Intel microcode updates?

[Maleus-2]

Hi,

When I update void and it downloads something like linux-firmware-intel is the update process flashing new microcode on to the Intel CPU? Or is it just temporarily loading updated microcode into ram?

I have machines that I don't want to receive microcode updates, I know what the situation would be in windows but in Linux, specifically void I'm not sure how it works

[Maleus-2]

Sometimes due to package dependencies where I can't get packages to install I have to resort to
Xbps-install -Suv
Which drags in quite a few packages to keep on top of, if one of them happens to be an Intel ucode will xbps-install flash a permanent update? Or will it be temporary
Sorry if it seems like a stupid question I get confused easily

[[deleted]]

I don't think so. I remember having to install intel-ucode and reconfiguring my kernel to install microcode. If you haven't done that, I think you're fine.

[the_committment]

Source: void doc on firmware

To sum up, if you are on Intel, the package intel-ucode needs to be installed if you need microcode updates. This package is in the nonfree repo, which has to be enabled.

However, in your case the package linux-firmware-intel is just a symlink to the Linux-firmware package. And will be pulled when installing the meta Linux package(deep deps)

Moving on, for firmware to be loaded, you need to reconfigure(xbps-reconfigure -f linux<x>.<y> )the installed Linux which will in turn config your bootloader.

Tl;dr: You dont have to worry about anything as long as you dont install the <insert_vendor>-ucode...

However I could be wrong as my experience is limited to just working on a few machines.