zaptel-firmware package and dependencies

[Faidon Liambotis]

Kilian Krause wrote:
>> Those firmwares are arch-independent (run on some
>> processor/fpga/whatever on the device). Their license allows
>> redistribution but the source is not included, and hence they are not
>> included in main.
> 
> Why not make a debconf query in the maintainer postinst script and have
> them be downloaded if agreed by the user?
<snip>
> Not having a source to these binary blobs makes them not suitable for
> Debian for sure. But these driver parts can be perfectly legally
> downloaded by a maintainer script.
I disagree.

Packages that download non-free stuff -even if it's optional- belong to 
contrib, not main.

There is precedent here, msttcorefonts comes first to mind.

Having a separate source package in non-free which includes all the 
firmwares. Or, you could have a contrib package that downloads the 
firmwares from the web. I'd prefer the first solution.

If the firmware "ABI" breaks, then IMHO the firmwares should be renamed 
accordingly with a version number and provide the latest version of each 
"ABI" in your package.

Faidon