I spend a lot of my day working on framework software for other programs to use. I enjoy this plumbing, and Red Hat gives me all the time I need to properly design and build these tricky infrastructure-type projects. Sometimes, just one person isn’t enough.

For the LVFS project, I need vendors making hardware to submit firmware files with carefully written metadata so that they can be downloaded by hundreds of thousands of Linux users securely and automatically. I also need those vendors to either use a standardized flashing protocol (e.g. DFU or UEFI) or to open the device specifications enough to allow flashing firmware without signing an NDA.

Over the last couple of months I’ve been emailing various tech companies trying to get hold of the right people to implement this. So far the reaction from companies has been enthusiastic and apathetic in equal measures. I’ve had a few vendors testing the process, but I can’t share those names just yet as most companies have been testing with unreleased hardware.

This is where you come in. On your Linux computer right now, think about what hardware you own that works in Linux that you know has user-flashable firmware? What about your BIOS, your mouse, or your USB3 hub? Your network card, your RAID card, or your video card?

Things I want you to do:

Find the vendor on the internet, and either raise a support case or send an email. Try and find a technical contact, not just some sales or marketing person

Tell the vendor that you would like firmware updates when using Linux, and that you’re not able to update the firmware booting to Windows or OS-X

Tell the vendor that you’re more likely to buy from them again if firmware updates work on Linux

Inform the vendor about the LVFS project : http://www.fwupd.org/

At all times I need you to be polite and courteous, after all we’re asking the vendor to spend time (money) on doing something extra for a small fraction of their userbase. Ignoring one email from me is easy, but getting tens or hundreds of support tickets about the same issue is a great way to get an issue escalated up to the people that can actually make changes.

So please, spend 15 minutes opening a support ticket or sending an email to a vendor now.