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authorAndrzej Telszewski <atelszewski@gmail.com>2016-07-25 17:19:58 +0700
committerWilly Sudiarto Raharjo <willysr@slackbuilds.org>2016-07-25 17:19:58 +0700
commit82e730e5104e0480b77c819bd0e24e4206e16c94 (patch)
tree68ea58e6df45ddb30db82bfc40a469fd2540f7b1 /system/intel-microcode/README
parent256fbdcc57d521bccaa6657cf2610b3951ac3b53 (diff)
system/intel-microcode: Updated for version 20160607.
Signed-off-by: Willy Sudiarto Raharjo <willysr@slackbuilds.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'system/intel-microcode/README')
-rw-r--r--system/intel-microcode/README45
1 files changed, 25 insertions, 20 deletions
diff --git a/system/intel-microcode/README b/system/intel-microcode/README
index fef45f24afe12..9eb300f9c043f 100644
--- a/system/intel-microcode/README
+++ b/system/intel-microcode/README
@@ -7,25 +7,30 @@ approach to getting this microcode update is via a BIOS upgrade, Intel realizes
that this can be an administrative hassle. The Linux operating system and VMware
ESX products have a mechanism to update the microcode after booting.
-This SlackBuild repackages the official Intel microcode tarball, placing the
-microcode.dat file under /lib/firmware/microcode.dat, which can be later
-uploaded using microcode_ctl utility (available from SlackBuilds.org).
+This SlackBuild repackages the official Intel microcode archive.
+
+The "microcode.dat" file is placed under /lib/firmware/microcode.dat and can be
+later uploaded using microcode_ctl utility (available from SlackBuilds.org).
+This approach (microcode.dat + microcode_ctl) is kept for compatibility reasons
+and should be avoided whenever possible. * Use the solution described below. *
If the iucode_tool (available from SlackBuilds.org) is installed on the system,
-this SlackBuild writes the microcodes with the file names expected by the Linux
-kernel firmware loader and places them under /lib/firmware/intel-ucode
-directory. In that case, the correct microcode is uploaded when the Intel
-microcode kernel's module is loaded.
-
-Please note that the method using the iucode_tool is preferred for multiple
-reasons, one being the deprecation of the kernel's interface used by the
-microcode_ctl utility.
-
-If you need to load the microcode early during the boot:
-1) read https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/x86/early-microcode.txt
-2) read the manual for iucode_tool, especially about --write-earlyfw option
-3) make sure your kernel has the followings:
- CONFIG_MICROCODE=y
- CONFIG_MICROCODE_EARLY=y
- CONFIG_MICROCODE_INTEL=y
- CONFIG_MICROCODE_INTEL_EARLY=y
+this SlackBuild will:
+
+1) write the microcodes with the file names as expected by the Linux kernel
+ firmware loader and place them under /lib/firmware/intel-ucode directory.
+ The correct microcode is uploaded when the Intel microcode kernel's module
+ is loaded.
+
+2) write the microcodes to an early initramfs archive: /boot/intel-ucode.cpio
+ This archive should be prepended to the regular initramfs to allow
+ the kernel to update processor microcode very early during system boot.
+
+To get started with early microcode loading, please have a look at:
+1) https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/x86/early-microcode.txt
+2) iucode_tool man page, especially about --write-earlyfw option.
+
+For example, on my system that uses syslinux, to load the microcode early
+during the boot process, the configuration file reads something like that:
+
+ INITRD /boot/intel-ucode.cpio,/boot/initrd-generic-4.4.x.gz