fwupd

This project aims to make updating firmware on Linux automatic, safe and reliable.

Additional information is available at the website: http://www.fwupd.org

Compiling

fwupd uses the Meson build system for compilation. All building is done in a temporary directory, and autotools is not required.

Create the build directory

# mkdir -p build; pushd build

Generate the build script

This is done relative to the location of meson.build. Any missing dependencies will be mentioned while running meson.

By default meson places /etc and /var under the prefix, which works incorrectly with fwupd. Unless you have a version of meson with the fix for https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/issues/1637 you will need to build setting sysconfdir and localstatedir manually.

# meson --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var ..

The default compilation options are documented in meson_options.txt in the root of the build tree. If you would like to override any option. you can do so when generating the build rules. For example to disable the DELL plugin you would run meson like this:

# meson --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var -Denable-dell=false ..

Compile using ninja

Compilation is executed by one command:

# ninja

Common problems

While compiling policykit policy: /home/user/jhbuild/install/bin/msgfmt: cannot locate ITS rules for org.freedesktop.fwupd.policy.in

• This is caused by an older version of polkit (0.113 or older). Some distros have patched polkit 0.113 to contain ITS rules. See https://github.com/hughsie/fwupd/issues/107 for the most up to date information

Install using ninja

# sudo ninja install

Distribution packages

Scripts for generating distribution packages are available in the contrib for popular distributions.

Adding a new plugin

An extensible architecture allows for providing new plugin types (for reading and writing different firmware) as well as ways quirk their behavior.

You can find more information about the architecture in the developers section of the fwupd website.

If you have a firmware specification and would like to see support in this project, please file an issue and share the spec. Patches are also welcome.

LVFS

This project is configured by default to download firmware from the Linux Vendor Firmware Service (LVFS).

This service is available to all OEMs and firmware creators who would like to make their firmware available to Linux users.

You can find more information about the technical details of creating a firmware capsule in the hardware vendors section of the fwupd website.

Basic usage flow (command line)

If you have a device with firmware supported by fwupd, this is how you will check for updates and apply them using fwupd's command line tools.

# fwupdmgr get-devices

This will display all devices detected by fwupd.

# fwupdmgr refresh

This will download the latest metadata from LVFS.

# fwupdmgr get-updates

If updates are available for any devices on the system, they'll be displayed.

# fwupdmgr update

This will download and apply all updates for your system.

• Updates that can be applied live (Online updates) will be done immediately.
• Updates that require a reboot (Offline updates) will be staged for the next reboot.

You can find more information about the update workflow in the end users section of the fwupd website.

Other frontends

Currently GNOME Software is the only graphical frontend available. When compiled with firmware support, it will check for updates periodically and automatically download firmware in the background.

After the firmware has been downloaded a popup will be displayed in Gnome Software to perform the update.

On Dell IoT gateways, Wyse Cloud Client Manager (CCM) has been built with fwupd support. The remote administration interface can be used to download and deploy firmware updates.