Linux 6.7 Overhauls x86 CPU Microcode Loading

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Linux 6.7 Overhauls x86 CPU Microcode Loading

Recently there has been a fair amount of work done to clean-up the Intel/AMD x86 CPU microcode loading on Linux that has now been merged for Linux 6.7...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.7-x86-Microcode

[vextium]

We need an overhaul of x86 code overall tbh

[clippy]

We need an overhaul of x86 code overall tbh

Could you elaborate on that, please? I'm genuinely curious.

[caligula]

So this is only relevant for 32-bit Linux, not 64-bit?

[Michael]

So this is only relevant for 32-bit Linux, not 64-bit?

No, it's for all x86-based processors.

[jindam]

Do not load microcode on 32-bit before paging has been ...... code and unnecessary hacks in the past. And there really wasn't any sensible reason to do that in the first place.... nice, root issue is identified and fixed

[fitzie]

Could you elaborate on that, please? I'm genuinely curious.

Perhaps it's the increasing regrets of the unified arch introduced back in 2007 (here: https://lkml.org/lkml/2007/7/20/447 )

From https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/2023071...linutronix.de/

But x86 is (still) alive and being extended and expanded. That means that
any refactoring of common infrastructure has to take the broken hardware
museum into account. It's doable, but it's not pretty and of really
questionable value. I wouldn't mind if there were a bunch of museum
attendants actively working on it with taste, but that's obviously wishful
thinking. We are even short of people with taste who work on contemporary
hardware support...