pin the non-free
firmware archive area to something like priority 1 (similar to
experimental) so that you can access those packages but they're not
otherwise installed or upgraded.  Another option would be priority 100,
which would give automatic upgrades but not new installs.

I'm assuming we'll continue to maintain the invariant that free packages
won't depend on non-free packages, so unless you install a non-free
metapackage, you presumably won't get new non-free firmware packages
without seeking them out.  We may want to install such a metapackage by
default when the non-free-firmware-enabled installer is used (leaving open
the question of whether that's the only installer or not), but you could
remove it, of course.  (I suspect you, like me and probably most other
Debian contributors, make pretty extensive modifications to the installed
package list after installing a new system, and have lists of packages
that you always add or always remove.)

-- 
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org)              <https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>

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#104201

FromJonas Smedegaard <jonas@jones.dk>
Date2022-04-19 23:40 +0200
Message-ID<Ee3JL-9Rzb-1@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104193

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

Quoting Russ Allbery (2022-04-19 19:29:09)
> Jonas Smedegaard <jonas@jones.dk> writes:
> 
> > Now, some may argue that I am describing a case for package pinning 
> > here, and that *might* be true but I don't know that yet - because 
> > the proposed change to the system does not exist yet so I cannot 
> > really know that yet.  Possibly the implementation will be so that I 
> > continuously need to check if some new non-free blobs was introduced 
> > and block those, instead of the current situation of not needing to 
> > do anything actively to keeping most possible risky "stuff" away 
> > from my systems.
> 
> I feel like Debian already offers multiple mechanisms to prevent 
> installation or updates of packages, both specific packages and 
> packages by suite, archive, etc.  I'm dubious that we need some 
> additional extra-special mechanism just for firmware, as opposed to 
> documenting the many and varied mechanisms we already support for 
> pinning old packages, disabling automated upgrades, and so forth.
> 
> We need some way to clearly label non-free firmware packages so that 
> you can apply whatever installation or upgrade policy locally that you 
> want to apply, but solution #5 provides that by keeping the non-free 
> firmware in a separate archive area (which apt calls "components") to 
> which you can apply different apt policy.

The issue I have with option 5 is that non-free blobs are then enabled 
by default.

Yes, I can then block it, just as I can block other parts of Debian.  
Difference is that non-free blobs are (generally) bkack magic that I 
need to trust blindfolded, whereas Debian as it exists today I can (hire 
someone clever to) verify what it does.

I agree that we should make it easier for our users to choose to trust 
black magic "stuff" that they need to enable their devices.

I do not think that we should impose on our users to trust black magic 
by default, though.

I think that all non-free code distributed by Debian (be that code 
executed on the main CPU, and code uploaded to external devices, and 
code served to other people's web browsers) should be easy to use but 
opt-in, not (some of it) opt-out.  Because we cannot reasonably know 
what it realy does and therefore not reasonably decide if sensible to 
trust or not.  We can only blindly assume that "newer is better".


 - Jonas

-- 
 * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
 * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

 [x] quote me freely  [ ] ask before reusing  [ ] keep private

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#104202

FromRuss Allbery <rra@debian.org>
Date2022-04-20 00:00 +0200
Message-ID<Ee438-9RGC-5@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104201
Jonas Smedegaard <jonas@jones.dk> writes:
> Quoting Russ Allbery (2022-04-19 19:29:09)

>> We need some way to clearly label non-free firmware packages so that
>> you can apply whatever installation or upgrade policy locally that you
>> want to apply, but solution #5 provides that by keeping the non-free
>> firmware in a separate archive area (which apt calls "components") to
>> which you can apply different apt policy.

> The issue I have with option 5 is that non-free blobs are then enabled 
> by default.

I just re-read option 5 and I don't see where it says that.  My
understanding of the proposal is that the firmware would be on the image
and thus available to the installer.  That doesn't imply that it will be
automatically enabled, either in the installer or on the installed
system.  That could still be gated by a prompt.

In other words, rather than having to do what one does now and choose
between the free installer and the non-free installer, my understanding of
option #5 is that there would be one install image, but there could then
be a prompt asking you whether you want to install non-free firmware.  We
could even offer a few different options (with the caveat that options
tend to confuse users, so we may not want to add too many or gate them
behind an advanced mode):

1. Purely free installation.
2. Enable non-free firmware in the installer but don't put it on the
   installed system.  (Not sure how useful this is, but I could see
   needing non-free firmware to bootstrap from wifi but the running system
   may eventually not use the non-free firmware.)
3. Enable non-free firmware and install it on the system but pin it so
   that it's never upgraded by default.
4. Enable non-free firmware and enable normal upgrades, similar to adding
   the non-free archive area today but only adding the firmware archive
   area.

