New section for firmware.

[Kurt Roeckx <kurt@roeckx.be>]

Hi,

I've been thinking about this proposal for some time, and I probably
should have send this some time ago.  At least some people seem to
have had simular ideas, so I wonder why nobody propsed anything like
this.

The idea is to create a new section that contains files like
firmware images and FPGA data that gets written to the hardware
to make it fully functional.  It is not meant for drivers that run
on the host CPU.

The new section should also be available on our CD/DVD images,
so that users can just take a CD/DVD and that it works without
having to search for the needed firmware and provide it on an
other medium to the installer.

As draft I'd like to propose:
========
   1. We affirm that our Priorities are our users and the free
      software community (Social Contract #4);
   2. We'll create a new area in our archive that contains files
      like firmware images and FPGA data that gets written to the
      hardware to make it fully functional.  The files in this
      area should not comply with the DFSG #2, #3 and #4, but should
      comply with the rest of the the DFSG.
   3. This new section will be available on our CD, DVD and other
      images.
========

I'm open for suggestions on how to better word this proposal,
or other changes.

The social contract now lists non-free and contrib.  I'm not sure
if we need to change the SC or not with this proposal.

This is meant as a long term solution.  The proposal is not
about the Lenny release, but 

I wonder which requirements we should have for files in the
new section.  And I think if we want it to be able to put
it on the CD/DVD, the requirements from the DFSG other
than #2, #3 and #4 seem to make most sense.


Kurt