Re: Bug#239952: kernel-source-2.6.4: qla2xxx contains non-freefirmware

[Nathanael Nerode <neroden@twcny.rr.com>]

Henning Makholm wrote:

> Scripsit Henning Makholm <henning@makholm.net>
> 
>> It ought not to be difficult (neither in a technical or in a
>> economic/legal sense) for manufacturers to ship the standard firmware
>> as a separate file on the driver CD that usually accompanies such
>> hardware, and for the authors of free drivers to make the kernel look
>> for the firmware on the file system when the device is first accessed.
>> The driver could log an appropriate message during boot-up which
>> some appropriate package could inspect (during installation, or even
>> at each boot if so configured) and ask the user to insert the vendor's
>> driver CD in order to copy firmware from it.
> 
> A side question: Does -legal think that it would be OK for Debian to
> distribute *checksums* of the non-free magic blob-of-bits, such that
> it can be located inside a Windows driver on a disk without needing to
> know its exact position?
Checksums, of the just-a-few-bytes variety?  Probably short enough to
contain no creative expression.  What do others think?


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