linux-firmware dependencies

guiodic · 2025-06-23 09:32:08

The linux-firmware package is strictly dependent on certain firmware that may be optional, e.g. in my case:

linux-firmware-amdgpu
linux-firmware-nvidia
linux-firmware-radeon

How come this choice?

Lone_Wolf · 2025-06-23 09:46:26

Until 2 days ago all firmware files were in 1 package, so you always had all of them.
Arch devs have split the files, now you can remove firmware parts you don't need.

I currently only have 3 linux-firmware-* packages.

$ pacman -Qs linux-firmware
local/linux-firmware-amdgpu 20250613.12fe085f-6
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for AMD Radeon GPUs
local/linux-firmware-intel 20250613.12fe085f-6
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for Intel devices
local/linux-firmware-whence 20250613.12fe085f-6
    Firmware files for Linux - WHENCE file (vendor licenses)
$

See https://archlinux.org/news/linux-firmwa … ervention/ and https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Linux_firmware

guiodic · 2025-06-23 09:55:56

Until 2 days ago all firmware files were in 1 package, so you always had all of them.

I know.

I currently only have 3 linux-firmware-* packages.

Yes, but you had to uninstall the meta-package which is not necessarily a good idea. For example, if at some point the developers decide to split linux-firmware-intel in two (gpu and network cards) and make them both linux-firmware-dependent, you risk finding yourself without the right firmware. For goodness sake, this is something that is easily dealt with if you realise it right away, but it can still cause you problems.

Lone_Wolf · 2025-06-23 10:15:20

That is ofcourse possible, but I follow Arch-dev-public & Arch-announce mailing lists .
So I usually am aware of big changes before they're implemented .

I also have atleast one usb stick with recent arch iso around and an archlinux laptop as backup/portable system

There's a reason archlinux is often called a Do It Yourself distribution.

guiodic · 2025-06-23 10:41:19

Lone_Wolf wrote:

There's a reason archlinux is often called a Do It Yourself distribution.

Do It Yourself does not mean 'Make things unnecessarily more complicated for the user'.

Lone_Wolf · 2025-06-23 11:05:48

I tend to prefer having only needed stuff on my systems even though it may be more complicated to setup.
Being able to finally get rid of (some) firmware I have no need for is an improvement in my book.

guiodic · 2025-06-23 11:07:16

Lone_Wolf wrote:

I tend to prefer having only needed stuff on my systems even though it may be more complicated to setup.
Being able to finally get rid of (some) firmware I have no need for is an improvement in my book.

That is exactly what I say. That is why packages should be optional.

stanczew · 2025-06-23 12:02:47

guiodic wrote:

For example, if at some point the developers decide to split linux-firmware-intel in two (gpu and network cards) and make them both linux-firmware-dependent, you risk finding yourself without the right firmware. For goodness sake, this is something that is easily dealt with if you realise it right away, but it can still cause you problems.

Except it's the exact opposite? The new packages would get automatically installed if they are hard dependencies of the metapackage, and they would not get automatically installed if they are optional dependencies.
If all the specific firmware packages were optdepends (instead of depends) of the metapackage, then a basic system update would leave you without any firmware (only new, empty linux-firmware package would get installed).
Every user would need to do manual intervention on this update, and explicitly install their required firmware packages. And what if someone doesn't know which firmware packages they need? The only safe recommendation would be to install all the firmware packages anyway.
Current solution makes it so that a system update preserves previous behavior – all firmware that was installed before, will still be installed after. It's literally the least complicated approach for the end user.

seth · 2025-06-23 12:27:27

All firmware packages are optional (but if you need them your HW won't work if you opt out)
The linux-firmware meta pacakge is rather transitional, you had it, you keep it - incl. all the sub-packages that previously were part of it.

Your job now is to figure and decide which FW packages to keep, explicitly install those and then remove the rest - including the linux-firmware metapackage.

Xwang · 2025-06-23 21:05:52

seth wrote:

All firmware packages are optional (but if you need them your HW won't work if you opt out)
The linux-firmware meta pacakge is rather transitional, you had it, you keep it - incl. all the sub-packages that previously were part of it.
Your job now is to figure and decide which FW packages to keep, explicitly install those and then remove the rest - including the linux-firmware metapackage.

