Some thoughts about firmware inclusion.

[Ralf Ertzinger]

Hi.

King InuYasha schrieb:
> Isn't that basically what all binaries do? Use libraries and execute the
> code natively on the CPU?

Not if we are talking emulators.

The finer point of this thread is whether it is permissible to ship
binary only, executable content in Fedora, as long as these binaries
are not executed on the main CPU. There is precedent in the form of
firmware, which executes on some hardware subsystem (the WLAN card,
for example), which we allow.

Now someone threw Win32 binaries into the pool, which are, however,
not the same kind of beast, since they _do_ execute, natively, at least
in part, on the main CPU. That they require WINE to run at all does not
change that.

Then there is the third group of binaries for non host native binaries
(for example, arcade ROM files) which do not execute on the main CPU,
since they were written for a completely different hardware (again,
for example, Motorola 68xxx CPUs). Apart from copyright concerns,
would this be permissible? The binary would not run on the main CPU,
but on a virtual one, which is provided by an emulator (which, in turn,
does run on the main CPU).