If it comes down to "the driver, on its own, would not be acceptable for
main because it is not functional; but as a practical matter, we allow
it aggregated with the rest of the kernel because splitting individual
drivers into contrib is a pain for everyone involved and not worth the
theoretical benefits", I can live with that.
Yes, yes! Let me say that this is precisely what I think.
"contrib" exists for software which is free but fails SC#1, "we will never
make the system depend on an item of non-free software". Moving something
from contrib to main that does, in fact, depend on such an item is a pretty
basic violation of Debian's principles.
Suppose the thing being moved is not a vital part of the system. Then,
although the item being moved depends on non-free software, does the
*system* really depend on it?
Then it pretty much comes down to what you said above.
:-)
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