Only thing I got from a discussion from an HP person was that it will be server BIOS only that'll be impacted, as noted in their posted information (see URL in my opening post)
1.What is the scope of this change?
This change affects ProLiant system ROM and complex programming logic devices (CPLD) firmware. Validation is not required for iLO, I/O, or controller firmware.
Safety and security related updates for all firmware will remain available without validation.
So, drivers, smart array, etc won't be impacted. Guessing server BIOS will just fail to be updating going forward, but yet to be seen.
My repository hasn't had any new files in quite a while. Haven't checked yet to see if because no updates have been made available, something wrong with my repository, or because HP's hiding things from the repository.