[packagekit] udev installing firmware? insanity or super cool?

[Richard Hughes]

Another interesting use case: system software like udev wanting to
install drivers or firmware.

Now, technically it's not that difficult. The social problem is more
important, as you don't want software being automatically downloaded and
installed as you boot your computer, even if you had the network up at
that point. I think what DavidZ suggests in one comment in
http://kernelslacker.livejournal.com/113659.html?thread=479995 is
probably the best idea:

* udev needs firmware that is not installed
* udev writes to the file (as root) /var/PackageKit/system-installer/udev-needs-intelfirmware
    this file contains: "file:iw3945.dat,udev,firmware needed" or "package: iwl3945-firmware,udev,firmware needed"

system boots as normal, and user logs in.

A few minutes after booting the user gets the message saying:

=== System software needs installing ===

Software has been requested by the system automatically.
The software that asked for the install was: udev
The reason given was: firmware needed

[Install] [Do not install] [Ignore]

If the user clicks Install then you get the PolicyKit prompt and all the
normal jazz, and afterwards the
file /var/PackageKit/system-installer/udev-needs-intelfirmware is
deleted.

My personal view would just be to install the firmware by default,
rather than do this per-driver, but I thought the idea could do with
some discussion as it's quite an interesting use case. Would anything
else benefit from this functionality?

Richard.