Ubuntu Developers Contemplate Linux Firmware HWE Package

A possible future enhancement being considered for Ubuntu Long Term Support "LTS" releases is the introduction of a linux-firmware-hwe package as part of their hardware enablement (HWE) stack. Ubuntu currently ships updated linux-firmware packages as stable release updates, but it can end up being a bit problematic over time where hardware vendors aren't typically testing newer firmware binaries against older kernel versions and the like, which can lead to regressions. The idea raised this week is having a linux-firmware-hwe package tied to the Linux HWE kernels on Ubuntu LTS versions to better align the kernel and firmware. Canonical engineer Juerg Haefliger elaborated on the Ubuntu mailing list: "The problem at the moment is that backporting firmware to LTS releases for their respective HWE kernels often negatively impacts users running the GA kernel. Old kernel with new firmware is not a combination that firmware vendors typically test. Firmware updates between Ubuntu releases have grown significantly in recent years, resulting in larger backports and a higher chance of regressions. This approach to firmware backports has long been a thorn in the side of the SRU team, and rightly so. Just the recent backports to Noble for the 7.0 HWE kernel introduced at least two AMD regressions for 6.9 kernel users :-( To address this, I’d like to propose introducing linux-firmware-hwe (along with HWE variants for all subpackages). HWE kernels would depend on linux-firmware-hwe, which in turn would provide and break linux-firmware so only one set of packages can be installed at a time. This will prevent regressions for GA-only users. For systems that have both GA and HWE kernels installed, all kernels will load the HWE firmwares, meaning users might still encounter firmware-related issues when booting the GA kernel." The change is still being considered and if it goes ahead it could end up happening for Ubuntu 26.04 LTS still. The linux-firmware-hwe package may end up being introduced in Ubuntu 26.10 so that when the HWE stack for Ubuntu 26.04 LTS pulls in the 26.10 components, this firmware HWE package would be introduced. We'll see how this proposal plays out but it makes sense for enhancing the Ubuntu Linux LTS HWE stack for ensuring new firmware for hardware enablment focused users while reducing the regression risk for those sticking to the original GA kernel versions.