[HN Gopher] LVFS - Linux Vendor Firmware Service
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LVFS - Linux Vendor Firmware Service
Author : nickexyz
Score : 60 points
Date : 2023-02-04 15:41 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (fwupd.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (fwupd.org)
| jmclnx wrote:
| As mentioned, I did not know this exists either, but I wonder
| what they consider a "Major Linux Distro" ?
|
| > This site is used by all major Linux distributions to provide
| metadata for clients such as fwupdmgr and GNOME Software.
|
| Based upon that statement and the fact fwupdmgr does not come
| with Slackware, maybe major equates to GNOME Based ?
|
| But with some extra work, looks like this could be useful for
| non-GNOME distros.
| johnny22 wrote:
| fwupd has nothing to do with gnome. It's a cli program and
| library. That library can be integrated with guis, but it works
| standalone.
| mindslight wrote:
| I wouldn't take it too literally, rather it's just a way of
| marketing its popularity.
|
| Is there an alternative organization that gathers firmware that
| ends up on Slackware? If so, then sure there is an argument to
| be made that companies need to pay attention to both and one
| shouldn't be claiming to be fully authoritative. But if not,
| then progress would be Slack getting firmware updates from
| here, if the distro is interested in such things.
| CameronNemo wrote:
| Yeah I worry if you change that statement and put an asterisk
| like " _most_ major distros ", vendors might take it less
| seriously. It does sort of set you up for a no true Scotsman
| discussion, though.
|
| Also Slackware does have fwupd, at least in its "SlackBuilds"
| system where a lot of optional packages end up AFAICT.
| hughsient wrote:
| Is Slackware a major Linux distribution? There's nothing wrong
| with Slackware, and no reason why fwupd wouldn't work on that
| distro -- but it's not one that most people would considered
| "major" IMHO. There are no GNOME deps on fwupd, although there
| are a couple of GNOME frontends available -- as there is also a
| CLI and KDE frontend.
| CameronNemo wrote:
| Slackware is the oldest active Linux distribution.
| jonathantf2 wrote:
| Older doesn't mean major though.
| CameronNemo wrote:
| Subjective. Debatable.
| bitwize wrote:
| "Major" = RHEL, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, perhaps also Arch.
|
| Slackware is niche, sorry.
| CameronNemo wrote:
| Not niche enough, AFAICT
|
| https://slackbuilds.org/repository/15.0/system/fwupd/
| josteink wrote:
| Arch is the new "big" distro among Linux gamers. It seems to
| be taking market share from Ubuntu.
|
| And yes, fwupdmgr works fine on Arch too.
| Macha wrote:
| Also the Steam Deck is Arch derived, so I think there's a
| good chance after this year that Arch is actually the most
| common desktop Linux family.
| mesebrec wrote:
| Amazing project! It's incredibly well engineered, imo.
|
| It's really nice to read the author's blogposts describing how he
| forces hardware vendors to get their shit together and either use
| a standardized update mechanism or create a thoroughly tested
| open source plugin.
|
| I remember the first time I got a Dell laptop and put Ubuntu on
| it, GNOME Software immediately prompted me to install a firmware
| update. I was so amazed by this. It really felt like Ubuntu was
| finally a first-class citizen. I'm still completely sold on Dell
| because of this experience. Sadly they still don't upload all the
| firmware for all machines. I have no idea why though..
| hughsient wrote:
| _blush_ -- my blog is https://blogs.gnome.org/hughsie/ for the
| important stuff, and https://mastodon.social/@hughsie is for
| the inane stuff.
| nickexyz wrote:
| I actually did not know this existed. Found the project after all
| the Samsung SSD talk.
|
| Unfortunately it doesn't seem like Samsung is uploading that much
| firmware. "Is uploading firmware on behalf of other vendors"
| according to the site.
| hughsient wrote:
| Make sure you open a support ticket asking for LVFS updates --
| it's easy to ignore one person, but much harder to ignore
| hundreds of people asking for the same thing.
| nickexyz wrote:
| That is a good point, will do!
|
| With most things I just complain a bit and then go on with my
| life, but this actually feels like it could work. Samsung
| does already release some sort of broken Linux livecd for fw
| updates, seems like LVFS would be easier for everyone.
| hughsient wrote:
| Samsung actually upload firmware to the LVFS on behalf of a
| few different OEMs, so they certainly know how. It's a
| policy decision, not a technical or legal one.
