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FW_UPDATE(8) System Manager's Manual FW_UPDATE(8)

fw_updateinstall non-free firmware packages

fw_update [-adFnv] [-p path] [driver | file ...]

The fw_update utility installs, updates, or deletes firmware packages for driver from the Internet. By default, fw_update tries to determine which firmware packages are needed.

Since firmware with an acceptable license is already present in OpenBSD, fw_update exists purely to deal with firmware that may not be freely distributed with OpenBSD.

The options are as follows:

Install or update firmware for all drivers. It is an error to specify this option with any driver arguments.
Delete firmware for driver. If used without parameters, delete all firmware that is not required by a driver. If used in conjunction with -a, delete firmware for all drivers.
Download firmware only. By default downloads to the current directory. Specifying a URL with -p downloads from that URL, specifying a path downloads to that directory.
Dry run. Do not actually install or update any firmware packages; just report the steps that would be taken.
path
Use the firmware found at package repository path, being either a local directory or a URL, instead of the default location.
Turn on verbose output. This flag can be specified multiple times for increased verbosity.

Firmware is downloaded from release-specific directories at https://firmware.openbsd.org/firmware/. The files are in the format required by pkg_add(1), but direct use of pkg_add is discouraged.

The root of the system to install into.

${DESTDIR}/usr/share/misc/firmware_patterns
A list of patterns used to detect needed firmware from the dmesg(8).
${DESTDIR}/etc/signify/openbsd-XX-fw.pub
Used with signify(1) to verify downloaded firmware files.

pkg_add(1), dmesg(8)

The fw_update program was designed by Alexander Hall <[email protected]>; it was then replaced with a perl version by Marc Espie <[email protected]>. It was rewritten to be able to be run from the installer by Andrew Hewus Fresh <[email protected]>.

October 12, 2024 OpenBSD-current