Subject: phoronix-test-suite downloads nonfree software (+ question on collaboration with Parabola on this package)

From: Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2022 01:27:45 +0200

Hi,

Thanks a lot for working on having a recent FSDG compliant versions of
phoronix-test-suite.

I've found a minor issue with phoronix-test-suite and I've a couple of
questions to help synchronize between Parabola and Guix to prevent
accidental installation of nonfree software.

Nonfree software downloaded by phoronix-test-suite:
---------------------------------------------------
According to Debian, Linux has the following nonfree files:
> Documentation/netlabel/draft-ietf-cipso-ipsecurity-01.txt
> arch/powerpc/platforms/8xx/micropatch.c
> drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb/af9005-script.h drivers/media/i2c/vs6624.c
> drivers/net/appletalk/cops*
> drivers/video/fbdev/nvidia
> drivers/video/fbdev/riva

The GNU project also mention that ("nonfree blobs are shipped with
Linux, the kernel") in the list of distros that are not FSDG
compliant[1].

When running 'phoronix-test-suite test build-linux-kernel' (and
selecting Yes(Y) to install the test), phoronix-test-suite downloads
a tarball of Linux.

So I assume that the tarball downloaded also have nonfree software like
arch/powerpc/platforms/8xx/micropatch.c. So we also need to filter-out
two tests (to keep being FSDG compliant):
> pts/build-linux-kernel
> pts/unpack-linux

As I understand, the other build should be fine.

Question on the package description and collaborating with Parabola:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
If I run 'phoronix-test-suite list' on a fresh Guix installation, it
lists nonfree software like BioShock Infinite, Hitman, which are games
that have not been released under free licenses (according to
Wikipedia).

I've installed Guix on a separate computer just for that (as it would
be negligence from my part to risk running nonfree software like that on
computers that are either hold keys to sign releases or build releases).

And there it seems that it runs hoses tests (I need to do that in a
terminal in a graphical interface like sway for instance) but I'm unsure
if it actually downloaded nonfree software or not as the tests seem to
fail and I didn't find the games being downloaded (but I only looked
rapidly).

If it didn't download any nonfree games, we could update the package
description to explain how this FSDG compliance is done to not make
users afraid and prevent invalid bug reports.

I also saw there is a python script[2] that somehow is supposed to take
care of FSDG compliance. How does it work in practice?

I'm also asking because I've also added phoronix-test-suite to Parabola
long time ago with a very different patch, and if for some reasons both
patches are incompatible, I don't want to end up in a situation where
users running Guix on top of Parabola would end up accidentally
installing nonfree software.

If that's the case it would be easier to fix the issue in Parabola
(just by updating phoronix-test-suite and taking care of informing the
users to delete their old ~/.phoronix-test-suite/) but I also need to
understand how the python script works first.

Once these questions are sorted out I'll try to install Parabola
instead of Guix on that test laptop, import my existing
~/.phoronix-test-suite/, install Guix on top, and install
phoronix-test-suite through Guix to see if the nonfree tests somehow
run something.

And I'll then report the result of test here and I'll then probably end
up updating in Parabola (and reusing your patch).

References:
-----------
[1]https://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.html
[2]gnu/packages/patches/phoronix-test-suite-fsdg.patch

Denis.