Debian has always aimed to adhere to the spirit of FOSS as closely as possible. As a result, its developers are known for their careful approach to the software included in the distribution.
However, times are changing. This necessitates either evolving and adapting to new realities or stubbornly refusing to accept them, putting your future at risk. Fortunately, the Debian developers went with the first option.
Non-Free Firmware by Default in the Debian Installer
As you probably know, non-free firmware is not currently loaded by default on Debian systems. This means that the WiFi adapter, for example, will almost certainly not function.
As a result, this could discourage any novice Linux user from leaving Debian in favor of another distribution. Something the Debian developers had accepted in the interest of carefully adhering to FOSS principles.
But, as previously stated, times are changing. And to meet modern user expectations, the Debian Project has chosen to change its approach to the software that is installed by default by the installer.
Unlike many largely corporate-owned Linux distributions, where choices are taken autocratically, and everyone else is forced to accept a fait accompli, Debian makes decisions in the most democratic way possible – through elections and voting.
For that purpose, a vote among Debian developers was planned between September 18th and October 1st on whether to permit the inclusion of non-free software in the installer. There were six alternatives to choose from.
- Only one installer, including non-free firmware
- Recommend installer containing non-free firmware
- Allow presenting non-free installers alongside the free one
- Installer with non-free software is not part of Debian
- Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, one installer
- Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, keep both installers
The voting results, which were announced yesterday, October 2nd, show that option 5 (Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, one installer) received the most votes.
Here you will find the graphical presentation of the vote.
What Happens from Here On
I want to stress that this is, in my opinion, one of the most significant changes to the Debian Project in recent years. A change that affects the distribution’s vision and philosophy.
First, the Debian Social Contract (SC), a document that frames the moral agenda of the Debian Project, is replaced with a new version that is identical to the existing version in every way except for the addition of the following statement at the end of point 5:
The Debian official media may include firmware that is otherwise not part of the Debian system to enable use of Debian with hardware that requires such firmware.
So, in general, if the Debian installer finds that you have hardware that needs proprietary firmware, it will load it automatically. But, just as importantly, Debian users will receive security updates and important firmware patches, just like any other installed software.
Currently, there is no information on when devs will update the official Debian ISO installation images to include the new non-free firmware in the default Debian installer, but it is expected shortly.
Conclusion
I think including non-free firmware in the default Debian installer is a step in the right direction. But, of course, there will always be purists who will find this change unacceptable in the context of one of the oldest and most closely related to FOSS Linux distributions.
On the other hand, this change will make Debian feel more “whole” out of the box. And hopefully, it will help promote Debian to an even wider audience rather than discourage people as it currently does due to the lack of WiFi (or other hardware) support in its official ISO images.
So to answer my own question: a couple of days ago I downloaded Debian Stable Live 11.6 Mate x64 and ran it. On boot it complained of needing AMD firmware, then short delay, proceeded and after a bit, got to the desktop. I briefly reviewed it.
After shutdown I then ran the live version, same particulars, but with Cinnamon and this time the iso labelled specifically as including non-free. Booted without firmware warnings, got to desktop and as before I played around with it for a few minutes then shutdown.
Rather seems to indicate at least for live variant that non-free may not actually be included in the plain vanilla install -vs- the ‘unofficial’ including non-free at
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/
btw in each case selecting “shutdown” in the DE resulted in a reboot not shutdown.
When is the decision on this vote actually reflected in the content of the iso downloads? In other words, if I download today a plain vanilla Debian Stable Mate x64 for Intel will it include non-free firmware? Or do I still have to go to the non-free unofficial iso builds till some (unknown) future date?
I have used the Debian edition with non-free software with no problems and it worked great.
debian.org/images/unofficial/non-free/images-including-firmware/current-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/
Face it most computers are made for Window. That will continue.
Dear sir,
You wrote:
> including non-free firmware in the default Debian installer is a step in the right direction
I do not consider myself to be a purist. I think that including non-free firmware in the default Debian installer may not be the best decision; it certainly does *not* strike to me as an ideal decision or the most desirable decision to make. I think a better decision and solution was for Debian community and Debian developers to recommend to buy new desktop (or laptop) computer from companies that ensure that all software (including BIOS) would be Free (as in speech) and Open-source. There are companies that sell new computers (desktop or laptop) that are using exclusively free and open-source softwares. Or even for the Debian organization to start itself a company that would build (and sell) computers (desktop or laptop) that would be using 100% FOSS.
As for old (and not new) desktop (or laptop or tablet) computers that may require non-free firmwares, I admit that I do not have an easy-to-implement and suitable (or FOSS) solution.
Gérard