** Description changed: [ Impact ] Backporting new firmware for HWE kernels to LTSes is a constant source of pain and always results in problems. To limit the risk we always try to backport only select firmwares that we think are safe but we never get it 100% correct. There main issues are typically: 1. Some backported firmware that the HWE kernel needs is also loaded by the GA kernel which can cause issues for GA kernel users. New firmware with old kernels is a combination that firmware vendors typically don't test and is not really supported. 2. Missing HWE firmwares. Finding the exact firmwares that a particular kernel wants it not trivial. We're constantly missing blobs so when LTS users upgrade to a newer HWE kernel they sometimes experience regressions and HW that used to work no longer does because firmware is missing. We also deliberately exclude firmwares that we *think* might cause issues for GA kernel users. 3. Identifying and backporting firmwares is an expensive task and the results are never satisfying for both the firmware package maintainers and (more importantly) the users. [ Fix ] Introduce a new set of firmware packages: linux-firmware-hwe-<foo>. The idea is that HWE kernels depend on linux-firmware-hwe (instead of linux- firmware) which installs the same firmware binaries as the Ubuntu release where the HWE kernel comes from. Take Resolute as an example. The first HWE kernel for Resolute will be 7.3 from Stonking. The new set of linux-firmware-hwe for Resolute will be a backport of linux-firmware from Stonking. The full set, no backporting of individual blobs. That way we have the same combination of kernel+firmware in both the interim and the LTS releases. The caveat with this is that it's not possible to have both linux- firmware and linux-firmware-hwe installed at the same time (we might work around that in the future). So you either have the firmwares for the GA kernel *or* the firmwares for the HWE kernel. But you can have both GA *and* HWE kernels installed at the same time. So depending on which kernel and which firmware you have installed or selected to boot, you can still run a combination of old kernel + new firmware or new kernel + old firmware. + Note that linux-firmware-hwe-<foo> in interim releases will just be + metapackages that depend on linux-firmware-<foo>. + [ Test Case ] TBD [ Where Problems Could Occur ] TBD
-- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2170922 Title: Introduce linux-firmware-hwe To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-firmware/+bug/2170922/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