I think 1 and 4 are the most useful options, and I'm not sure how many
people really want 2 or 3, but if there are enough people who want them, I
don't see any technical barriers to adding them.

I feel professionally obligated to argue that Debian should, *by default*,
upgrade anything that it installs, since from a security standpoint that
is the least risky default configuration (with, as always, the caveat that
there are special cases with different security models for which this
default isn't appropriate).  But that doesn't rule out a prompt or
allowing a user to turn this off if they want to.

> I agree that we should make it easier for our users to choose to trust 
> black magic "stuff" that they need to enable their devices.

> I do not think that we should impose on our users to trust black magic
> by default, though.

I think this is a somewhat different question than whether we put the
firmware on the default installation media so that it's *available* if
users want it.

-- 
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org)              <https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>

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#104219

FromJonas Smedegaard <jonas@jones.dk>
Date2022-04-20 11:10 +0200
Message-ID<Eeevv-9Y7x-1@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104202

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

Quoting Russ Allbery (2022-04-19 23:57:21)
> Jonas Smedegaard <jonas@jones.dk> writes:
> > Quoting Russ Allbery (2022-04-19 19:29:09)
> 
> >> We need some way to clearly label non-free firmware packages so 
> >> that you can apply whatever installation or upgrade policy locally 
> >> that you want to apply, but solution #5 provides that by keeping 
> >> the non-free firmware in a separate archive area (which apt calls 
> >> "components") to which you can apply different apt policy.
> 
> > The issue I have with option 5 is that non-free blobs are then 
> > enabled by default.
> 
> I just re-read option 5 and I don't see where it says that.  My 
> understanding of the proposal is that the firmware would be on the 
> image and thus available to the installer.  That doesn't imply that it 
> will be automatically enabled, either in the installer or on the 
> installed system.  That could still be gated by a prompt.

Oh.

Re-reading again myself, and I agree.

Sorry for all the noise: I support option 5.


 - Jonas

-- 
 * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
 * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

 [x] quote me freely  [ ] ask before reusing  [ ] keep private

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#104242

FromSteve McIntyre <steve@einval.com>
Date2022-04-20 18:20 +0200
Message-ID<EeldD-a2da-5@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104202
Russ Allbery wrote:
>Jonas Smedegaard <jonas@jones.dk> writes:
>
>In other words, rather than having to do what one does now and choose
>between the free installer and the non-free installer, my understanding of
>option #5 is that there would be one install image, but there could then
>be a prompt asking you whether you want to install non-free firmware.  We
>could even offer a few different options (with the caveat that options
>tend to confuse users, so we may not want to add too many or gate them
>behind an advanced mode):
>
>1. Purely free installation.
>2. Enable non-free firmware in the installer but don't put it on the
>   installed system.  (Not sure how useful this is, but I could see
>   needing non-free firmware to bootstrap from wifi but the running system
>   may eventually not use the non-free firmware.)
>3. Enable non-free firmware and install it on the system but pin it so
>   that it's never upgraded by default.
>4. Enable non-free firmware and enable normal upgrades, similar to adding
>   the non-free archive area today but only adding the firmware archive
>   area.
>
>I think 1 and 4 are the most useful options, and I'm not sure how many
>people really want 2 or 3, but if there are enough people who want them, I
>don't see any technical barriers to adding them.

Nod, exactly. We can add those options via boot flags and menu
options, with later d-i screens too to allow the choice (maybe in
advanced mode). That's probably the easiest way to manage it.

Now, the *default* is going to be the hard choice for us to make. With
the example of blind people using d-i, we'll want to make an easy
option for those people to boot the installer with all firmware
enabled and installed - see the firmware-sof-signed package that
they'll need to get audio prompts during installation.

>I feel professionally obligated to argue that Debian should, *by default*,
>upgrade anything that it installs, since from a security standpoint that
>is the least risky default configuration (with, as always, the caveat that
>there are special cases with different security models for which this
>default isn't appropriate).  But that doesn't rule out a prompt or
>allowing a user to turn this off if they want to.

Yup.

>> I agree that we should make it easier for our users to choose to trust 
>> black magic "stuff" that they need to enable their devices.
>
>> I do not think that we should impose on our users to trust black magic
>> by default, though.
>
>I think this is a somewhat different question than whether we put the
>firmware on the default installation media so that it's *available* if
>users want it.

Nod.

-- 
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK.                                steve@einval.com
"We're the technical experts.  We were hired so that management could
 ignore our recommendations and tell us how to do our jobs."  -- Mike Andrews

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#104243

FromAnsgar <ansgar@43-1.org>
Date2022-04-20 18:30 +0200
Message-ID<Eelnj-a2gh-1@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104242
Hi Steve,

On Wed, 2022-04-20 at 17:11 +0100, Steve McIntyre wrote:
> > Russ Allbery wrote:
> > 1. Purely free installation.
[ Other options ]
> > 4. Enable non-free firmware and enable normal upgrades, [...]
[...]
> Now, the *default* is going to be the hard choice for us to make.

