Linux-firmware >= 20250613.12fe085f-5 upgrade requires manual intervention

Announcements and news
83

With today’s linux-firmware update, I tested rebooting after the broken pipe error without first doing a sudo reinstall-kernels.

Worked out fine, seems to confirm it being a non-critical error in my case. Still disturbing and should be fixed, I’m thinking.

I now have, like before, the the “standard set” of needed (and unneeded) firmware modules:

$ pacman -Qs linux-firmware
local/linux-firmware 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Default set
local/linux-firmware-amdgpu 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for AMD Radeon GPUs
local/linux-firmware-atheros 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for Qualcomm Atheros WiFi and Bluetooth
    adapters
local/linux-firmware-broadcom 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for Broadcom and Cypress network
    adapters
local/linux-firmware-cirrus 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for Cirrus Logic audio devices
local/linux-firmware-intel 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for Intel devices
local/linux-firmware-mediatek 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for MediaTek and Ralink devices
local/linux-firmware-nvidia 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for NVIDIA GPUs and SoCs
local/linux-firmware-other 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Unsorted firmware for various devices
local/linux-firmware-radeon 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for ATI Radeon GPUs
local/linux-firmware-realtek 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for Realtek devices
local/linux-firmware-whence 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - WHENCE file (vendor licenses)

I’ll leave the “unneeded” in, just in case. You never know if you have to move the system to a different hardware at some point in time. As opposed to Windows, I always loved the possibility to “just move” a Linux system, and it would usually just work on a different hardware.

84

You can’t uninstall them unless they’re optional.

Depends On      : linux-firmware-amdgpu  linux-firmware-atheros  linux-firmware-broadcom  linux-firmware-intel
                  linux-firmware-mediatek  linux-firmware-nvidia  linux-firmware-other  linux-firmware-radeon
                  linux-firmware-realtek
Optional Deps   : linux-firmware-cirrus: Firmware for Cirrus Logic audio devices
                  linux-firmware-liquidio: Firmware for Cavium LiquidIO server adapters
                  linux-firmware-marvell: Firmware for Marvell devices
                  linux-firmware-mellanox: Firmware for Mellanox Spectrum switches
                  linux-firmware-nfp: Firmware for Netronome Flow Processors
                  linux-firmware-qcom: Firmware for Qualcomm SoCs
                  linux-firmware-qlogic: Firmware for QLogic devices
85

You can if you dont keep the linux-firmware-meta metapackage installed.

2 Likes
86

linux-firmware is uninstalled on my side. It’s not needed anymore i assume since installing does not work either when you delete and block others firmware files.

michel@michel-crosshair15b12ugsz ~]$ sudo pacman -S linux-firmware
[sudo] wachtwoord voor michel: 
afhankelijkheden oplossen...
waarschuwing:pakket linux-firmware-amdgpu-20250613.12fe085f-9 wordt genegeerd
waarschuwing:kan "linux-firmware-amdgpu", een afhankelijkheid van "linux-firmware", niet vinden
waarschuwing:pakket linux-firmware-atheros-20250613.12fe085f-9 wordt genegeerd
waarschuwing:kan "linux-firmware-atheros", een afhankelijkheid van "linux-firmware", niet vinden
waarschuwing:pakket linux-firmware-broadcom-20250613.12fe085f-9 wordt genegeerd
waarschuwing:kan "linux-firmware-broadcom", een afhankelijkheid van "linux-firmware", niet vinden
waarschuwing:pakket linux-firmware-mediatek-20250613.12fe085f-9 wordt genegeerd
waarschuwing:kan "linux-firmware-mediatek", een afhankelijkheid van "linux-firmware", niet vinden
waarschuwing:pakket linux-firmware-radeon-20250613.12fe085f-9 wordt genegeerd
waarschuwing:kan "linux-firmware-radeon", een afhankelijkheid van "linux-firmware", niet vinden
:: Het volgende pakket kan niet worden geüpgrade vanwege onoplosbare afhankelijkheden:
      linux-firmware

:: Wilt u bovenstaand pakket overslaan voor deze upgrade? [j/N]
87

Tip: prefix the command with LANG=C

LANG=C sudo pacman -S linux-firmware
88 
[michel@michel-crosshair15b12ugsz ~]$ LANG=C sudo pacman -S linux-firmware
[sudo] password for michel: 
resolving dependencies...
warning: ignoring package linux-firmware-amdgpu-20250613.12fe085f-9
warning: cannot resolve "linux-firmware-amdgpu", a dependency of "linux-firmware"
warning: ignoring package linux-firmware-atheros-20250613.12fe085f-9
warning: cannot resolve "linux-firmware-atheros", a dependency of "linux-firmware"
warning: ignoring package linux-firmware-broadcom-20250613.12fe085f-9
warning: cannot resolve "linux-firmware-broadcom", a dependency of "linux-firmware"
warning: ignoring package linux-firmware-mediatek-20250613.12fe085f-9
warning: cannot resolve "linux-firmware-mediatek", a dependency of "linux-firmware"
warning: ignoring package linux-firmware-radeon-20250613.12fe085f-9
warning: cannot resolve "linux-firmware-radeon", a dependency of "linux-firmware"
:: The following package cannot be upgraded due to unresolvable dependencies:
      linux-firmware

:: Do you want to skip the above package for this upgrade? [y/N]

