Nathanael Nerode wrote:
* Since I actually have an advansys card to test on, I should be able to convert this driver to userland firmware loading without the annoyances of a remote testing cycle.
But how do you expect people to install Sarge on systems where the only mass storage controller is an advansys card? Certainly, telling people to download a bunch of firmware udebs first before they can install, or making them do so within the installer, is a huge setback in installer userfriendliness.
(So first of all, please let me implore you to let this slide for Sarge, at the very least. It's way too late in the game to start molesting SCSI low level drivers, and to have to come up with initrd-tools and debian-installer infrastructure to accomodate lots of firmware loads at boot time and pre-installation. _No way_.)
Initially the big brouhaha was with tg3. It worked fine without the firmware for 99% of devices, so that really was no matter to me.
Then we removed acenic support as well as some firmware for qlogic cards, USB keyspan driver, what have you... Well, I figured few people used it, so _to me_ it was but a small issue.
But eventually, if you keep up this crusade, installing Debian will involve having megabytes of firmware files at hand. Chances are that NIC drivers will get de-blobbed at some point, and will need firmware to work. Ooops. There goes the idea of downloading the firmware from the Internet at install time.
I don't want to turn Debian into a speech-free, crippled distribution. That's not what I joined the project for. I suggest that you reconsider the long term effects of all this and perhaps try to come up with a less destructive to the situation (which I do believe is a valid one, within reason.)
-- Joshua Kwan
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