Binary blob: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:10, 13 January 2022

Revision as of 15:39, 9 February 2022

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{{Redirect|Binary blob|the database data type|Binary large object}}

{{short description|Closed-source device driver published only in binary code}}

A '''proprietary device driver''' is a closed-source [[device driver]] published only in [[binary code]]. In the context of [[free and open-source software|free (libre) and open-source software]], a [[Proprietary software|closed-sourceproprietary]] device driver is referred to as a '''blob''' or '''binary blob'''. The term usually refers to a closed-sourceproprietary [[Loadable kernel module|kernel module]] [[Linker (computing)|loaded]] into the [[Kernel (computer science)|kernel]] of an open-source [[operating system]], although blobs can be included as hexadecimal arrays in source code, as some are in the Linux kernel, 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

| url = https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTE1NDc

| title = Coreboot: Replacing Intel's Binary Video BIOS Blob