Distributing NXP i.MX 8 firmware blobs in Debian

[josch]

Hello,

I'm writing you as a member of the Debian GNU/Linux distribution and was told by Gary Bisson of ezurio that opening an issue with this project would be the right way forward for my query.

I am trying to add support for platforms like the NXP i.MX8MQ to the debian-installer disk images. These images need to (for example) contain the DDR training blobs which can be downloaded from https://www.nxp.com/lgfiles/NMG/MAD/YOCTO/firmware-imx-8.24-fbe0a4c.bin

Unfortunately, the NXP Software License Agreement states:

2.3. [..] If expressly authorized in the
Software Content Register, subject to the terms and conditions of this
Agreement, NXP grants you a [...] license solely in connection with your
manufacturing and distribution of an Authorized System:
[...]
(b) to copy and distribute as needed, solely in connection with an
Authorized System and for use in combination with a NXP Product,

My reading of that agreement is, that Debian is not permitted to redistribute these blobs as the Debian project is not manufacturing any hardware. We only provide the operating system. But if we cannot offer the ddr training blobs in our installation media, then this means that they will not work out-of-the box with NXP platforms that require these blobs to be loaded early during boot.

Could you assist me in connecting with the appropriate person who can help resolve this issue? Maybe there is a possibility for an explicit exception to be added such that the Debian project is allowed to distribute these blobs in its repositories?

With best regards,

Johannes Schauer Marin Rodrigues