diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'en/hardware/hardware-supported.xml')
| -rw-r--r-- | en/hardware/hardware-supported.xml | 39 |
1 files changed, 31 insertions, 8 deletions
diff --git a/en/hardware/hardware-supported.xml b/en/hardware/hardware-supported.xml index d37c3983f..5b16c20de 100644 --- a/en/hardware/hardware-supported.xml +++ b/en/hardware/hardware-supported.xml @@ -365,20 +365,43 @@ the host operating system every time the system boots. </para><para> In most cases firmware is non-free according to the criteria used by the -&debian-gnu; project and thus cannot be included in the main distribution -or in the installation system. If the device driver itself is included in +&debian-gnu; project and thus cannot be included in the main distribution. +If the device driver itself is included in the distribution and if &debian-gnu; legally can distribute the firmware, it will often be available as a separate package from the non-free-firmware section of the archive (non-free before &debian-gnu; 12.0). </para><para> -However, this does not mean that such hardware cannot be used during an -installation. Starting with &debian-gnu; 5.0, &d-i; supports loading -firmware files or packages containing firmware from a removable medium, -such as a USB stick. -See <xref linkend="loading-firmware"/> for detailed information on how to -load firmware files or packages during the installation. +However, this does not mean that such hardware cannot be used during +an installation. Starting with &debian-gnu; 12.0, following the <ulink +url="https://www.debian.org/vote/2022/vote_003">2022 General +Resolution about non-free firmware</ulink>, official installation +images can include non-free firmware packages. By default, &d-i; will +detect required firmware (based on kernel logs and based on modalias +information), and install the relevant packages if they are found on +installation images (e.g. on the netinst). The package manager gets +automatically configured with the matching components so that those +packages get security updates. This usually means that the +non-free-firmware component gets enabled, in addition to main. + +</para><para> + +Users who wish to disable firmware lookup entirely can do so by +setting the <userinput>firmware=never</userinput> boot parameter. +It's an alias for the longer +<userinput>hw-detect/firmware-lookup=never</userinput> form. + +</para><para> + +Unless firmware lookup is disabled entirely, &d-i; still supports +loading firmware files or packages containing firmware from a +removable medium, such as a USB stick. See <xref +linkend="loading-firmware"/> for detailed information on how to load +firmware files or packages during the installation. + +Note that &d-i; is less likely to prompt for firmware files now that +non-free firmware packages can be included on installation images. </para><para> |