Why are proprietary packages in main?

[Liam Proven]

On Tue, 28 Jul 2020 at 14:09, Avinash Sonawane <rootkea at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hello!
>
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu says "Main -
> Canonical-supported free and open-source software." but non-free
> packages like amd64-microcode and intel-microcode are in main.

Ubuntu was designed to be an easy-to-use distro. That's why the
tagline was "Linux for human beings".

That means working out of the box on as much hardware as possible.
That means including drivers and firmware which it can legally
redistribute.

If you want an all-GPL all-FOSS distro, there are several, e.g.
Trisquel: https://trisquel.info/

A list is here:
https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.en.html

And an article:
https://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/best-gnu-linux-distributions.html

You will find that they do not work well on a lot of hardware. You may
find that they boot but the GUI doesn't work or is stuck in a very
low, VGA-level resolution. Wifi often won't work. Sometimes Ethernet,
sound etc. won't either.

For ordinary users, fixing these issues is too hard, which is why
easier distros exist. This is known as the "pragmatic open source"
philosophy, and it is a cornerstone of the difference between
GNU-style "Free Software" and "open source".

Even Debian includes proprietary firmware and things that it legally can.

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