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Fwupd Linux firmware updating tool has a new major stable release out as of today, version 1.8, which brings numerous new features and improvements, support for new hardware, and other changes.
Fwupd 1.8 comes with support for new devices, which you can now update their firmware under a GNU/Linux distribution. These include CH341A SPI programmer, Corsair Sabre RGB PRO and Slipstream USB receiver, Genesys GL3521 and GL3590 hubs, Google Servo Dock, Logitech M550, M650, and K650 devices, as well as System76’s Launch Lite configurable keyboard.
In addition, fwupd 1.8 adds support for more ELAN fingerprint readers, more integrated Wacom panels, more NovaCustom machines, more StaLabs StarLite laptops, More TUXEDO Computers laptops, FlatFrog devices, and Quectel EM05 LTE Cat 4 IoT modules.
On top of the improved hardware support, fwupd 1.8 introduces several new features like a new attribute for HSI-supported CPUs, new HSI attributes for AMD PSP and other system protections, initial SBoM (Software Bill of Materials) support, as well as support for dumping the MTD image to a firmware blob.
Also new is the fwupdmgr install command, which can be used to install a specified firmware version, the ability to override the detected machine type, which is useful for debugging and development, and the ability to display the device’s serial number and instance IDs by default.
Furthermore, fwupd 1.8 adds the runtime fwupd-efi version as a firmware requirement, takes a device inhibit when updating a device, restarts the BMC (baseboard management controller) after installing BCM (Body Control Module) updates, and uses the CFI (Control Flow Integrity) manufacturer ID to set the hardware vendor.
With this new stable release, fwupd now automatically uses the correct icon for more devices, allows Capsule-on-Disk to work in more cases, allows quirking the detected flashrom flash size, adds signed-payload metadata for more hardware, and fixes many issues.
For more details, check out the full release notes on the project’s GitHub page, from where you can also download the new version if you want to compile it on your favorite GNU/Linux distribution. If compiling software from sources is not your cup of tea, you’ll have to wait for fwupd 1.8 to land in the stable repositories of your distro to update.
Last updated 2 years ago
