fw_update(8) gains support for arbitrary dmesg files
by from OpenBSD Journal on (#6W3Q6)
Hitherto,fw_update(8)has gathered system information largely from/var/run/dmesg.boot(on the host on which it is invoked).
Andrew Hewus Fresh (afresh1@) hascommitted a changewhich allowsspecifyinganarbitrary dmesg file.The commit message explains the rationale:
CVSROOT:/cvsModule name:srcChanges by:afresh1@cvs.openbsd.org2025/03/21 18:33:34Modified files:usr.sbin/fw_update: fw_update.8 fw_update.sh Log message:Allow using a different dmesg for driver detectionThis also solves an issue that jmc@ was having with installingdownloaded firmware. (thanks for reporting)It also adjusts detecting the OpenBSD version from the dmesginstead of from sysctl while still allowing sysupgrade to override.I see two main uses for this, the first being downloading firmwareto be used on a machine that doesn't have access to download foritself. The other would be for testing detection of devices in admesg for a machine you don't have or that is hard to test such asfrom the installer.
This is a very welcome change indeed!
At least one of the editors (and we suspect several of our readers) would have saved quite a bit of time while installing our favourite operating system on hardware that requires firmware that for some reason is not included in the install media, such as some recent-ish laptops.