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When running sudo apt-get upgrade I get this output:

Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.140) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-16-amd64
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/skl_huc_2.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/skl_guc_33.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/bxt_huc_2.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/bxt_guc_33.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/kbl_huc_4.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/kbl_guc_33.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/glk_huc_4.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/glk_guc_33.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/kbl_huc_4.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/kbl_guc_33.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/cml_huc_4.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/cml_guc_33.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/icl_huc_9.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/icl_guc_33.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/ehl_huc_9.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/ehl_guc_33.0.4.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/tgl_huc_7.5.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/tgl_guc_35.2.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/tgl_huc_7.5.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/tgl_guc_35.2.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/bxt_dmc_ver1_07.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/skl_dmc_ver1_27.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/kbl_dmc_ver1_04.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/glk_dmc_ver1_04.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/cnl_dmc_ver1_07.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/icl_dmc_ver1_09.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/tgl_dmc_ver2_08.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/rkl_dmc_ver2_02.bin for module i915
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.17-2) ...

and when booting I get this output:

i915...: firmware: failed to load i915/kb1_dmc_ver1_04.bin (-2)
firmware_class: See https://wiki.debian.org/Firmware for information about missing firmware

From other questions about similar messages like this, it seems like one needs to install firmware-misc-nonfree. However, that isn't free software. Furthermore, the graphics card seems to work without any non-free packages so I don't know if this would be useful / needed for anything.

  • If it's not needed, how can one make these messages disappear without installing any non-free packages? If that is the case, then those messages shouldn't show.
  • If it's needed for anything, what is it needed for and is it possible to make these things work with FOSS only? How to make it work with FOSS only? For example, one probably only needs a package contained in firmware-misc-nonfree and that package may be free software by now or there are plans for it so it'll be free in the future or there is a FOSS alternative to it (that is under development, planned or finished).
mYnDstrEAm
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1 Answers1

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The messages shown when building the initramfs are produced by /usr/share/initramfs-tools/hook-functions whenever a module is added to the initramfs, lists firmware files (see sudo modinfo i915) and those firmware files aren’t present in the initramfs. There are two ways to avoid such messages:

  • modify /usr/share/initramfs-tools/hook-functions to stop producing them (this will work until the next initramfs-tools update);
  • edit /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf to switch MODULES from dep to most (the resulting initramfs will no longer include i915, which means i915 initialisation will take place later during boot).

In some cases, i915 can work fully without firmware; notably, pre-Skylake Intel iGPUs don’t use firmware. On systems which do load firmware, including yours, various features are disabled if firmware can’t be loaded. You should find log messages indicating this in your kernel logs (run sudo dmesg); for example, the missing DMC firmware should result in a message saying “Failed to load DMC firmware kbl_dmc_ver1_04.bin. Disabling runtime power management.” If you don’t need those features, then you can do without the firmware, and you can get rid of the messages by discarding the DRM notices (see decrease kernel boot log verbosity level).

There are no FOSS replacements for Intel iGPU firmware.

Stephen Kitt
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