Ubuntu Firmware HWE: Preventing Hardware Issues on Older Kernels

Ubuntu is preparing a separate linux-firmware-hwe package to reduce the risk of firmware updates for newer kernels causing problems on systems using older kernels.

Ubuntu LTS users can keep the original General Availability (GA) kernel or install Hardware Enablement (HWE) updates to get newer Linux kernels. Currently, both kernel tracks use the same firmware package, so updates intended for HWE kernels can affect GA users.

That happened on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS when a firmware backport for its Linux 7.0 HWE kernel caused two AMD regressions for systems running the Linux 6.9 GA kernel.

Under the proposed plan, HWE kernels would use linux-firmware-hwe, which would provide HWE-specific versions of existing firmware packages. GA users could then remain on the standard firmware set, while both sets would still receive fixes for reported issues during their support periods. Ubuntu previously split its firmware packages into subpackages.

One complication is that some LTS systems have both GA and HWE kernels installed. Since only one firmware package can be installed at a time, those systems will need a workaround.

The packaging work is now underway in Ubuntu 26.10, ahead of a planned backport to Ubuntu 26.04 in early 2027. The proposal is described in Ubuntu’s development mailing list, and progress is tracked in Launchpad.