The firmware blobs execute on the peripherals that happen to be software programmable - not on the CPU (or "apps" CPU). And therefore they're not bound to a pa

The firmware blobs execute on the peripherals that happen to be software programmable - not on the CPU (or "apps" CPU). And therefore they're not bound to a particular kernel. IMO the blobs aren't very objectionable while still not ideal. Would I prefer to have the source to software running on all the peripherals? Sure, I would. But once you're programming on the peripherals it narrows significantly the audience who's interested and capable at changing behavior or making fixes. I could be wrong but I think this is actually somewhat common.