Kernel and firmware

I think the current situation is rather clear. Our current kernel contains firmware blobs for some hardware. They are relicts from the time where the firmware loading infrastructure did not exists. It may be possible to move them outside, but such patches was rejected to keep compatibility.

Some people clearly stats, that they think, this violates paragraph 2 of the DFSG. I must say, I'm not sure. This paragraph say: The program must include source code. Now source is not defined and opaque data have no defined form of source. The data is opaque as it is not possible to say, what it includes. (Some people wanted to differentiate between executable code and configuration settings, but there is no way to see what it is.)

If we remove them from the kernel image, we make many users unhappy. Many of the widely used hardware like TG3 and some storage adapters will just stop working after a kernel upgrade. There is also no clean upgrade path. Even the installer infrastructure is missing and I don't think they will be finished for the release of etch. Therefor is think, such a removal will even violation paragraph 4 of our Social Contract which say: Our priorities are our users.