Bug#543398: linux-image-2.6.30-1-686: e100 is missing a dependency on linux-firmware

["Jon Thackray" <jgt@pobox.com>]

Well, it seems a shame to have gone from a situation where the system worked 
to one where it doesn't. If you must do this, you should at least force the 
user to interact with the upgrade process (ie it won't proceed until the 
user makes a decision (cf the pam package for example), either to ignore the 
problem because it isn't going to affect him, or to install the missing 
package, or indeed to decide he can't cope with the moral dilemma of having 
a 5 year old network card that has suddenly been found to depend on non-free 
software, in which case he can take the card out and replace it with 
something else). Can one at least hope that an unencumbered driver will be 
produced in the future?

Sorry if this all sounds overly pragmatic and a bit irritated, but for the 
naive user at least, this sort of thing can only serve to push him back 
towards the evil empire where such problems don't exist. Is that what the 
open source movement wants?

As for irretrievably, I merely meant that your system, as is, was broken in 
a way that couldn' be repaired (unlike for example, a missing sound card 
driver where you could go and download it). Of course one can reboot into an 
earlier kernel, that's how I fixed the problem (after several rounds of 
diagnosis).

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "dann frazier" <dannf@debian.org>
To: "Jon Thackray" <jgt@pobox.com>; <543398@bugs.debian.org>
Sent: Monday, August 24, 2009 8:27 PM
Subject: Re: Bug#543398: linux-image-2.6.30-1-686: e100 is missing a 
dependency on linux-firmware


> On Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 07:24:28PM +0100, Jon Thackray wrote:
> > Package: linux-image-2.6.30-1-686
> > Version: 2.6.30-5
> > Severity: important
> >
> > In the 2.6.30 kernel, but not in 2.6.26, e100 depends on d101m_ucode.bin,
> > from firmware-linux.
> > The kernel package is not marked as depending on this.
>
> Packages in main cannot depend upon packages in non-free. Further,
> this isn't a strict dependency - only certain devices require firmware
> files. I won't argue that the current mechanism is ideal - there is a
> warning on upgrade (from initramfs-tools), but it doesn't tell you
> precisely what to do about it.
>
> > Consequently, if
> > you reboot into your newly installed 2.6.30 kernel, your networking, if
> > using an E10/100 card for instance, is irretrievably broken.
>
> Irretrievably? Can't you reboot your old kernel and install
> firmware-linux?
>
>
> --
> dann frazier