Package: hw-detect
Severity: important

firmware-ipw2100 has a license prompt that is supposed to be displayed
to the user. If this firmware is loaded by d-i from media supplied by
the user, this prompt is never actually displayed.

In #504668, it's claimed that the license's FAQ allows this,
which is the only reason I have not made this bug serious, yet.
Conversely, in #449235, decisions seem to be made assuming that
d-i will display the firmware prompt.

I see three approaches to fixing this bug:

1. Change the post-base-installer hook to not install firmware debs
   with dpkg -i. It needs to use apt for debconf frontend proxying to
   work. One approach might be to move this to a pkgsel hook, and use
   the already available firmware debs to prepopulate
   /var/cache/apt/archives, so they don't have to be downloaded again.
   Only problem with this approach is it fails if the user, in
   apt-setup, chooses not to use non-free, or even chooses to install
   without a network mirror. In this case, the installed system might
   end up without firmware needed to boot.

2. Rip the debconf frontend proxy setup code out of
   debconf-apt-progress, and adapt so it can be used with dpkg -i.
   Or hack debconf-apt-progress to support running dpkg -i.

3. Provide some way for firmware debs to communicate to d-i that they
   have a license the user needs to see, and have check-missing-firmware
   display these licenses before the firmware is ever used. This is
   probably the most general approach, as it will allow us to support
   firmware where it's a hard requirement that the user sees the license.
   (Which may already be the case, depending on which lawyers you ask?)

   One way would be to add a header to the firmware deb:

   License-Agreement: /usr/share/doc/firmware-ipw2x00/copyright

-- 
see shy jo

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: Digital signature

Reply via email to