[#]: subject: "Debian May Consider Including Non-Free Firmware in Official Releases"
[#]: via: "https://news.itsfoss.com/debian-non-free/"
[#]: author: "Ankush Das https://news.itsfoss.com/author/ankush/"
[#]: collector: "lkxed"
[#]: translator: " "
[#]: reviewer: " "
[#]: publisher: " "
[#]: url: " "

Debian May Consider Including Non-Free Firmware in Official Releases
======
Will Debian consider adding non-free firmware in official releases? It seems like a possibility, if they want to fix the issues highlighted by Debian’s developer.

![debian][1]

Debian is one of the most loved Linux distributions for its approach to stability and a balance between new features.

Also, it does not come with any non-free firmware.

However, that is becoming an issue for users who want to use Debian on newer hardware.

Most of the latest devices and configurations need non-free firmware to make things work, which includes Wi-Fi, graphics, and more.

And to address that, **Steve McIntyre**, a Debian developer and a former Debian project leader, has been actively discussing the issue for a while.

At the**DebConf 22 conference**, Steve recently talked about fixing the firmware mess to highlight this better to users and developers, as spotted by [Geeker’s Digest][2].

### Including Non-Free Firmware in Official Releases

As for the current situation, you can find an unofficial Debian image with non-free firmware.

However, not every user is aware of it, and even if it is promoted on Debian’s download page, “unofficial” is not something a user will prefer over the recommended image.

Also, it is counter-intuitive to expect users to install non-free firmware when they can choose any Ubuntu-based distribution or Ubuntu as an alternative.

Not just limited to these issues, Steve mentions a few other problems with it in his [blog][3] that include:

* Maintaining separate non-free images is time-consuming.
* The official images are not preferred by many users because of the lack of non-free firmware.

Steve proposes that this mess be fixed sooner than later if we want more users to use Debian on common hardware.

Potentially through a prompt in the installer for users to install non-free firmware, similar to what Ubuntu does.

Furthermore, in his talk at DebConf 22, it seems that most of the developers voted to add non-free firmware in official Debian images.

And with the recent highlight, Steve has gotten more attention from users/developers to find a solution to this problem as a community.

**The easy/convenient way out**: adding non-free firmware in official release images.

*So, will Debian finally add support for non-free firmware in its newer releases? Will Debian 12 make this a reality?*

*Share your thoughts in the comments down below.*

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

via: https://news.itsfoss.com/debian-non-free/

作者：[Ankush Das][a]
选题：[lkxed][b]
译者：[译者ID](https://github.com/译者ID)
校对：[校对者ID](https://github.com/校对者ID)

本文由 [LCTT](https://github.com/LCTT/TranslateProject) 原创编译，[Linux中国](https://linux.cn/) 荣誉推出

[a]: https://news.itsfoss.com/author/ankush/
[b]: https://github.com/lkxed
[1]: https://news.itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/debian-non-free-firmware.jpg
[2]: https://www.geekersdigest.com/debian-on-the-verge-to-include-non-free-firmware-in-official-releases/
[3]: https://blog.einval.com/2022/04/19#firmware-what-do-we-do