Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it?
Dear All and Steve,
I'm kinda late to the discussion, but upon reading the message, a
possible solution has been popped into my mind.
As everybody knows, Debian is also releasing the said firmware as
compressed archives and these are visible in the download page [0],
however usage and documentation is neither clearly documented, nor easy
for the beginners or casual users.
Considering most users are doing installs over USB, and official Debian
ISOs are hybrid by default, how the following plan feels?
1) Document the use of ZIP files for firmware introduction during
install more clearly and prominently,
2) Make these ZIP archives much more accessible via links and prominent
placement,
3) Document creation of a USB drive which is both bootable and has
writable space for extra files
4) Write another document detailing adding these ZIP files to the said
media in 3,
5) Profit by allowing people to assemble their own installation media
with firmware blobs if they see the need.
The whole process can be simplified with a simple GUI/CLI tool akin to
GRML2USB which accepts the ISO file and burns (sic) it to a USB drive,
and simplifying the whole process a lot. The tool can accept the ZIP
file, or can have checkbox saying "Integrate firmware" if one decides to
make such tool auto-downloading resources.
I think this is an acceptable compromise allowing users access the
firmware, control on the media they have, and don't complicate matters
relating to DFSG and other unwritten policies of Debian.
This approach also has the potential to make Debian more accessible by
providing a valuable tool for Debian ecosystem.
As a user of Debian for over 15 years, I think DFSG, and current status
quo is an important force for moving free software forward, and holding
this line is important while giving the users choice and living up to
name "Universal Operating System".
Best Regards,
Hakan Bayindir
[0]: https://www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp/#firmware
--
*Hakan BAYINDIR, Ph.D.*
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