Do you think the choice for the default should be part of a GR too, a
separate GR or decided some other way?

Ansgar

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#104245

FromSteve McIntyre <steve@einval.com>
Date2022-04-20 18:50 +0200
Message-ID<EelGF-a2mW-1@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104243
Hey Ansgar!

Ansgar wrote:
>On Wed, 2022-04-20 at 17:11 +0100, Steve McIntyre wrote:
>> > Russ Allbery wrote:
>> > 1. Purely free installation.
>[ Other options ]
>> > 4. Enable non-free firmware and enable normal upgrades, [...]
>[...]
>> Now, the *default* is going to be the hard choice for us to make.
>
>Do you think the choice for the default should be part of a GR too, a
>separate GR or decided some other way?

Thanks! That's a really good question, and one that we should also
include on the GR. I'd split my option 5 into two:

5. Include non-free firmware but do not enable it by default
6. Include non-free firmware and enable it by default

In either case, we'd make the opposite choice available via a d-i kernel
command line option and a boot menu option. I think that makes sense?

-- 
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK.                                steve@einval.com
"We're the technical experts.  We were hired so that management could
 ignore our recommendations and tell us how to do our jobs."  -- Mike Andrews

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#104248

FromRuss Allbery <rra@debian.org>
Date2022-04-20 20:00 +0200
Message-ID<EemMq-a2YG-3@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104245
Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> writes:

> Thanks! That's a really good question, and one that we should also
> include on the GR. I'd split my option 5 into two:

> 5. Include non-free firmware but do not enable it by default
> 6. Include non-free firmware and enable it by default

> In either case, we'd make the opposite choice available via a d-i kernel
> command line option and a boot menu option. I think that makes sense?

I agree with this option split, but that reminds me of a different
procedural note.

While I recognize and respect the desire to create a comprehensive ballot,
I'm still going to advocate for proposing a GR only with the options that
the person proposing the GR would vote above NOTA, and possibly only your
preferred options.

There are a couple of reasons for this.  One is that the people who prefer
your disfavored options may have their own way of wording them that's
slightly different than what you might believe they would want to say, and
it's awkward to update other people's ballot options.  The other, somewhat
more technical reason is that I expect this GR to require a 3:1 majority
for some options, and mixing 3:1 and 1:1 majority options on the same GR
can be rather confusing.  We may end up needing to do that anyway for this
vote, but I think it would be a good idea to avoid creating the problem
unless someone steps forward and proposes a 1:1 option that they really
want to win.

(That said, I think there's a big exception, which is that if you've
canvassed a bunch of people who may not want to try to craft their own
ballot options, and developed options to reflect their views, I think
that's a fine approach and a good reason to propose options that aren't
your personal preference.)

As a side note, I don't remember exactly how this worked before, but under
the current constitutional rules the original GR proposer doesn't have a
special ability to put a bunch of options on the original ballot.  You
start with one option, and then you can add more options but they all need
to be sponsored independently.  So that also pushes in this direction of
ballot construction.

-- 
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org)              <https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>

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#104255

FromSam Hartman <hartmans@debian.org>
Date2022-04-21 02:10 +0200
Message-ID<Eesyt-a6EP-7@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104248
>>>>> "Russ" == Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> writes:

    Russ> I agree with this option split, but that reminds me of a
    Russ> different procedural note.

    Russ> While I recognize and respect the desire to create a
    Russ> comprehensive ballot, I'm still going to advocate for
    Russ> proposing a GR only with the options that the person proposing
    Russ> the GR would vote above NOTA, and possibly only your preferred
    Russ> options.

I agree with Russ in this instance, which may b surprising to some given
how I approached the systemd GR.

I think that we will likely find people to sponsor something close to
all of Steve's options.
And I think that allowing those people to craft the wording of those
options will give them the best chance of winning.
    Russ> (That said, I think there's a big exception, which is that if
    Russ> you've canvassed a bunch of people who may not want to try to
    Russ> craft their own ballot options, and developed options to
    Russ> reflect their views, I think that's a fine approach and a good
    Russ> reason to propose options that aren't your personal
    Russ> preference.)

I also agree with this exception.

