Net Install: Understanding the wifi drivers

[John Kaufmann <kaufmann@nb.net>]

For my Thinkpad, I burned CDs with:
	(1) debian-10.3.0-amd64-netinst.iso
	(2) firmware-10.3.0-amd64-netinst.iso
and	(3) firmware-edu-10.3.0-amd64-netinst.iso [just in case]

A. Using either the default Graphical Install, or just Install, (1) begins without problem, then stops for wifi firmware:

> "Some of your hardware needs non-free firmware files to operate. ... The missing firmware files are:
> 	iwlwifi-8265-{22..36}.ucode [i.e., 15 files]
> If you have such media available now, insert it and continue."

I did so, awkwardly. [More on the awkwardness in a separate post; here I want to focus on the drivers.] When I finally got it to read the firmware disk (2) it did proceed, but did not come back to wifi setup (about which, more below).

So I looked at what should be included in the firmware disk <https://wiki.debian.org/Firmware>. Of the designated "missing firmware files", only iwlwifi-8265-26.ucode is included; iwlwifi-8265-{22..25}.ucode and iwlwifi-8265-{27..36}.ucode are absent. The obvious question: Why does the installation script say it is "missing" 15 files, if only 1 is needed? Or, are they all needed?

The immediate reason for asking this question is that the installation script did not come back to wifi setup, as I inferred it would when asked for wifi files. Instead, I could not proceed until I plugged in an Ethernet cable.

So my questions are:

 - Why does the installation script stop - why interrupt the initial installation - to ask for wifi firmware files, if they are not needed for the script? After all, plenty of other things will be added later. Why aren't those wifi driver files treated like any of the other components in the net install?

 - Where does the installation script derive the list of "missing firmware files"? Does it in fact mean that it wants all in the list, or will just one do? If the latter, does it mean that /any/ one in the list will do?

John