[michel@michel-crosshair15b12ugsz ~]$ LANG=C sudo pacman -Ss linux-firmware
core/linux-firmware 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Default set
core/linux-firmware-amdgpu 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for AMD Radeon GPUs
core/linux-firmware-atheros 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for Qualcomm Atheros WiFi and Bluetooth adapters
core/linux-firmware-broadcom 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for Broadcom and Cypress network adapters
core/linux-firmware-cirrus 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for Cirrus Logic audio devices
core/linux-firmware-intel 20250613.12fe085f-9 [installed]
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for Intel devices
core/linux-firmware-liquidio 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for Cavium LiquidIO server adapters
core/linux-firmware-marvell 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for Marvell devices
core/linux-firmware-mediatek 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for MediaTek and Ralink devices
core/linux-firmware-mellanox 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for Mellanox Spectrum switches
core/linux-firmware-nfp 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for Netronome Flow Processors
core/linux-firmware-nvidia 20250613.12fe085f-9 [installed]
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for NVIDIA GPUs and SoCs
core/linux-firmware-other 20250613.12fe085f-9 [installed]
    Firmware files for Linux - Unsorted firmware for various devices
core/linux-firmware-qcom 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for Qualcomm SoCs
core/linux-firmware-qlogic 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for QLogic devices
core/linux-firmware-radeon 20250613.12fe085f-9
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for ATI Radeon GPUs
core/linux-firmware-realtek 20250613.12fe085f-9 [installed]
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for Realtek devices
core/linux-firmware-whence 20250613.12fe085f-9 [installed]
    Firmware files for Linux - WHENCE file (vendor licenses)
89

Your welcome!

With the today released -9 version, it is now safe to update.

sudo pacman -Rdd linux-firmware
sudo pacman -Syu linux-firmware
rebbot
1 Like
90

Looks like instead of option -S you need -Syu to upgrade, right?

91

I used yay, the standard linux-firmware will not update if you put some firmware files in the pacman.conf that i dont need (amd for sample)

My other firmware files gets updated like nvidia, intel and so on. Linux-firmware needs everything.

92

the update from linux-firmware to 20250613.12fe085f-9 update works with my rx 9070 xt again

93

Oh, now that output makes sense. Whenever installing linux-firmware you ask the system to install all (non-optional) firmware packages, which it fails to resolve if some of them are ignored in pacman.conf.

If you for example don’t need/want linux-firmware-amdgpu you uninstall it including the global linux-firmware meta package.

1 Like
94

Yes that is correct

95

Makes sense, in that case you don’t “need” linux-firmware anymore, you manage the firmware packages yourself.

It was just somewhat confusing, it looked like you wanted to install it but wasn’t able to, @manuel was probably under that impression (as was I).

96

That was my first impression too, but now it is clear.

I’d recommend using linux-firmware as-is to avoid further complications unless there’s a compelling reason to do something else.

97

Theres not really much of a complication.

I am not sure what the other user is trying to communicate is all that clear .. if they did go and manually ignore some specific packages or files as they indicate .. then I do not understand why that would be necessary.

Just dont use the meta package.

If you did this without some sort of reinstall dance then that means marking the desired ones as installed explicitly along with removing the meta package.

Its not very complicated, and for single-machine systems there really is no reason to keep a bunch of firmware files around that are unneeded. I might even think there could be performance impacts, even if minutely or only affecting minor scenarios like boot time.

Example:

But it is also true that ultimately it is user choice and nothing should be broken by keeping the unneeded packages around. Scared or inexperienced users may safely retain them.

98

You forgot lazy users like me :slight_smile:

3 Likes
99

I just wanted to add 2 cents of my experience with this update.
After I’ve done the update, my GPU was unrecognized (9070 XT). When I installed linux-firmware-amdgpu nothing was rendering. So I’ve chrooted from a live USB and sudo reinstall-kernels on my system which fixed that issue.
Unfortunately I had a bunch of more issues later. The system felt unstable, it was hanging on basic tasks or when launching some games. What’s worse, I didn’t matter if I left my PC idling or when I had a game running, I was getting memory shortage avoided kernel error messages. The system shut down my browser, Steam, CoolerControl and few other programs to safe memory. I’ve got 32GB of RAM so that definitely wasn’t an issue.

I had enough so I downgraded linux-firmware and linux-firmware-whence and I’ll wait for a fix.

100

ok so this is what i did
ran

pacman -Rdd linux-firmware

then

pacman -Syu linux-firmware

then

yay

didn’t get these anymore

linux-firmware-nvidia: /usr/lib/firmware/nvidia/ad103 exists in filesystem
linux-firmware-nvidia: /usr/lib/firmware/nvidia/ad104 exists in filesystem
linux-firmware-nvidia: /usr/lib/firmware/nvidia/ad106 exists in filesystem
linux-firmware-nvidia: /usr/lib/firmware/nvidia/ad107 exists in filesystem

but i got this

[jp@jp14 ~]$ yay
[sudo] password for jp: 
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 endeavouros is up to date
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
 multilib is up to date
error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com : Resolving timed out after 10000 milliseconds
error: failed retrieving file 'extra.db' from geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com : Resolving timed out after 10000 milliseconds
error: failed retrieving file 'multilib.db' from geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com : Resolving timed out after 10000 milliseconds
warning: too many errors from geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
:: Searching AUR for updates...
:: Searching databases for updates...
 -> dracut: local (107-1) is newer than endeavouros (106-1)
 there is nothing to do
[jp@jp14 ~]$

anything to worry about ?
updating or whatever mirror list with this sudo reflector --protocol https --sort rate --fastest 25 --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist takes forever and i quit before it’s done .

101

looks like network hickup at the moment for you may do not use the worldwide mirrors

102

Thanks for the heads-up. I was about to look on the community for this and i received the notification on my email. The fix works, I just need to reboot after i type this msg.

To the devs and everyone else here, have a great day!