[Fedora-legal-list] Fedora not "free" enough for GNU?

[Rahul Sundaram]

Michel Salim wrote:
> I was just over at gnu.org to download the anniversary video recorded
> by Stephen Fry, and while I was there decided to take a look at what
> systems they recommend as being free.
> 
> They list BLAG, which is based on Fedora. But Fedora itself (and
> Debian) is not there!
> 
> http://www.gnu.org/links/links.html#FreeGNULinuxDistributions
> 
> This struck me as rather strange, especially considering their
> guidelines are actually based on Fedora's (and we are thanked for it):
> http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html
> 
> As far as I remember, Rahul Sundaram was talking to the GNU / FSF
> people about this quite a while back. Is it just the difference over
> binary-only firmware that's consigning us to the "non-free" heap?

Basically, yes. I posted the last status on

http://lwn.net/Articles/282771/

David Woodhouse initiated a effort to remove firmware into a separate 
archive. While that work is still in progress, you can see that 
kernel-firmware is a separate package in rawhide already. While there 
are other advantages, it allows people who don't want such firmware 
packages installed for philosophical reasons to easily remove them. A 
separate spin is easier now as well.

Rahul