"Marco d'Itri" <md@Linux.IT> wrote in message [🔎] ehl0h1$kkq$1@wonderland.linux.it">news:[🔎] ehl0h1$kkq$1@wonderland.linux.it...
joerg@debian.org wrote:Please clarify for me, in which section should go a GPL-licensed package,which is quite unusable without (but technically not Depends on), er, obscure blobs of data, usually gathered by a way of sniffing data flow between a proprietary application and a hardware device, an then just "replaying"? To me, this package should be moved from main to contrib.Yes.No. The package just uploads this data to the hardware device, if requested. It does not use it.
Are you saying that this is roughly equivlent to something like a firmwaeuploading utility for a proprietory PDA? (That sounds like something that could go in main).
If so I would agree that this is a somewhat similar case, however, the device is effectively a component of the computer (albeit an external component), and the software is a driver, which brings it back closer to contrib.
Nevertheless, I belive that the plan with the Kernel drivers is that if they can load the firmware from a file, (which can be part of a non-free package), and has no licencing problems, then it can stay in main. I'm not sure that userspace drivers should be treated differently. This one has no licence problems, and can
load the firmware from a file, so it is reasonable to let it stay in main.I will say that it is also not unreasonable for the maintainer to decide to move the package to contrib, as it is not really useful without something that is not a component of main.
So in summary, it could move to contrib, but that is not required.