Description of problem: Per `fwupdmgr check`, my laptop has a pending firmware update: ``` theta:~$ fwupdmgr get-updates Devices with no available firmware updates: • Star Drive SATA SSD • UEFI dbx Devices with the latest available firmware version: • System Firmware Lite │ └─SuperIO IT8987: │ Device ID: 1f664ad149f2151fb750b52751dbf9ba045a7846 │ Summary: Embedded Controller │ Current version: 01.02 │ Vendor: DMI:Star Labs Online Limited │ Update State: Pending │ GUID: 0aa07091-dc02-5e62-a0cd-9d3880721b64 │ Device Flags: • Internal device │ • Updatable │ • Update requires a reboot │ • System requires external power source │ • Supported on remote server │ • Needs a reboot after installation │ • Cryptographic hash verification is available │ └─Star Lite Mk III Device Update: New version: 1.03 Remote ID: lvfs Summary: ITE firmware for Star Lite Mk III License: Proprietary Size: 131.1 kB Created: 2021-06-01 Urgency: Medium Vendor: Star Labs Flags: is-upgrade Description: This stable release includes the following features: • Modified charging frequency to reduce noise when charger is connected ``` However, when I attempt to apply the update, I run into an error: ``` theta:~$ fwupdmgr update Devices with no available firmware updates: • Star Drive SATA SSD • UEFI dbx Upgrade available for SuperIO IT8987 from 01.02 to 1.03 SuperIO IT8987 and all connected devices may not be usable while updating. Continue with update? [Y|n]: Y Downloading… [***************************************] Decompressing… [***************************************] Authenticating… [***************************************] Authenticating… [***************************************] Updating SuperIO IT8987… [***************************************] Scheduling… [***************************************]Failed to create symlink /system-update to /var/lib/fwupd: Operation not permitted ``` This error is pretty clearly due to the fact that on Fedora Silverblue, you can't create symlinks in the (read-only) root directory. I have previously been able to apply firmware updates on this laptop using fwupd on Silverblue, so it seems like this may be a regression. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): client version: 1.5.12 daemon version: 1.5.12 How reproducible: This occurs every time I attempt to apply this firmware update on this laptop. Steps to Reproduce: 1. Install vanilla Fedora Silverblue 34 on a laptop that has an available firmware update 2. Upgrade Silverblue to latest boot deployment 3. Run `fwupdmgr get-updates` to discover firmware update 4. Run `fwupdmgr update` to apply firmware update Actual results: The `fwupdmgr update` command throws an error after trying to create a symlink in the root directory as part of scheduling the update, and after a system reboot the firmware update is not applied. Expected results: No errors should occur when the update is schedule, and after a reboot the firmware update should be applied. Additional info:
I think there's a design clash between systemd (`man systemd.offline-updates`) and ostree here. systemd upstream generally considers `/` a free-for-all except for `/usr`. ostree is strict about keeping `/` immutable along with `/usr`, and only having `/etc` and `/var` be local state. I'd probably say we should support `/etc/systemd/system-update` in addition to `/system-update`.
This message is a reminder that Fedora Linux 34 is nearing its end of life. Fedora will stop maintaining and issuing updates for Fedora Linux 34 on 2022-06-07. It is Fedora's policy to close all bug reports from releases that are no longer maintained. At that time this bug will be closed as EOL if it remains open with a 'version' of '34'. Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, change the 'version' to a later Fedora Linux version. Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that we were not able to fix it before Fedora Linux 34 is end of life. If you would still like to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it against a later version of Fedora Linux, you are encouraged to change the 'version' to a later version prior to this bug being closed.
I think this is more for the fwupd folks than systemd. Can you still reproduce this issue?
Yes, still reproducible. The issue is very simple: The firmware package in question is trying to create a directory in root '/', but this is a read-only part of the filesystem under silverblue. If fwupd was able to detect a silverblue environment and do a runtime substitution of '/var/[whetever-dir]' when the package is trying use '/[whatever-dir]', that would solve this issue without requiring a standards change for firmware packages.
I don't know the details about this firmware here but it's probably better that firmware updates do not write to / at all in all cases, not just on Silverblue.
This bug appears to have been reported against 'rawhide' during the Fedora Linux 37 development cycle. Changing version to 37.
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Fedora Linux 37 entered end-of-life (EOL) status on None. Fedora Linux 37 is no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any further security or bug fix updates. As a result we are closing this bug. If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version of Fedora Linux please feel free to reopen this bug against that version. Note that the version field may be hidden. Click the "Show advanced fields" button if you do not see the version field. If you are unable to reopen this bug, please file a new report against an active release. Thank you for reporting this bug and we are sorry it could not be fixed.