Running journalctl -kg 'loaded f'

I got:

giu 23 22:49:28 D9330 kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: Loaded FW: i915/adlp_dmc.bin, sha256: 3516de2e134ddcf3b319c75d2e437779fecbd58cbb77234bd6f297c544e92ccb
giu 23 22:49:28 D9330 kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: Loaded FW: i915/adlp_guc_70.bin, sha256: 451ee39d1dcd0c8169dfb6af7b585e4873e8bf5ca72e7625e4d79b9cc66c2f4c
giu 23 22:49:28 D9330 kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: Loaded FW: i915/tgl_huc.bin, sha256: dbb1316bac13a76427ffa7827e52b5b9affe8a4cadd23dc22e2a54e35c53bdad
giu 23 22:49:28 D9330 kernel: platform regulatory.0: Loaded FW: regulatory.db, sha256: d67150c8925a98a4783c2c9a3e652b5a21fcdf8119875e1d2860c7c180fa98f8
giu 23 22:49:28 D9330 kernel: platform regulatory.0: Loaded FW: regulatory.db.p7s, sha256: 704ba48e3b12a28d3ed9411e526f127870201ba5007ee0c17ae92dafe2444fa5
giu 23 22:49:29 D9330 kernel: iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Loaded FW: iwlwifi-so-a0-gf-a0-89.ucode, sha256: 6124dc3d20953ae80a923b806800142e8bfbfa7c7d25a6c311dbac5882c1cc3b
giu 23 22:49:29 D9330 kernel: iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: loaded firmware version 89.af655058.0 so-a0-gf-a0-89.ucode op_mode iwlmvm
giu 23 22:49:30 D9330 kernel: bluetooth hci0: Loaded FW: intel/ibt-0040-0041.sfi, sha256: 466bcf705485727cc88f60859c4db6c224e2fcd4d466d7f13cc08b956075b19a
giu 23 22:49:30 D9330 kernel: iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Loaded FW: iwlwifi-so-a0-gf-a0.pnvm, sha256: 033fd2a1a83f75c38ccbfe81f207116aacb60619b4081bd6e5b82a7729d726a9
giu 23 22:49:30 D9330 kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl 0000:00:1f.3: Loaded FW: intel/sof/sof-adl.ri, sha256: 294e5a51b1d3fc4ceda57780927c2a2ec95bb5d23477f879a9fb648c6c01cb30
giu 23 22:49:30 D9330 kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl 0000:00:1f.3: Loaded FW: intel/sof-tplg/sof-adl-rt711-l0-rt1316-l12-rt714-l3.tplg, sha256: 7b39ecccdf96ccaddafbbbb3c9ba2b5b0e1dda024c4>
giu 23 22:49:30 D9330 kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl 0000:00:1f.3: Loaded FW: intel/sof/sof-adl.ri, sha256: 294e5a51b1d3fc4ceda57780927c2a2ec95bb5d23477f879a9fb648c6c01cb30
giu 23 22:49:31 D9330 kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl 0000:00:1f.3: Loaded FW: intel/sof-tplg/sof-adl-rt711-l0-rt1316-l12-rt714-l3.tplg, sha256: 7b39ecccdf96ccaddafbbbb3c9ba2b5b0e1dda024c4>
giu 23 22:49:31 D9330 kernel: bluetooth hci0: Loaded FW: intel/ibt-0040-0041.ddc, sha256: fe272982577efdc289cfe3e8bedafca607c0b7d6c9df1aab1880e22ef930d077

I think I need linux-firmware-intel, but I'm not sure from which package contains regulatory.db and if I need any other firmware packages. How can I find which package contains each of these firmware files? I've tried to execute pacman -Qo ibt-0040-0041.ddc , but I got no package.

seth · 2025-06-23 21:27:16

"pacman -F"

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Networ … ory_domain - but that's completely unrelated to the linux-firmware package or the recent split.
Likewise https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x8 … -firmware/ has always been "special" - rest looks like it's just intel.

Xwang · 2025-06-23 21:53:37

seth wrote:

"pacman -F"
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Networ … ory_domain - but that's completely unrelated to the linux-firmware package or the recent split.
Likewise https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x8 … -firmware/ has always been "special" - rest looks like it's just intel.

Thank you, I've removed the linux-firmware and reinstalled only the linux-firmware-intel (and its dependencies) and I got the same output and everything seems working as before.

Arch Linux

#1 2025-06-23 09:32:08

linux-firmware dependencies

#2 2025-06-23 09:46:26

Re: linux-firmware dependencies

#3 2025-06-23 09:55:56

Re: linux-firmware dependencies

#4 2025-06-23 10:15:20

Re: linux-firmware dependencies

#5 2025-06-23 10:41:19

Re: linux-firmware dependencies

#6 2025-06-23 11:05:48

Re: linux-firmware dependencies

#7 2025-06-23 11:07:16

Re: linux-firmware dependencies

#8 2025-06-23 12:02:47

Re: linux-firmware dependencies

#9 2025-06-23 12:27:27

Re: linux-firmware dependencies

#10 2025-06-23 21:05:52

Re: linux-firmware dependencies

#11 2025-06-23 21:27:16

Re: linux-firmware dependencies

#12 2025-06-23 21:53:37

Re: linux-firmware dependencies

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