Is checking out older linux-firmware fine?

Issues & Assistance Newbies
,
1

Hello everyone,

Wayland was crashing for me this morning (while I was playing Age of Wonders 4 through Heroic) and I found this ticket: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/-/issues/3539

The instructions there made me clone the repository of linux-firmware, checkout a commit from May 23 2023 at 11:23:39 (GMT-4) then revert the modifications from two commits and then install.
I lacked the knowledge to really understand what I was doing, but a least I knew the repo was not malicious (right?).

Wayland did not crash since (or any other issue) but as I understand, I have changed my installed version of linux-firmware (for AMD graphics only, maybe?) for a more than a year old version (and with some commits removed).

What will happen on this system next?
The next update of linux-firmware will override the modications made?
Or maybe the update system (using garuda-update command) maybe not like the situation?

Thank you for your time.

2

Please, follow the template and post garuda-inxi from terminal as text.

Check last lines if the PC is partially upgraded.

3

So as for your question about the repository being malicious then as long as you cloned the real source repository, you should be fine.

Yes, the next system update will indeed override your linux-firmware package if there is an update for it, replacing it with the latest version available at the time.

To avoid updating this package, type in :
sudo micro /etc/pacman.conf in a terminal

Then find the line with IgnorePkg= . If it has a # at the beginning of the line, remove it and in front of the = sign, type in linux-firmware
.

So you will be left with something like this:
IgnorePkg = linux-firmware .

Save the file, run a garuda-update and you should be good to go. If there is a package which crucially depends on the latest linux-firmware package, then you might have trouble updating but I don’t think there exist any such packages which a standard user will have installed and make use of.

As long as you currently don’t have any major issues with your system which hampers functionality occuring after this custom install of yours, you should be very much stable.

2 Likes
4

Garuda comes with micro, so, maybe he needs to install nano :smiley:
Or use kate on KDE :slight_smile:

2 Likes
5

Thank you to both of you for your help.

Sorry about the garuda-inxi @SGS , I prepared it while writing the post and forgot to attach it.

It does not show a partial upgrade status and I guess as it should. Indeed, I did not install a package, I “manually” overwritten files of one.

