Just about a month ago, I decided with some other guys, colleagues from the same faculty, to make a presentation about Linux. Presentation’s main target group was the first year students, especially those who haven’t an idea about what Linux is and how it works. In order to prepare myself for the presentation I had to read and learn some more things about the operating system I love and work with for the last 7 years.
Inevitably, I had to study some things about the freedom of the software, as it is one of the main advantages of Linux. I was surprised when I’ve learned about the principles of free software and that the Free Software Foundation (FSF) rejects almost all of the common Linux distributions, as “they don’t follow the free system distribution guidelines”!
But let’s take things from the very beginning. The GNU Project was launched back in 1984 to develop the GNU operating system, a complete Unix-like operating system which would be free software – software which respects our freedom. Until 1991 the only part of this operating system that it was not in place was the kernel. Linus Torvalds, a student at the University of Helsinki came to fill this gap with his kernel: Linux. So Linux is the kernel, GNU is the initial project, and the entire OS is called GNU/Linux. Then the distributions started to appear: Slackware at 1993, Debian at 1994 and the rest of the story is pretty much known. At present, there are hundreds of them each one based on another one, which is based on another one, and so on. Some of the most popular distributions right now are Arch, OpenSUSE, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, Red Hat Enterprise, Slackware and Ubuntu.
As the GNU project started “inside” the FSF, someone expects that GNU/Linux follows the principles the FSF has defined and that all the distributions are based upon them. But which are these principles? As mentioned in the free system distribution guidelines at gnu.org these principles have to do with non-free software included in the main distribution (e.g. firmware), documentation, patents, name confusion between the distributions and many other things among them. For example, it is not acceptable for a distribution to include non-free software, such as drivers for graphics cards or other equipment, so it’s clear that Ubuntu for example, is not an acceptable distribution according to FSF. Below there are some of the common distributions that the FSF rejects and of course the reasons they do it:
Arch GNU/Linux
Arch has the two usual problems: there’s no clear policy about what software can be included, and non-free blobs are shipped with their kernel, Linux. Arch also has no policy about not distributing non-free software through their normal channels.
Debian GNU/Linux
Debian’s Social Contract states the goal of making Debian entirely free software, and Debian conscientiously keeps non-free software out of the official Debian system. However, Debian also provides a repository of non-free software. According to the project, this software is “not part of the Debian system,” but the repository is hosted on many of the project’s main servers, and people can readily learn about these non-free packages by browsing Debian’s online package database. This does too much to steer users towards proprietary software for FSF to endorse it.
There are other ways in which programs officially part of Debian suggest non-free software for installation.
Previous releases of Debian also included non-free blobs with Linux, the kernel. With the release of Debian 6.0 (“squeeze”) in February 2011, these blobs have been moved out of the main distribution to separate packages in the non-free repository.
Fedora
Fedora does have a clear policy about what can be included in the distribution, and it seems to be followed carefully. The policy requires that most software and all fonts be available under a free license, but makes an exception for certain kinds of non-free firmware. Unfortunately, the decision to allow that firmware in the policy keeps Fedora from meeting the free system distribution guidelines.
Gentoo GNU/Linux
Gentoo makes it easy to install a number of non-free programs through their primary package system.
Red Hat GNU/Linux
Red Hat’s enterprise distribution primarily follows the same licensing policies as Fedora, with one exception. Thus, FSF don’t endorse it for the same reasons. In addition to those, Red Hat has no policy against making non-free software available for the system through supplementary distribution channels.
Slackware
Slackware has the two usual problems: there’s no clear policy about what software can be included, and non-free blobs are included in Linux, the kernel. It also ships with the non-free image-viewing program xv. Of course, with no firm policy in place, there might be other non-free software included that it hasn’t been discovered yet.
Ubuntu GNU/Linux
Ubuntu provides specific repositories of non-free software, and Canonical expressly promotes and recommends non-free software under the Ubuntu name in some of their distribution channels. Ubuntu offers the option to install only free packages, which means it also offers the option to install non-free packages too. In addition, the version of Linux, the kernel, included in Ubuntu contains firmware blobs.
Ubuntu’s trademark policy prohibits commercial redistribution of exact copies of Ubuntu, denying an important freedom.
As we can notice, Fedora has the best “recommendations” with Debian in the second place. Maybe it’s time to think about the distribution we’re using?
The full list including several other systems can be viewed in http://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.html. Also there is a list of “approved” GNU/Linux distributions in http://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html.
