RFC: MK_BLOBS build option

[David Schultz]

On Sun, Jan 22, 2012, Robert Millan wrote:
> I propose this build option so that users can select if they want to disable
> blobs of binary code in their kernel.  Currently Debian does this by patching
> the build system; having a build option would make things much easier, but
> it can also be useful for users whose preference is not to install those
> modules.
> 
> Description:
> 
>   Add MK_BLOBS build option. Setting MK_BLOBS to "no" will disable kernel
>   modules that include binary-only blobs of code.
> 
>   More fine-grained control is provided via MK_BLOBS_HOST (for native code
>   that runs on host CPU) and MK_BLOBS_UCODE (for microcode).
> 
> Please comment!

There has been recent work on the ports system to allow users to
specify what licenses are considered acceptable for software
installed on their machines.  The blob issue reflects a similar
concern, so it's worth looking at what they have done to see if
there are any good ideas you might want to adopt:

	http://wiki.freebsd.org/PortsLicenseInfrastructure

In particular, maybe someone will want to add a way to disable
building drivers covered by GPL, APSL, etc.  So does it make sense
to rename the knob to something along the lines of
`ACCEPTABLE_LICENSES+=blob'?

Note that this is a mostly uninformed suggestion, so if you're
already aware of the ports license infrastructure work and don't
think it's apropos to this knob, then don't worry about it.