Re: Question about linux-wlan-ng-firmware in main
On Tue, 30 May 2006, Goswin von Brederlow wrote:
> > A downloader package is a bit of grey area; much like a typical
> > "contrib" package, it has some more-or-less hardcoded string that
> > points to non-free data; it does not, however, depend on anything
> > outside of main to function (since main is enough to get a network up
> > and running, and the web service, while not dealing with free
> > software, is not Debian's concern as it is only between the user and
> > the company publishing the data files).
>
> It depends on software not in debian to function properly. If the
> firmware is no longer supplied on the firms webserver then the
> donwload package stops working. Imho that is a clear dependency even
> if it doesn't fall under the "Depends:" field.
Contrib is effectively meant for wrapper on non-free stuff. But contrib is
really needed when the wrapper stuff is the *main purpose* of the package.
In the case concerning us, we have 10 lines of DFSG-free code that can be
used to download non-free firmwares within a bigger DFSG-free package.
For me it's no worse than putting the 10 lines of code in README.Debian,
it serves really the same purpose.
So my vote is "keep that little wrapper in the main package, it doesn't
hurt".
In fact, I go even further: I wish that the package use a low-priority
debconf question (defaulting to "do not download") to let the user execute
the wrapper at installation time. Of course, the question should warn the
user that he's about to download non-free stuff.
Cheers,
--
Raphaël Hertzog
Premier livre français sur Debian GNU/Linux :
http://www.ouaza.com/livre/admin-debian/
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