remove old releasenote format
diff --git a/releasenote b/releasenote deleted file mode 100644 index f7302d5..0000000 --- a/releasenote +++ /dev/null
@@ -1,96 +0,0 @@ -Intel Processor Microcode Package for Linux - -CPU microcode is a mechanism to correct certain errata in existing systems. -The normal preferred method to apply microcode updates is using the system -BIOS, but for a subset of Intel's processors this can be done at runtime -using the operating system. This package contains those processors that -support OS loading of microcode updates. - -The target user for this package are OS vendors such as Linux distributions -for inclusion in their OS releases. Intel recommends getting the microcode -using the OS vendor update mechanism. Expert users can of course update their -microcode directly outside the OS vendor mechanism. This method is complex and -thus could be error prone. - -Microcode is best loaded from the BIOS. Certain microcode must only be applied -from the BIOS. Such processor microcode updates are never packaged in this -package since they are not appropriate for OS distribution. An OEM may receive -microcode packages that might be a superset of what is contained in this -package. - -OS vendors may choose to also update microcode that kernel can consume for early -loading. For e.g. Linux can update processor microcode very early in the kernel -boot sequence. In situations when the BIOS update isn't available, early loading -is the next best alternative to updating processor microcode. Microcode states -are reset on a power reset, hence its required to be updated everytime during -boot process. - -Loading microcode using the initrd method is recommended so that the microcode -is loaded at the earliest time for best coverage. Systems that cannot tolerate -downtime may use the late reload method to update a running system without a -reboot. - -== About Processor Signature, Family, Model, Stepping and Platform ID == -Processor signature is a number identifying the model and version of a -Intel processor. It can be obtained using the CPUID instruction, and can -also be obtained via the command lscpu or from the content of /proc/cpuinfo. -It's usually presented as 3 fields: Family, Model and Stepping -(In the table of updates below, they are shorten as F, MO and S). - -The width of Family/Model/Stepping is 12/8/4bit, but when arranged in the -32bit processor signature raw data is like 0FFM0FMS, hexadecimal. -e.g. if a processor signature is 0x000906eb, it means -Family=0x006, Model=0x9e and Stepping=0xb - -A processor product can be implemented for multiple types of platforms, -So in MSR(17H), Intel processors have a 3bit Platform ID field, -that can specify a platform type from at most 8 types. -A microcode file for a specified processor model can support multiple -platforms, so the Platform ID of a microcode (shorten as PI in the table) -is a 8bit mask, each set bit indicates a platform type that it supports. -One can find the platform ID on Linux using rdmsr from msr-tools. - -== Microcode update instructions == --- intel-ucode/ -- -intel-ucode directory contains binary microcode files named in -family-model-stepping pattern. The file is supported in most modern Linux -distributions. It's generally located in the /lib/firmware directory, -and can be updated through the microcode reload interface. - -To update early loading initrd, consult your distribution on how to package -microcode files for early loading. Some distros use update-initramfs or dracut. -As recommended above, please use the OS vendors are recommended method to ensure -microcode file is updated for early loading before attempting the late-load -procedure below. - -To update the intel-ucode package to the system, one need: -1. Ensure the existence of /sys/devices/system/cpu/microcode/reload -2. Copy intel-ucode directory to /lib/firmware, overwrite the files in -/lib/firmware/intel-ucode/ -3. Write the reload interface to 1 to reload the microcode files, e.g. - echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/microcode/reload - -If you are using the OS vendor method to update microcode, the above steps may -have been done automatically during the update process. - --- intel-ucode-with-caveats/ -- -This directory holds microcode that might need special handling. -BDX-ML microcode is provided in directory, because it need special commits in -the Linux kernel, otherwise, updating it might result in unexpected system -behavior. -OS vendors must ensure that the late loader patches (provided in -linux-kernel-patches\) are included in the distribution before packaging the -BDX-ML microcode for late-loading. - -== 20200616 Release == --- Updates upon 20200609 release -- -Processor Identifier Version Products -Model Stepping F-MO-S/PI Old->New ----- new platforms ---------------------------------------- - ----- updated platforms ------------------------------------ -SKL-U/Y D0 6-4e-3/c0 000000dc->000000d6 Core Gen6 Mobile -SKL-U23e K1 6-4e-3/c0 000000dc->000000d6 Core Gen6 Mobile -SKL-H/S R0/N0 6-5e-3/36 000000dc->000000d6 Core Gen6; Xeon E3 v5 - ----- removed platforms ------------------------------------