Acer Begins Publishing UEFI Firmware Updates For Linux Users On LVFS For Fwupd

[ThoreauHD]

What's wrong with Apple?

I have a 2014 MBP running Linux now; laptop is still supported enough by Apple to have a BIOS date of July this year (which came from Catalina beta; the latest one from Mojave is just a month earlier). Firmware mostly works fine too (have some weird BAR resource allocation issue with Thunderbolt hotplug on Linux; works fine on macOS though).

What other mainstream laptop is still getting BIOS updates of any sort after 5 years?

Getting served a helping of broken shit for 5 years is what I'd call of bonus. But you do you.

[marlock]

but if you can send updates to every machine very often and automatically without the user making even a decision about it, is that then still true?

AFAIK this isn't the case.

LVFS+fwupd (at least as implemented by Ubuntu Software Center and by the new GNOME settings module produced by System76) are detecting firmware updates and letting the user choose to apply these just like they do for any other software update (not mixed in the same list with the rest, in a specific section of the UI, but the same logic).

So it can be applied automatically if some distro decides to do it that way, but it can work as Linux users usually expect any update to work, and the latter is the known common implementation, so we need not fret about remote uninspectable code being automatically applied to the most priviledged execution levels possible (that wouldn't be a solution but instead a big problem with FSF, allowing shady practices like remotely killing or hobling older devices to force users to update, stuff that is unfortunately common in other hardware like IoT and smart-whatever)

t is not true, for example, the acer laptop I had .. or other examples, lenovos.. all of them must be updated through windows, there is no way to do on linux. acer and lenovo, both of them ahm.
and not all the lenovos are supported by lvfs, 10 percent either XD

I'm a bit shocked that a manufacturer would cut that feature out of UEFI and demand windows software to do the work instead. LVFS coverage being mere 10% is a "new thing, work in progress, glad it already has 10%" thing, because it started from nothing, whereas a mobo not supporting firmware update directly via UEFI/BIOS is kind of unexcusable IMHO.

[blackiwid]

you can't do that, why are you interested in non-relevant questions? and btw "if you can send updates to every machine very often and automatically without the user making even a decision about it" then who cares whether this botnet is opensource or not?

Because people can audit the sourcecode of opensource / free software and it's much harder to sneak in stuff there than adding backdoors and rootkits and other stuff to proprietary blobs, obviously...

[amdtesterman]

i think everyone can update through the bios, that's not something to be proud of. user has only one model so it is either his model supports lvfs and he can have nice things or his model doesn't support lvfs and he can't have nice things, or at least not yet

it is not true, for example, the acer laptop I had .. or other examples, lenovos.. all of them must be updated through windows, there is no way to do on linux. acer and lenovo, both of them ahm.
and not all the lenovos are supported by lvfs, 10 percent either XD

[pal666]

sorry, bad spelling, the asus bios system update is better because it can be update through the bios itself, much better than be supported randomly by LVFS, because acer have 1 only model, but dell has little more.. only a few.

i think everyone can update through the bios, that's not something to be proud of. user has only one model so it is either his model supports lvfs and he can have nice things or his model doesn't support lvfs and he can't have nice things, or at least not yet

[pal666]

there is no need for asus at least, they have the possibility to do this with the bios..

surely there is a need to do software update the normal way, without writing it to usb drive first

[pal666]

Firmware/Bios can be seen as hardware according to the FSF if it's a fixed hardware,

doesn't it only matter for members of fsf church?

but if you can send updates to every machine very often and automatically without the user making even a decision about it, is that then still true?

you can't do that, why are you interested in non-relevant questions? and btw "if you can send updates to every machine very often and automatically without the user making even a decision about it" then who cares whether this botnet is opensource or not?

[tildearrow]

But then you need to enter the BIOS and check for updates.
It is really nice if the update manager in the operating system can automatically check for updates in the background and notify you when there are updates available.

I have an idea. Why not download the firmware update to a small filesystem in the motherboard, and then have it reboot to the firware updater menu? This way we have a compromise between stability and ease of use.

But this is the way firmware updates are handled on Mac. On macOS you get firmware updates along with other system software updates. Seems to work good for Apple.

I didn't want to provoke a reply
You know, Apple is out of the picture anyway. Their walled garden is why I won't discuss this matter.

[marlock]

For MOBO updates, obviously the BIOS/UEFI firmware update method has to and obviously will continue to exist.

But:
1- In most cases you can't just enter the UEFI and ask it to check online for a new version on its own. Instead you have to go online via a web browser, navigate through the manufacturer's website to find the exact right update file, save it to a pendrive, reboot into UEFI and apply it. If router firmware update statistics are anything to go by (for a similar or a bit easier procedure), this obviously isn't ideal for security (and there have been a few security issues needing firmware updates)

2- BIOS/UEFI updates can only deliver (or at least usually only deliver) MoBo updates, while LVFS+fwupd can be used for any other components needing firmware too (eg: HD, SSD, NVMe, wifi/bluetooth chips, peripherals like touchpads, etc). Probably ACER's announcement is focused on MoBo updates, but especially in laptops it could use the same infrastructure to handle all firmware on the same system (these have been chosen by ACER for integration into that laptop so they also in theory fall within their responsability to support).

[uid313]

there is no need for asus at least, they have the possibility to do this with the bios..

But then you need to enter the BIOS and check for updates.
It is really nice if the update manager in the operating system can automatically check for updates in the background and notify you when there are updates available.

I think it's safer to update your motherboard's firmware from its own menu. I've heard lots of reports from Windows users having bricked motherboards after doing firmware updates from the OS.

But this is the way firmware updates are handled on Mac. On macOS you get firmware updates along with other system software updates. Seems to work good for Apple.