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| Don't know much about it yet, and it is undoubtedly is a useful
| service. However looking at that page boasting telemetry and
| noticing an always running fwupd process running here as root it
| looks like this is probably leaking information thru its comm
| channel.
|
| Does anyone know why this is running 24/7? I don't expect my
| firmware to be changing minute to minute. I need to get
| OpenSnitch running to keep an eye on these things, heard it was
| making it into Debian and hopefully derivatives soon.
| hughsient wrote:
| > this is probably leaking information thru its comm channel
|
| It's really not. The fwupd process doesn't have any internet
| access at all -- all communication is done through a socket
| over DBus. All the telemetry is done with the user explicitly
| opting in -- we even show the JSON in the terminal that is
| going to be sent.
|
| > Does anyone know why this is running 24/7
|
| We auto-quit on idle or for low memory conditions -- unless you
| have hardware that's expensive (either in terms of power, or
| time) like thunderbolt and synaptics MST. The resident RSS is
| _tiny_ as we mmap all the data files which can be paged out by
| the kernel -- we can even run fwupd on the tiny BMC processor
| as well. I 'd be interested in what OpenSnitch says, but the
| D-Bus interface is the only way in and out. Interesting, the
| daemon doesn't actually do any policy actions itself; all
| actions have to be initiated by the front end -- which includes
| downloading new firmware metadata.
| jeffbee wrote:
| Oh no "leaking telemetry". Heavens.
|
| I think what yesterday's SSD discussion revealed is that an
| open database of "leaked" SMART data would be of immense value
| to users and should have happened years ago. It sucks that
| privacy derangement vetoes the development of things of real
| value.
| [deleted]
| rmolin88 wrote:
| I use `fwupd`[0] all of the time.
|
| Mandatory: I use arch btw :D
|
| [0](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/fwupd)
| 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
| One of the cool things about Fedora or Arch is we get to see
| these changes in their infancy before most are aware. This,
| pipewire, etc.
|
| https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/SystemFirmwareUpdates
| CameronNemo wrote:
| I mean... any distribution is like that, no? Pipewire for
| example has been in Debian since two releases ago. You would
| probably not to run it on those releases unless you were
| building your own up-to-date bug-fixed packages from a custom
| repo, but that is not out of the question especially with
| CI/CD being what it is nowadays.
| vetinari wrote:
| Was it?
|
| > Using as a substitute for PulseAudio/JACK/ALSA
|
| > Debian 11
|
| > As per Simon McVittie, "This is not a supported scenario
| for Debian 11, and is considered experimental."
|
| (Debian Wiki, PipeWire)
|
| In Fedora, it is default since Fedora 35 (released in
| 2021/11).
| kieranl wrote:
| As a hardware developer lvfs and fwupd is amazing. It has support
| for all kinds of standard update protocols. So if you build a
| product and use a standardized update mechanism, it is super easy
| to get updates on lvfs.
|
| The other thing that is great is the testing and validation
| groups allows you to setup target groups so you can fully
| validate your updates internally before staging rollouts.
|
| Also @hughsient is really responsive at fixing issues.
|
| We use fwupd at Framework Computer.
| tcyrus wrote:
| I'm trying to make custom firmware archives for hardware that I
| use, but the docs are a bit confusing in some places.
| hughsient wrote:
| Can you open up a discussion on the fwupd GitHub project
| please, and maybe we can make things better.
| tcyrus wrote:
| Will do.
| zamalek wrote:
| This is honestly a gigantic ad for Dell and Lenovo. Looking at
| the vendor list substantially changed my opinion on Dell in a
| matter of minutes.
| booi wrote:
| Dell has a pretty good record for providing firmware updates
| without too much hassle. Although it does seem like they ship
| product with.. a lot of problems.
|
| We bought a 10gbit enabled PowerConnect switch only to learn
| that the "10gbit" part didn't actually work until they released
| a new firmware.
| mesebrec wrote:
| I just wrote in a different comment that this completely sold
| me on Dell.
|
| I got a Dell laptop from work with Windows on it. Installed
| Ubuntu and it immediately prompted me to update the firmware.
| What an amazing experience!
|
| I always recommend Dell to people looking for a Linux laptop.
| Although I hear Lenovo started to get their shit together too
| in the last few years.
| josteink wrote:
| fwupdmgr is amazing.
|
| It's like a package-manager for system firmware. For the devices
| supported, it feels infinitely better than downloading random
| files from the various vendor-sites on the internet and running
| setup wizards and all kinds of bloated inconsistent nonsense.
|
| I'd argue fwupdmgr actually represents something objectively done
| better on Linux than Windows, and my only complaint overall is
| that not enough vendors are supporting it.
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(page generated 2023-02-04 23:00 UTC)