Paul Gevers wrote:
>> We could replace this with "See the instructions in the DSA (also in
>> the intel-microcode README.Debian)". Mind you, it would be nice if
>> that README started with "TLDR: boot with dis_ucode_ldr"!
>
> To get this straight, you only propose to replace the piece between
> brackets (inclusive) with that right? I think it's worth saying "you can
> recover".
Yes, though I was vaguely thinking that in the process of adding
markup we might reorganise the links, since we don't need full URLs in
the text. Something like
<section id="intel-microcode">
<!-- buster to bullseye -->
<title>Intel CPU microcode issues</title>
<para>
The <systemitem role="package">intel-microcode</systemitem> package
currently in bullseye and buster-security (see <ulink
url="https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-4934";>DSA-4934-1</ulink>)
is known to contain two significant bugs. For some CoffeeLake CPUs this
update <ulink
url="https://github.com/intel/Intel-Linux-Processor-Microcode-Data-Files/issues/56";>may
break network interfaces</ulink> that use <systemitem
role="package">firmware-iwlwifi</systemitem>, and for some Skylake
R0/D0 CPUs on systems using a very outdated firmware/BIOS, <ulink
url="https://github.com/intel/Intel-Linux-Processor-Microcode-Data-Files/issues/31";>the
system may hang on boot</ulink>.
</para>
<para>
If you held back the update from DSA-4934-1 due to either of these
issues, or do not have the security archive enabled, be aware that
upgrading to the <systemitem
role="package">intel-microcode</systemitem> package in bullseye may
cause your system to hang on boot or break iwlwifi. In that case, you
can recover by disabling microcode loading on boot; see the
instructions in the DSA, which are also in the <systemitem
role="package">intel-microcode</systemitem>
<filename>README.Debian</filename>.
</para>
</section>
(When it says "currently in bullseye and buster-security", are there
plans for this to change? If not, drop the "currently"; if so, we
have to remember to update the release notes when it happens.)
--
JBR with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package
