<div dir="ltr">I run Ubuntu 16.04, and intel-microcode *is* installed on my system. It's part of the "restricted" repository (non-open-source), so if you have that repository disabled, you won't get it.</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 22 January 2018 at 17:58, Khalid Baheyeldin <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:kb@2bits.com" target="_blank">kb@2bits.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><span class="">On Mon, Jan 22, 2018 at 5:51 PM, Bob Jonkman <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bjonkman@sobac.com" target="_blank">bjonkman@sobac.com</a>></span> wrote:<span class="m_-974998990236833488gmail-"></span><br></span><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><span class=""><span class="m_-974998990236833488gmail-"></span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><span class="m_-974998990236833488gmail-">
</span>Um, Ubuntu and Debian both have packages "intel-microcode" that have<br>
been a standard part of stable/updates for a long time, well before<br>
the Spectre/Meltdown issues.<br></blockquote><div><br></div></span><div>I installed Xubuntu on this Intel laptop, nothing fancy, and microcode did not <br></div><div>get installed:<br><br>$ dpkg -l | grep microcod<br>$ <br><br></div><span class=""><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<br>
> Package: intel-microcode Version: 3.20180108.0~ubuntu16.04.2<br>
> Priority: extra Section: admin Origin: Ubuntu Maintainer: Ubuntu<br>
> Developers <<a href="mailto:ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com" target="_blank">ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ub<wbr>untu.com</a>><br>
> Original-Maintainer: Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <<a href="mailto:hmh@debian.org" target="_blank">hmh@debian.org</a>><br>
> Bugs: <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+filebug" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubu<wbr>ntu/+filebug</a> Installed-Size:<br>
> 1,507 kB Depends: iucode-tool (>= 1.0) Recommends: initramfs-tools<br>
> (>= 0.113~) Conflicts: microcode.ctl (<< 0.18~0) Homepage:<br>
> <a href="http://feeds.downloadcenter.intel.com/rss/?p=483&lang=eng" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://feeds.downloadcenter.in<wbr>tel.com/rss/?p=483&lang=eng</a><br>
> Supported: 5y Download-Size: 1,088 kB APT-Sources:<br>
> <a href="http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/ubuntu" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo<wbr>.ca/ubuntu</a> xenial-updates/main amd64<br>
> Packages Description: Processor microcode firmware for Intel CPUs<br>
> This package contains updated system processor microcode for Intel<br>
> i686 and Intel X86-64 processors. Intel releases microcode updates<br>
> to correct processor behavior as documented in the respective<br>
> processor specification updates.<br>
<br>
(yes, that's from the vulnerable one that's just been rolled back)<br>
<br>
And if your were fortunate/clever enough to purchase AMD instead of<br>
Intel then there's "amd64-microcode".<br></blockquote><div><br></div></span><div>Same on my AMD servers (actually desktops that are used as servers).<br></div><div>Nothing of that sort got installed by default.<br></div><span class=""><div> <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
If you haven't been updating *-microcode then your CPU will use the<br>
original, burned-in microcode, full of bugs present at original<br>
manufacturing (unless you've been updating your BIOS/UEFI, which may<br>
have supplied microcode patches for you).<br>
<br>
I recommend that you install the *-microcode package (at the current<br>
revision level), especially in today's environment of rampant hardware<br>
vulnerabilities.<br>
<br>
There's an explanation of how Debian handles microcode:<br>
<a href="https://wiki.debian.org/Microcode" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://wiki.debian.org/Microc<wbr>ode</a><br>
<br>
- --Bob, who is about to embark on another round of patching servers.<br>
<div><div class="m_-974998990236833488gmail-h5"></div></div></blockquote></span></div><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">Will consider installing microcode packages after this whole fiasco is over.<br></div></div>
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