Bug#541702: linux-image-2.6.30-1-686: Kernel fails to start networking because no e100 firmware
OK, so lets go back to basics here.
The point of a bug report is to report a bug. The Bug here is that
large numbers of systems will break on upgrade to this kernel once it
hits stable. This is the problem that needs fixing.
The fact that you find the suggested fix politically incorrect, or that
you don't think I should have been able to find the bug in the first
place are irrelevant to the fact that the bug exists.
Apart from being appallingly bad release practice, breaking a
significant fraction of users on an upgrade is also a debian policy
violation as I've cited (the package is too buggy to release because of
all the breakage).
Trying to describe this as fixed because you'll put it in the release
notes is wrong in principle because it doesn't prevent the existing
users from suffering breakage a priori.
A pre upgrade script that detected the problem based on the runtime
detection that the user needed modules with firmware now in
firmware-linux would be acceptable. Just stop, print the warning and
allow them to OK or cancel. The list of modules now requiring firmware
surely isn't non-free and it can be derived from the linux build system
fairly easily.
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