One of the problems is that you need a working internet connection to be able to download the firmware files (of course this is also the case if you run install_bcm43xx_firmware manually). The b43fwcutter provides a 'Supplements' tag and gets installed without any user interaction. I don't like the idea of downloading and installing proprietary firmware without asking the user. IMHO we need a tool which offers several firmware files to download.

I hope that we can get rid of the proprietary firmware in openSUSE 11.3. Therefore we shouldn't implement things which are used only in factory. If we cannot use the open source firmware for 11.3 we can think about a pullin-package which only execute the install_bcm43xx_firmware script. Closing as wontfix.

If you do not use proprietary firmware, can you try it via pullin-package, like pullin-flash-player, or pullin-msttf-fonts?
Sorry, but i don't understand why you closed as wontfix, if it's possible via pullin-package as you mentioned in comment 2.
I don't know, whether you've tried Ubuntu, ever.
Ubuntu launches install wizard for fetch and extract firmware after installing b43 fwcutter package. It's very easy and usefull. That means no more i have to run usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware manually.

The main reason why I closed this bug is that I don't have time to work on it. If somebody provide a pullin-package (and an additional update for b43-fwcutter which require this pullin-package) I'm fine with it.

I take over. I will work on it if there will be any time.

(In reply to comment #5)
> I take over. I will work on it if there will be any time.

Thanks a lot. That would be great. I appreciate it.

For the record i post links from my notices. I am not sure about the licenses in [2], but then packman could be an option.

[1] http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#device_firmware
[2] http://www.ing.unibs.it/openfwwf/

Open Source firmware is licensed on GPLv2.
What about https://features.opensuse.org/306619

Package with the open source firmware is ready in my home repo.

(In reply to comment #8)
> Open Source firmware is licensed on GPLv2.
Would it be possible to point me to the license statement ?

http://www.ing.unibs.it/openfwwf/

/*
 * Opensource firmware for BCM43xx devices with Wireless-Core Revision 5
 *
 *  Copyright (C) 2009          University of Brescia
 *
 *  Copyright (C) 2008, 2009    Lorenzo Nava <navalorenx@gmail.com>
 *                              Francesco Gringoli <francesco.gringoli@ing.unibs.it>
 *  Copyright (C) 2008          Michael Buesch <mb@bu3sch.de>
 *
 *
 *   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 *   modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
 *   version 2, as published by the Free Software Foundation.
 *
 *   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 *   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 *   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 *   GNU General Public License for more details.
 */

(In reply to comment #10)
> http://www.ing.unibs.it/openfwwf/
<snip>
>  *   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
>  *   modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
>  *   version 2, as published by the Free Software Foundation.

Thank you ! You got the package already according to the Comment #8. Would it be possible to submit the package into the driver:wireless ? Or just point me to your package.

Ok. I made a submitreq of b43-tools and b43-openfwwf to driver:wireless.

Btw, my repo:
b43-tools → https://build.opensuse.org/package/show?package=b43-tools&project=home%3AFisiu

b43-openfwwf → https://build.opensuse.org/package/show?package=b43-openfwwf&project=home%3AFisiu

Ciaran, is ti OK to distribute the package ? The package is now in OBS [1]. This is the license [2]. The issue is also tracked in FATE 306619.


[1] driver:wireless/b43-openfwwf

[2]
/*
 * Opensource firmware for BCM43xx devices with Wireless-Core Revision 5
 *
 *  Copyright (C) 2009          University of Brescia
 *
 *  Copyright (C) 2008, 2009    Lorenzo Nava <navalorenx@gmail.com>
 *                              Francesco Gringoli <francesco.gringoli@ing.unibs.it>                                    
 *  Copyright (C) 2008          Michael Buesch <mb@bu3sch.de>
 *
 *
 *   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 *   modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
 *   version 2, as published by the Free Software Foundation.
 *
 *   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 *   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 *   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 *   GNU General Public License for more details.
 */

No progress here in M6. Any news?
I tried Ubuntu 10.04. They use the hardware configuration tool, which detects hardware and installs drivers, such as b43. It´s easy way for users.

Ping. Anybody is working on this request here?
Btw, Broadcom releasing fully open-source wifi driver. More here:
http://marc.info/?l=linux-wireless&m=128404502308426&w=3
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODU4Mg

(In reply to comment #15)
> Btw, Broadcom releasing fully open-source wifi driver.

Yes, everybody's very exited about that ! Is the firmware OS too ? Then we do not need the b43-fwcutter anymore.

It looks ok to me. Make a request to factory to actually start the review process.

(In reply to comment #17)
> It looks ok to me. Make a request to factory to actually start the review
> process.

From the source-code it seems that the firmware shall be downloaded.

/staging-next-2.6/drivers/staging/bcm> grep fw_ Adapter.h
        struct semaphore        fw_download_sema;
        BOOLEAN                         fw_download_done;
        wait_queue_head_t       ioctl_fw_dnld_wait_queue;
        BOOLEAN                         waiting_to_fw_download_done;
        pid_t                           fw_download_process_pid;

We would have expected the firmware to be downloaded onto the hardware - this is the reason that firmware with an incompatible license can be even shipped (i.e. the firmware license allows free redistribution but no modification).

(In reply to comment #16)
> (In reply to comment #15)
> > Btw, Broadcom releasing fully open-source wifi driver.
> 
> Yes, everybody's very exited about that ! Is the firmware OS too ? Then we do
> not need the b43-fwcutter anymore.

It seems like we need the b43-fwcutter so far, because it supports only 802.11n BCM4313, BCM43224, and BCM43225 chipsets.
In my case i have 802.11g BCM 4318.

(In reply to comment #20)
> It seems like we need the b43-fwcutter so far

The b43-fwcutter will stay in the distribution.

Seems most of the stuff is integrated in Leap/TW. Please open a new report if there are still some changes needed against the respective product.