General Resolution: non-free firmware

Time Line

Discussion Period:	2022-08-18	2022-09-15
Voting period:	Sunday 2022-09-18 00:00:00 UTC	Saturday 2022-10-01 23:59:59 UTC

The discussion period has been extended with 7 days by the Debian Project Leader. [mail]

Proposal A Proposer

Steve McIntyre [[email protected]] [text of proposal] [amendment]

Proposal A Seconds

Tobias Frost [[email protected]] [mail]
Luca Boccassi [[email protected]] [mail]
Ansgar [[email protected]] [mail]
Louis-Philippe Véronneau [[email protected]] [mail]
Sebastian Ramacher [[email protected]] [mail]
Samuel Henrique [[email protected]] [mail]
Timo Röhling [[email protected]] [mail]
Philip Hands [[email protected]] [mail]
Joerg Jaspert [[email protected]] [mail]
Cyril Brulebois [[email protected]] [mail]
Iain Lane [[email protected]] [mail]
Holger Levsen [[email protected]] [mail]
Philipp Kern [[email protected]] [mail]
Anton Gladky [[email protected]] [mail]
Moritz Mühlenhoff [[email protected]] [mail]
Gunnar Wolf [[email protected]] [mail]

Choice 1: Only one installer, including non-free firmware

We will include non-free firmware packages from the "non-free-firmware" section of the Debian archive on our official media (installer images and live images). The included firmware binaries will normally be enabled by default where the system determines that they are required, but where possible we will include ways for users to disable this at boot (boot menu option, kernel command line etc.).

When the installer/live system is running we will provide information to the user about what firmware has been loaded (both free and non-free), and we will also store that information on the target system such that users will be able to find it later. Where non-free firmware is found to be necessary, the target system will also be configured to use the non-free-firmware component by default in the apt sources.list file. Our users should receive security updates and important fixes to firmware binaries just like any other installed software.

We will publish these images as official Debian media, replacing the current media sets that do not include non-free firmware packages.

Proposal B Proposer

Gunnar Wolf [[email protected]] [text of proposal] [amendment]

Proposal B Seconds

Tobias Frost [[email protected]] [mail]
Holger Levsen [[email protected]] [mail]
Sean Whitton [[email protected]] [mail]
Steve McIntyre [[email protected]] [mail]
Mathias Behrle [[email protected]] [mail]
Tiago Bortoletto Vaz [[email protected]] [mail]
Laura Arjona Reina [[email protected]] [mail]
Jonathan Carter [[email protected]] [mail]
Philipp Kern [[email protected]] [mail]

Proposal B

Choice 2: Recommend installer containing non-free firmware

While we will publish these images as official Debian media, they will not replace the current media sets that do not include non-free firmware packages, but offered alongside. Images that do include non-free firmware will be presented more prominently, so that newcomers will find them more easily; fully-free images will not be hidden away; they will be linked from the same project pages, but with less visual priority.

Proposal C Proposer

Bart Martens [[email protected]] [text of proposal] [amendment]

Proposal C Seconds

Stefano Zacchiroli [[email protected]] [mail]
Laura Arjona Reina [[email protected]] [mail]
Holger Levsen [[email protected]] [mail]
Steve McIntyre [[email protected]] [mail]
Philip Rinn [[email protected]] [mail]
Jonas Smedegaard [[email protected]] [mail]
Paul Wise [[email protected]] [mail]
Simon Josefsson [[email protected]] [mail]

Proposal C

Choice 3: Allow presenting non-free installers alongside the free one

The Debian project is permitted to make distribution media (installer images and live images) containing non-free software from the Debian archive available for download alongside with the free media in a way that the user is informed before downloading which media are the free ones.

Proposal D Proposer

Simon Josefsson [[email protected]] [text of proposal]

Proposal D Seconds

Jonas Smedegaard [[email protected]] [mail]
Holger Levsen [[email protected]] [mail]
Hubert Chathi [[email protected]] [mail]
Guilhem Moulin [[email protected]] [mail]
Santiago Ruano Rincón [[email protected]] [mail]
Shengjing Zhu [[email protected]] [mail]

Proposal D

Choice 4: Installer with non-free software is not part of Debian

We continue to stand by the spirit of the Debian Social Contract §1 which says:

   Debian will remain 100% free

   We provide the guidelines that we use to determine if a work is
   "free" in the document entitled "The Debian Free Software
   Guidelines". We promise that the Debian system and all its components
   will be free according to these guidelines. We will support people
   who create or use both free and non-free works on Debian. We will
   never make the system require the use of a non-free component.