Kernel: 6.10.5-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.2.1
clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
root=UUID=f22a06c1-1697-4e77-a64d-c7c3677134ba rw rootflags=subvol=@
quiet loglevel=3 ibt=off
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.1.4 tk: Qt v: N/A wm: kwin_wayland dm: SDDM
Distro: Garuda base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: ASUS product: N/A v: N/A serial: N/A
Mobo: ASUSTeK model: ROG STRIX B650E-E GAMING WIFI v: Rev 1.xx
serial: <filter> part-nu: SKU uuid: 4017f533-7992-7b14-4800-c87f54534e2f
UEFI: American Megatrends v: 3014 date: 07/17/2024
CPU:
Info: model: AMD Ryzen 9 7900 socket: AM5 bits: 64 type: MT MCP MCM
arch: Zen 4 gen: 5 level: v4 note: check built: 2022+ process: TSMC n5 (5nm)
family: 0x19 (25) model-id: 0x61 (97) stepping: 2 microcode: 0xA601206
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 12 tpc: 2 threads: 24 dies: 2 smt: enabled
cache: L1: 768 KiB desc: d-12x32 KiB; i-12x32 KiB L2: 12 MiB
desc: 12x1024 KiB L3: 64 MiB desc: 2x32 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 5056 high: 5270 min/max: 545/5435 base/boost: 3700/5450
scaling: driver: amd-pstate-epp governor: performance volts: 1.3 V
ext-clock: 100 MHz cores: 1: 4822 2: 5156 3: 5167 4: 5170 5: 5143 6: 5270
7: 5071 8: 5136 9: 5149 10: 4137 11: 5144 12: 5127 13: 5141 14: 5101
15: 5026 16: 5175 17: 5122 18: 5175 19: 5114 20: 4914 21: 5017 22: 4949
23: 5062 24: 5069 bogomips: 177597
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
Device-1: AMD Navi 31 [Radeon RX 7900 XT/7900 XTX/7900M]
vendor: Sapphire NITRO+ driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: RDNA-3 code: Navi-3x
process: TSMC n5 (5nm) built: 2022+ pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
ports: active: DP-1 empty: DP-2, HDMI-A-1, HDMI-A-2, Writeback-1
bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:744c class-ID: 0300
Display: unspecified server: X.Org v: 24.1.2 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.2
compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
unloaded: modesetting,radeon alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: radeonsi
gpu: amdgpu display-ID: :1 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3440x1440 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 910x381mm (35.83x15.00")
s-diag: 987mm (38.84")
Monitor-1: DP-1 model: Dell AW3418DW serial: <filter> built: 2017
res: 3440x1440 hz: 120 dpi: 109 gamma: 1.2 size: 798x335mm (31.42x13.19")
diag: 865mm (34.1") modes: max: 3440x1440 min: 640x480
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: amd radeonsi platforms: device: 0 drv: radeonsi
device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: radeonsi surfaceless: drv: radeonsi x11:
drv: radeonsi inactive: wayland
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 24.1.6-arch1.1
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (radeonsi
navi31 LLVM 18.1.8 DRM 3.57 6.10.5-zen1-1-zen) device-ID: 1002:744c
memory: 23.44 GiB unified: no
API: Vulkan v: 1.3.279 layers: 9 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu name: AMD
Radeon RX 7900 XTX (RADV NAVI31) driver: mesa radv v: 24.1.6-arch1.1
device-ID: 1002:744c surfaces: xcb,xlib device: 1 type: cpu name: llvmpipe
(LLVM 18.1.8 256 bits) driver: mesa llvmpipe v: 24.1.6-arch1.1 (LLVM
18.1.8) device-ID: 10005:0000 surfaces: xcb,xlib
Audio:
Device-1: AMD Navi 31 HDMI/DP Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie:
gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 03:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab30
class-ID: 0403
Device-2: ASUSTek USB Audio driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid
type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-6:2
chip-ID: 0b05:1a52 class-ID: 0300
Device-3: Logitech G733 Gaming Headset
driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s
lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 5-2.1.3:7 chip-ID: 046d:0ab5 class-ID: 0300
Device-4: Razer USA Nommo Chroma driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid
type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 5-2.3:4
chip-ID: 1532:0517 class-ID: 0102
API: ALSA v: k6.10.5-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api with: aoss
type: oss-emulator tools: N/A
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.2 status: n/a (root, process) with:
1: pipewire-pulse status: active 2: wireplumber status: active
3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: Intel Ethernet I225-V vendor: ASUSTeK driver: igc v: kernel pcie:
gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: N/A bus-ID: 07:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:15f3
class-ID: 0200
IF: eno1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Device-2: MEDIATEK MT7922 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: Foxconn driver: mt7921e v: kernel pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s
lanes: 1 bus-ID: 08:00.0 chip-ID: 14c3:0616 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp8s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Info: services: NetworkManager, sshd, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Foxconn / Hon Hai Wireless_Device driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB
rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-11:7
chip-ID: 0489:e0e2 class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: down bt-service: enabled,running
rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes address: <filter> bt-v: 5.2 lmp-v: 11
status: discoverable: no pairing: no
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 1.82 TiB used: 439.38 GiB (23.6%)
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Western Digital
model: WD BLACK SN850X 2000GB size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B
logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter>
fw-rev: 620361WD temp: 60.9 C scheme: GPT
SMART: yes health: PASSED on: 7d 10h cycles: 44
read-units: 3,591,785 [1.83 TB] written-units: 6,566,783 [3.36 TB]
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 750 GiB size: 750 GiB (100.00%) used: 439.35 GiB (58.6%)
fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5 maj-min: 259:5
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 100 MiB size: 96 MiB (96.00%)
used: 27 MiB (28.1%) fs: vfat block-size: 512 B dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
maj-min: 259:1
ID-3: /home raw-size: 750 GiB size: 750 GiB (100.00%)
used: 439.35 GiB (58.6%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5
maj-min: 259:5
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 750 GiB size: 750 GiB (100.00%)
used: 439.35 GiB (58.6%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5
maj-min: 259:5
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 750 GiB size: 750 GiB (100.00%)
used: 439.35 GiB (58.6%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5
maj-min: 259:5
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 62.44 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
comp: zstd avail: lzo,lzo-rle,lz4,lz4hc,842 max-streams: 24 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 83.9 C mobo: 54.0 C gpu: amdgpu temp: 69.0 C
mem: 74.0 C
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 661
Info:
Memory: total: 64 GiB note: est. available: 62.44 GiB used: 13.2 GiB (21.1%)
Processes: 495 Power: uptime: 1h 53m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
suspend, test_resume image: 24.96 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,
power-profiles-daemon, upowerd Init: systemd v: 256 default: graphical
tool: systemctl
Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1840 libs: 564 tools: octopi,pamac,paru
Compilers: clang: 18.1.8 gcc: 14.2.1 Shell: garuda-inxi (sudo) default: Bash
v: 5.2.32 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.35
Garuda (2.6.26-1):
System install date:     2024-08-03
Last full system update: 2024-08-18
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut
Windows dual boot:       Yes
Failed units:

So if I understand correctly @LolFlasherNoobX , linux-firmware updates are not as important as the package name sounds?

I do use Linux systems on a daily basis for a few years now so I’ll manage working around configurations files :grin:
I’m just not really well versed in “deeper” mechanisms like kernels, firmware, drivers. I’m quite new to the gaming side of Linux, just over a month!
Usually, my interactions are on limited, embedded Linux devices so all we have is vi!
But thank you for your kind explanations anyway!

2 Likes
6

If you have added the linux-firmware package to IgnorePkg then now you should be fine. The package is nearly perfect and only receives updates for very crucial stuff . If you do not have any issues currently , not updating the package should simply be fine. Say you upgrade your hardware, and the latest firmware update contains some really crucial bug fix, then you might have to update, otherwise it is all fine.

1 Like
7

Understood, thank you very much for sharing your knowledge! :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like
8

Oi oi , please mark the solution !

9

Done!

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10

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