Richard Hughes shipped fwupd 2.1.3 on May 12. The update arrives just weeks after version 2.1.2 and days after Dell and Lenovo committed major funding to the project behind it. For system administrators and hardware engineers tracking firmware across fleets of machines, the changes matter.
Hughes, the Red Hat engineer who steers both fwupd and the Linux Vendor Firmware Service, has steadily widened what Linux can update without rebooting into special modes or third-party tools. This release adds direct support for two modular smartphones from German manufacturer SHIFT. The Phoronix report notes that fwupd can now deliver firmware to the SHIFT6mq from 2020 and the newer SHIFTphone 8, which began pre-orders at 695 euros with a Snapdragon 778G, 12GB RAM and a 120Hz AMOLED display running ShiftOS based on Android 14.
That phone support stands out. Modular designs promise easier repairs and longer life cycles. Yet they complicate firmware delivery because components swap in and out. Fwupd now handles the specifics. The same tool that updates Dell servers or Lenovo laptops can reach these niche devices.
Enterprise users gain practical improvements too. The release adds Redfish bearer token authentication. It lets administrators configure a Redfish URI that includes a path prefix. These tweaks tighten integration with modern out-of-band management systems common in data centers. No more workarounds for certain server configurations.
Hardware support also grew for several XMC SPI flash chips. Engineers working on embedded or custom boards will find immediate value. And libfwupd can now parse JCat files without pulling in the full libjcat library. Smaller binaries. Fewer dependencies. Cleaner code for application developers embedding firmware update logic.
Bug fixes fill out the picture. The team corrected Thunderbolt version number parsing by ignoring reserved bits. They fixed force table support for specific Elan touch controller IC types. Raydium display panels no longer trigger incorrect validation that could reset older hardware. Cat-6 and Cat-12 modems avoid spurious firmware matching errors. SK Hynix NVMe drives use the proper CA1 certificate.
Other changes polish daily operation. Progress reporting now exports floating-point percentages for smoother user interfaces. The progress bar itself moves without jitter. Fwupd skips unnecessary probing of every Nordic USB device sharing the same vendor ID. It no longer prints a success message when an update aborts. And applications using only the libfwupd library avoid loading every cryptography module. Small wins that accumulate.
These details come straight from the official GitHub release notes and coverage in 9to5Linux. Hughes maintains a deliberate pace. Each point release tightens compatibility, reduces edge cases and expands the catalog of supported hardware.
The timing amplifies the news. One week earlier Dell and Lenovo became the first premier sponsors of LVFS, each committing $100,000 annually. Phoronix reported that the service has already delivered more than 145 million firmware updates from over 100 vendors to millions of Linux systems. Hughes positioned the sponsorships as validation of the sustainability plan he outlined last year.
That plan pressures larger vendors to contribute code, engineering hours or cash once their firmware pages exceed certain download thresholds. Smaller companies pay $10,000 at the startup tier. The Linux Foundation and Red Hat continue providing engineering sponsorship. Framework Computer and the Open Source Firmware Foundation sit at lower tiers. The new premier backers already ship many systems that work with fwupd and LVFS. Their money now helps maintain the infrastructure millions rely on.
But money alone does not guarantee success. Hughes has spent more than a decade turning firmware updates from a Windows-only afterthought into a first-class Linux feature. Early versions targeted UEFI capsules. Support later grew to include network cards, SSDs, touchpads, keyboards, Thunderbolt controllers and now modular phones. Each new device class required vendor cooperation to publish firmware packages to LVFS in a signed, metadata-rich format.
Adoption followed. Major distributions ship fwupd by default. GNOME Software, KDE Discover and command-line tools all surface available updates. Enterprises appreciate the audit trail and the ability to stage updates across fleets. Security teams value the signed payloads and rollback protection.
Still, gaps remain. Some vendors drag their feet. Others provide firmware only for Windows. The LVFS fair-use quotas introduced earlier this year aim to change that behavior. Pages that exceed 50,000 monthly downloads now display warnings. The system nudges companies toward proper sponsorship. Results appear mixed so far, yet the Dell and Lenovo announcements signal momentum.
Technical users can test 2.1.3 today. Most will wait for their distribution to package it. Fedora, Ubuntu, Arch Linux and others integrate fwupd closely with their update mechanisms. The project encourages pulling from stable repositories rather than building from source.
Look closer at the SHIFTphone addition. It proves the architecture scales. A German startup building repairable Android phones can publish firmware alongside multinational PC makers. Users on Linux desktops, servers or even developer workstations can update everything from one place. That convergence reduces fragmentation.
Hughes rarely comments on individual releases. The GitHub notes stay factual. Yet the pattern is clear. Hardware support lists grow. Bug counts shrink. Integration points multiply. Redfish improvements speak to server admins. SPI chip additions target embedded developers. Phone support reaches enthusiasts and sustainability advocates.
The broader story involves trust. Firmware runs at the lowest levels. A bad update can brick hardware. Fwupd earned confidence through careful design, extensive testing and vendor partnerships. LVFS acts as the trusted repository. Sponsors help guarantee its future.
Version 2.1.3 will not make headlines outside Linux circles. For the people responsible for keeping thousands of machines current, it matters. A few new devices. Several fixes. Smoother progress bars. Stronger authentication. Another step toward making firmware updates on Linux as routine as they are on other platforms.
And the project shows no sign of slowing. With fresh funding from two of the largest PC vendors and a growing list of supported hardware, fwupd continues to expand its role in the Linux stack.
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