Binary blob: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 03:48, 23 April 2022

Revision as of 02:42, 10 May 2022

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{{short description|Software published only in binary code}}

{{distinguish|Binary large object{{!}}Binary large object (BLOB)}}

In the context of [[free and open-source software]], proprietary software only available as a binary is referred to as a '''blob''' or '''binary blob'''. The term usually refers to a [[device driver]] [[Loadable kernel module|module]] [[Linker (computing)|loaded]] into the [[Kernel (computer science)|kernel]] of an open-source [[operating system]], and is sometimes also applied to code running outside the kernel, such as system [[firmware]] images, [[microcode]] updates, or [[User space|userland]] programs.<ref>{{cite web

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