Therefore we will not include any non-free software in Debian, nor in the main archive or installer/live/cloud or other official images, and will not enable anything from non-free or contrib by default.

We also continue to stand by the spirit of the Debian Social Contract §5 which says:

   Works that do not meet our free software standards

   We acknowledge that some of our users require the use of works that
   do not conform to the Debian Free Software Guidelines. We have
   created "contrib" and "non-free" areas in our archive for these
   works. The packages in these areas are not part of the Debian system,
   although they have been configured for use with Debian. We encourage
   CD manufacturers to read the licenses of the packages in these areas
   and determine if they can distribute the packages on their CDs. Thus,
   although non-free works are not a part of Debian, we support their
   use and provide infrastructure for non-free packages (such as our bug
   tracking system and mailing lists).

Thereby reinforcing the interpretation that any installer or image with non-free software on it is not part of the Debian system, but that we support their use and welcome others to distribute such work.

Proposal E Proposer

Russ Allbery [[email protected]] [text of proposal]

Proposal E Seconds

Richard Laager [[email protected]] [mail]
Ansgar [[email protected]] [mail]
Simon Richter [[email protected]] [mail]
Kunal Mehta [[email protected]] [mail]
Tobias Frost [[email protected]] [mail]
Steve McIntyre [[email protected]] [mail]
Holger Levsen [[email protected]] [mail]

Proposal E

Choice 5: Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, one installer

This ballot option supersedes the Debian Social Contract (a foundation document) under point 4.1.5 of the constitution and thus requires a 3:1 majority.

The Debian Social Contract is replaced with a new version that is identical to the current version in all respects except that it adds the following sentence to 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.

The Debian Project also makes the following statement on an issue of the day:

We will include non-free firmware packages from the "non-free-firmware" section of the Debian archive on our official media (installer images and live images). The included firmware binaries will normally be enabled by default where the system determines that they are required, but where possible we will include ways for users to disable this at boot (boot menu option, kernel command line etc.).

When the installer/live system is running we will provide information to the user about what firmware has been loaded (both free and non-free), and we will also store that information on the target system such that users will be able to find it later. Where non-free firmware is found to be necessary, the target system will also be configured to use the non-free-firmware component by default in the apt sources.list file. Our users should receive security updates and important fixes to firmware binaries just like any other installed software.

We will publish these images as official Debian media, replacing the current media sets that do not include non-free firmware packages.

Proposal F Proposer

Holger Levsen [[email protected]] [text of proposal]

Proposal F Seconds

Steve McIntyre [[email protected]] [mail]
Timo Röhling [[email protected]] [mail]
Tiago Bortoletto Vaz [[email protected]] [mail]
Étienne Mollier [[email protected]] [mail]
Judit Foglszinger [[email protected]] [mail]
David Prévot [[email protected]] [mail]
Tobias Frost [[email protected]] [mail]
Gunnar Wolf [[email protected]] [mail]
Didier Raboud [[email protected]] [mail]

Proposal F

Choice 6: Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, keep both installers

This ballot option supersedes the Debian Social Contract (a foundation document) under point 4.1.5 of the constitution and thus requires a 3:1 majority.

The Debian Social Contract is replaced with a new version that is identical to the current version in all respects except that it adds the following sentence to 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.

The Debian Project also makes the following statement on an issue of the day:

We will include non-free firmware packages from the "non-free-firmware" section of the Debian archive on our official media (installer images and live images). The included firmware binaries will normally be enabled by default where the system determines that they are required, but where possible we will include ways for users to disable this at boot (boot menu option, kernel command line etc.).

When the installer/live system is running we will provide information to the user about what firmware has been loaded (both free and non-free), and we will also store that information on the target system such that users will be able to find it later. Where non-free firmware is found to be necessary, the target system will also be configured to use the non-free-firmware component by default in the apt sources.list file. Our users should receive security updates and important fixes to firmware binaries just like any other installed software.

We will publish these images as official Debian media, alongside the current media sets that do not include non-free firmware packages.