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#104269

FromSteve McIntyre <steve@einval.com>
Date2022-04-21 15:50 +0200
Message-ID<EeFm2-aepD-15@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104248
Russ Allbery wrote:
>Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> writes:
>
>> Thanks! That's a really good question, and one that we should also
>> include on the GR. I'd split my option 5 into two:
>
>> 5. Include non-free firmware but do not enable it by default
>> 6. Include non-free firmware and enable it by default
>
>> In either case, we'd make the opposite choice available via a d-i kernel
>> command line option and a boot menu option. I think that makes sense?
>
>I agree with this option split, but that reminds me of a different
>procedural note.
>
>While I recognize and respect the desire to create a comprehensive ballot,
>I'm still going to advocate for proposing a GR only with the options that
>the person proposing the GR would vote above NOTA, and possibly only your
>preferred options.

ACK, that's fair and reasonable.

-- 
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK.                                steve@einval.com
"We're the technical experts.  We were hired so that management could
 ignore our recommendations and tell us how to do our jobs."  -- Mike Andrews

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#104293 — writing good GR ballots (Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it?)

FromHolger Levsen <holger@layer-acht.org>
Date2022-04-22 12:00 +0200
Subjectwriting good GR ballots (Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it?)
Message-ID<EeYeZ-apx4-1@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104248

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On Wed, Apr 20, 2022 at 10:52:04AM -0700, Russ Allbery wrote:
> I agree with this option split, but that reminds me of a different
> procedural note.
> 
> While I recognize and respect the desire to create a comprehensive ballot,
> I'm still going to advocate for proposing a GR only with the options that
> the person proposing the GR would vote above NOTA, and possibly only your
> preferred options.
> 
> There are a couple of reasons for this.  One is that the people who prefer
> your disfavored options may have their own way of wording them that's
> slightly different than what you might believe they would want to say, and
> it's awkward to update other people's ballot options.  The other, somewhat
> more technical reason is that I expect this GR to require a 3:1 majority
> for some options, and mixing 3:1 and 1:1 majority options on the same GR
> can be rather confusing.  We may end up needing to do that anyway for this
> vote, but I think it would be a good idea to avoid creating the problem
> unless someone steps forward and proposes a 1:1 option that they really
> want to win.
> 
> (That said, I think there's a big exception, which is that if you've
> canvassed a bunch of people who may not want to try to craft their own
> ballot options, and developed options to reflect their views, I think
> that's a fine approach and a good reason to propose options that aren't
> your personal preference.)
> 
> As a side note, I don't remember exactly how this worked before, but under
> the current constitutional rules the original GR proposer doesn't have a
> special ability to put a bunch of options on the original ballot.  You
> start with one option, and then you can add more options but they all need
> to be sponsored independently.  So that also pushes in this direction of
> ballot construction.

would it make sense to document this (and more) somewhere as
'guidelines for writting good GR ballots' or some such? I'd guess
the wiki would be a good starting point or maybe somewhere else?
does this exist already


-- 
cheers,
	Holger

 ⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀
 ⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁  holger@(debian|reproducible-builds|layer-acht).org
 ⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀  OpenPGP: B8BF54137B09D35CF026FE9D 091AB856069AAA1C
 ⠈⠳⣄

The entire society has no clue what the word freedom means in the context of
relating to the world around them. It has degenerated into "my ego first". It
is why the entire planet is dying right now.

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#104204

FromLuca Boccassi <bluca@debian.org>
Date2022-04-20 00:30 +0200
Message-ID<Ee4wa-9S5O-7@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#104201

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On Tue, 2022-04-19 at 23:33 +0200, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
> I do not think that we should impose on our users to trust black magic 
> by default, though.
> 
> I think that all non-free code distributed by Debian (be that code 
> executed on the main CPU, and code uploaded to external devices, and 
> code served to other people's web browsers) should be easy to use but 
> opt-in, not (some of it) opt-out.  Because we cannot reasonably know 
> what it realy does and therefore not reasonably decide if sensible to 
> trust or not.  We can only blindly assume that "newer is better".

It's firmware. If you have an x86 CPU there's no opting in or opting
out, you and every one Debian user are using non-free microcode,
whether you like it or not. The only difference is whether it's an old
version, vulnerable to known and exploited security bugs, or not.
Pretending it doesn't exist won't make it go away, won't make a machine
"free", and won't help any cause. It's simply pushing the problems away
from the distribution maintainers down to the users, and we know for a
fact they are very real and very tangible problems.

We know that newer is better: CVE numbers are there to prove it. You
can't reasonably "know" what your hardware does anyway, unless you've
got a degree in electronic engineering, industrial acid, an electron
microscope and a whole lot of spare time. As mentioned earlier, modern
machines are networks of hundreds of components, most if not all of
which is proprietary hardware. You have to blindly trust it. The act of
running a given machine _is_ the opt-in to trust that hardware and all
its various firmwares, some of which happen to be updatable (which is a
good thing).

-- 
Kind regards,
Luca Boccassi

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