where do camera profiles come from?

408wij  wrote they the fruit of Adobe attempting to emulate the camera's profile

This is the short answer.

DdeGannes gives a nice long answer.

Each and every camera manufacturer have their own proprietary software which they develop and or update for a new camera model. Software is utilized in Camera to produce jpeg image files and is  referred to as firmware. The camera manufacturer allow the saving of the raw data to the storage to the flash card in the camera. The camera manufacturer will provide software to install on your computer which allows you to utilize both the raw data and the produced jpeg for further editing. This software is proprietary and not shared.

Adobe , Phase one, ACD See, DXO, One 1 and many others are third party software providers that produce and develop their own software for the processing of raw data from digital cameras each of them have their special profiles, processes etc which are proprietary.

You as the user have a choice as to which “recipe” you will use to process the raw data.

This is a very basic as to how the raw processing works, the likes of Adobe also allow a DNG profile Creator to allow you to create profiles of your own which can be specific to your camera model. Other software allow similar processes.