Quorum

With the current list of voting developers, we have:

 Current Developer Count = 991
 Q ( sqrt(#devel) / 2 ) = 15.7400762386972
 K min(5, Q )           = 5
 Quorum  (3 x Q )       = 47.2202287160916

Quorum

Option 1 Reached quorum: 264 > 47.2202287160916
Option 2 Reached quorum: 291 > 47.2202287160916
Option 3 Reached quorum: 306 > 47.2202287160916
Option 4 Reached quorum: 135 > 47.2202287160916
Option 5 Reached quorum: 289 > 47.2202287160916
Option 6 Reached quorum: 311 > 47.2202287160916

Data and Statistics

For this GR, like always, statistics will be gathered about ballots received and acknowledgements sent periodically during the voting period. Additionally, the list of voters will be recorded. Also, the tally sheet will also be made available to be viewed.

Majority Requirement

Proposal 5 and 6 need a 3:1 super majority

Majority

Option 1 passes Majority. 2.901 (264/91) > 1
Option 2 passes Majority. 4.619 (291/63) > 1
Option 3 passes Majority. 6.000 (306/51) > 1
Dropping Option 4 because of Majority. 0.685 (135/197) <= 1
Option 5 passes Majority. 4.587 (289/63) >= 3
Option 6 passes Majority. 7.405 (311/42) >= 3

Outcome

In the graph above, any pink colored nodes imply that the option did not pass majority, the Blue is the winner. The Octagon is used for the options that did not beat the default.

Option 1 "Only one installer, including non-free firmware"
Option 2 "Recommend installer containing non-free firmware"
Option 3 "Allow presenting non-free installers alongside the free one"
Option 4 "Installer with non-free software is not part of Debian"
Option 5 "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, one installer"
Option 6 "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, keep both installers"
Option 7 "None of the above"

In the following table, tally[row x][col y] represents the votes that option x received over option y. A more detailed explanation of the beat matrix may help in understanding the table. For understanding the Condorcet method, the Wikipedia entry is fairly informative.

**The Beat Matrix**
	Option
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Option 1		158	206	270	72	129	264
Option 2	170		235	286	121	75	291
Option 3	144	99		294	127	84	306
Option 4	80	64	53		74	55	135
Option 5	229	219	229	279		169	289
Option 6	216	253	266	298	163		311
Option 7	91	63	51	197	63	42

Looking at row 2, column 1, Recommend installer containing non-free firmware
received 170 votes over Only one installer, including non-free firmware

Looking at row 1, column 2, Only one installer, including non-free firmware
received 158 votes over Recommend installer containing non-free firmware.

Pair-wise defeats

Option 2 defeats Option 1 by ( 170 - 158) = 12 votes.
Option 1 defeats Option 3 by ( 206 - 144) = 62 votes.
Option 5 defeats Option 1 by ( 229 - 72) = 157 votes.
Option 6 defeats Option 1 by ( 216 - 129) = 87 votes.
Option 1 defeats Option 7 by ( 264 - 91) = 173 votes.
Option 2 defeats Option 3 by ( 235 - 99) = 136 votes.
Option 5 defeats Option 2 by ( 219 - 121) = 98 votes.
Option 6 defeats Option 2 by ( 253 - 75) = 178 votes.
Option 2 defeats Option 7 by ( 291 - 63) = 228 votes.
Option 5 defeats Option 3 by ( 229 - 127) = 102 votes.
Option 6 defeats Option 3 by ( 266 - 84) = 182 votes.
Option 3 defeats Option 7 by ( 306 - 51) = 255 votes.
Option 5 defeats Option 6 by ( 169 - 163) = 6 votes.
Option 5 defeats Option 7 by ( 289 - 63) = 226 votes.
Option 6 defeats Option 7 by ( 311 - 42) = 269 votes.

The Schwartz Set contains

Option 5 "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, one installer"

The winners

Option 5 "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, one installer"

Debian uses the Condorcet method for voting. Simplistically, plain Condorcets method can be stated like so :
Consider all possible two-way races between candidates. The Condorcet winner, if there is one, is the one candidate who can beat each other candidate in a two-way race with that candidate. The problem is that in complex elections, there may well be a circular relationship in which A beats B, B beats C, and C beats A. Most of the variations on Condorcet use various means of resolving the tie. See Cloneproof Schwartz Sequential Dropping for details. Debian's variation is spelled out in the constitution, specifically, A.6.

Debian Project Secretary