5 ms·

Yes you have, it's done automatically.

• medo-bear 5y ago
  serious question: why is something that is updated without you knowing about it ok?
  • detaro 5y ago
    Same way that it's ok that if you update your distro it fetches newer drivers, a new kernel and patched versions of all the software you installed? Microcode is loaded at runtime, it's not permanently modifying your system.
    • medo-bear 5y ago
      but i dont do that automatically, as the parent described. as far as i am aware i need to manually issue a comand to perform the update, which is ok as far as i have that control
      • detaro 5y ago
        "automatically" as in "automatically when you update the rest of your distro", not an extra step as the poster above clearly seemed to expect. That context also was clearly from the other comments already.
      • e12e 5y ago
        Distros prompt you when upgrading packages, not binaries. You get a prompt to update Firefox package, not for replacing the actual binary on disk. Typically packages including microcode behave the same way - prompt to update the package, no prompt to implement that update (replace individual files).
      • medo-bear 5y ago
        i dont seem to be able to reply directly. my question was meant as a clarification because simply saying something is "automatic" is very ambiguous. "automatic" to me means giving up control. to me whats being described is not "automatic"
    • amelius 5y ago
      The question is still: are "magic incantations" in packages ok, considering that they allow the issuer to control your hardware more than if the code was baked into firmware just once? Also, these packages allow vendors to keep quiet about security issues, because they can silently fix them in the next update.
      • seoaeu 5y ago
        Is it any more of a "magic incantation" than the linux-image-XYZ package which controls which OS kernel is installed? Or the linux-firmware package which controls what firmware gets loaded on various devices? If you want to see when Intel issues new microcode updates, it is all available on their GitHub: https://github.com/intel/Intel-Linux-Processor-Microcode-Data-Files https://github.com/intel/Intel-Linux-Processor-Microcode-Dat...
  • marcan_42 5y ago
    It's updated when you update all your other packages. It's no different from updating your shell or your desktop environment.
    • medo-bear 5y ago
      but i am aware when those updates happen and what they are. they are not automatic or hidden
      • marcan_42 5y ago
        It's just a package. It's not automatic nor hidden. If you've never noticed it being updated, then you probably haven't been paying enough attention to the package list when you did choose to issue a system-wide upgrade command.
        • elsjaako 5y ago
          What is that package called? Is it the "linux-firmware" one?
          • zx2c4 5y ago
            On Debian, https://packages.debian.org/bullseye/intel-microcode https://packages.debian.org/bullseye/intel-microcode
        • zx2c4 5y ago
          Worth noting that BIOS updates frequently ship with ucode updates that are applied at boot before UEFI executes the operating system. So if GP is diligent about keeping the BIOS up to date, it's conceivable that Linux's ucode update has never had any work to do. At the very least this seems to be the case with Thinkpads.
      • izacus 5y ago
        So is the microcode package and the loader that loads it. What kind of difference are you trying to make here?