Intel is preparing an interesting innovation for Linux for its platforms. The first patches have already reached the kernel, and when everything is completed, it will be possible to update firmware (especially UEFI) on Intel machines without having to restart the machine. Everything will take place within the current running of the operating system.
The novelty is not aimed at regular users and their desktops, it is primarily prepared for server platforms and for customers who have contractual paid support regarding the downtime of their machines. Many large machines have a reboot time measured at best in units of minutes, so if there is a way to update the firmware without having to reboot, this will be an advantage of the platform. There is certainly no need to add in the world after Specter / Meltdown how important firmware updates are in the enterprise world.
Seamless Update will be a service with support in the Linux kernel, which is part of the company’s Platform Firmware Runtime Update and Telemetry driver code. The new code in the kernel introduces a new ACPI PRFU driver for working with the Platform Firmware Runtime Update by the operating system. Telemetry support is there for logging processes around firmware updates. In addition to the open source itself in Linux, Intel also released a whitepaper in August describing a firmware update without a restart in terms of the Intel Management Mode Firmware Runtime Update, which describes the core part of the Intel Seamless Update.
Given that Intel is typically paving the way for new iron in Linux ahead, it can be assumed that this new initiative is related to the real availability of Sapphire Rapids 10nm Xeons, which in most situations are no better / better than EPYCs, but this could take.
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