The Debian Social Contract begins with "Debian will remain 100% free". Changing that is a pretty big deal. Debian's principled stance on free software has been one of the main reasons I've been using it for almost a decade. I really appreciate the peace of mind of knowing that the system is 100% free by default. However, I do use specific non-free firmware packages for certain devices and it is a pain to find and install them (which I do by hand, after installing Debian from the official ISO).
All in all, I'm on board with option 5. By all means, create the non-free-firmware archive and include it in the official media. But also make it clear to users why proprietary firmware ought to be avoided. Add a prompt during installation (similar to the software selection prompt) and make the best of the educational opportunity that it provides. It can begin with a statement on why the Debian Project is against non-free *ware and it can also mention the security benefits (and potential pitfalls) of packages like intel-microcode. Something like: ``` The hardware devices listed below currently require non-free firmware to function. The Debian project advises against the installation of non-free firmware [insert reasons here], while acknowledging that some users may require such firmware to use certain devices or to receive security updates from device vendors. Select which devices you wish to install non-free firmware for: [ ] CPU (device name) [ ] Wi-Fi (device name) [ ] Bluetooth (device name) [ ] Fingerprint reader (device name) You can change this selection at any time by running [command]. You can also disable the use of all non-free firmware by selecting the [...] boot option. ``` Something along these lines would be ideal, I think.
