Re: [gentoo-dev] [PATCH 2/2] kernel-install.eclass: Warn about linux-firmware in pkg_pretend()

[Michał Górny]

On Wed, 2020-06-17 at 12:57 +0200, Ulrich Mueller wrote:
> > > > > > On Wed, 17 Jun 2020, Michał Górny wrote:
>
> > +# @FUNCTION: kernel-install_pkg_pretend
> > +# @DESCRIPTION:
> > +# Check for missing optional dependencies and output warnings.
> > +kernel-install_pkg_pretend() {
> > +	debug-print-function ${FUNCNAME} "${@}"
> > +
> > +	if ! has_version -d sys-kernel/linux-firmware; then
> > +		ewarn "sys-kernel/linux-firmware not found installed on your system."
> > +		ewarn "This package provides various firmware files that may be needed"
> > +		ewarn "for your hardware to work.  If in doubt, it is recommended"
> > +		ewarn "to pause or abort the build process and install it before"
> > +		ewarn "resuming."
> > +
> > +		if use initramfs; then
> > +			elog
> > +			elog "If you decide to install linux-firmware later, you can rebuild"
> > +			elog "the initramfs via issuing a command equivalent to:"
> > +			elog
> > +			elog "    emerge --config ${CATEGORY}/${PN}"
> > +		fi
> > +	fi
> > +}
>
> Should we really warn about a package that (in its default
> configuration) can only be installed if the user accepts non-free
> licenses?

That's one of the reasons it's only a warning and not a USE flag.

> I would think that even without such a warning, users will be well aware
> if some devices of their system will need additional firmware. Also,
> some people prefer the separate packages from sys-firmware which tend to
> be more lightweight (though I am aware that some of them may be
> considered legacy packages).
>

This has been requested by users, some of whom apparently forget that
they need to manually install one more package for their system to even
boot.  If it saves a few people from having to go through recovery, it's
worth it.

-- 
Best regards,
Michał Górny