Why not rename the firmware files into a none clashing namespace, then they can all go into a single directory. A suitable naming scheme would be based on vendor and product ID's of the USB device. So if my HP ScanJet 5200C had a firmware file it would be called something like 03f00401.usb nad could go in a directory called something like /usr/share/sane/firmware or /usr/local/share/sane/firmware.
The next thing is to contact the manufactures of the scanners and ask politely if we can include a copy of the firmware in the SANE distribution. As long as we are not asking them to put the firmware under the GPL or someother free license I am sure they won't mind. We also need to make it clear that the firmware is *not* under the GPL, is the copyright of the individual scanner manufactures. A file named COPYRIGHT in the firmware directory which list the copyright owner of each firmware file would be sensible. I can imagine that Debian at least will have problems with firmware because it is not under a suitable free license. Even though I am a longtime Debian user I think they are just plain stupid on matter like this. They don't like the licensing on the Computer Modern fonts for heavens sake. JAB. -- Jonathan A. Buzzard Email: jonat...@buzzard.org.uk Northumberland, United Kingdom. Tel: +44(0)1661-832195
