rpi-update

    I seem to recall LE devs stating it's a bad idea to run rpi-update to get a newer firmware version. However my skills and/or this forum software do not return anything, viewable in the precis of search results, when searching for '"rpi-update"'.

    Is using rpi-update to get a more recent firmware version advisable?

    Quote from MatteN

    I used `rpi-eeprom-update -a on my Pi 5 recently, that went fine.

    That's a different script to rpi-update though.

    I am aware rpi-eeprom-update exists in LE builds as far back as 9.2.6, maybe earlier. However, when run, it's output is quite strange to my mind, at least. Alas, I cannot currently paste into this forum! Not as a quote, code block, plain text at least. What I see is "LATEST" is older than the "CURRENT" but both are quite dated. 2020 and 2021 respectively. That lingo makes no sense to me.

    The script I am referring to has been around since before the RPi got EEPROM on the board. I do not particularly mind which methodology is applied. But I need to know what is going to be the outcome beforehand as I'm wanting to tweak a very well running installation that I do not want to break.

    GitHub - raspberrypi/rpi-update: An easier way to update the firmware of your Raspberry Pi
    An easier way to update the firmware of your Raspberry Pi - GitHub - raspberrypi/rpi-update: An easier way to update the firmware of your Raspberry Pi
    github.com

    I'd like to know ...

    1. Exactly which files are replaced by each script?
    2. Does the script default to the most recent versions of files?
    3. Can I apply older versions of files over newer versions if the newer versions misbehave?
    4. Can I brick the hardware by running the script?
    5. Can I brick LE by running the script?

    I have some answers to these questions so far, but I would like all of the answers I need before proceeding. Although I'm also throwing changes at a 'naked', fresh instance I can easily sacrifice :)

    Thank you for your thoughts, much appreciated :)

    Quote from powerarmour

    Same for me, no issues.

    Folks can still also just flash the firmware direct to an sdcard, and it'll auto-install without manual commands required:

    https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom/releases

    I was thinking of copying newer versions of certain files on to the FAT partition, over-writing the defaults. For example, there is a start4.elf and start4*.elf series of files supplied by RPi Foundation but not seemingly bundled with the LE RPI4.arm releases. May be playing with fire but I am curious if these start4 file or files may fix a hardware compatibility problem I am experiencing.

    Edited once, last by inspector71: Merged a post created by inspector71 into this post. (January 8, 2024 at 8:04 AM).

    rpi-update is unique to Raspberry Pi OS and it's compatible derivatives. The only way your going to get new "firmware" is by installing a newer LE image as they are baked into the image, or downloading and installing them manually to /flash.

    The files you are talking about are baked into the image by the bcm2835-bootloader package, see here. They are installed to /flash on upgrades by this script. I believe the tar ball (hosted on LE's site) is prepared by this script.

    The situation is by the way the same for the EEPROM firmware, so if you have a recently purchase RPi4 and installed LE 9.2.8 then yeah rpi-eeprom-update is going to only have older EEPROM firmwares available for installation, like the bootloader those are also baked into the image and are only delivered by LE image updates. You can manually download those and install them with rpi-eeprom-update command line switches, or pop in a recent RPiOS and burn in the EEPROM firmware that way. But the bootloader files are loaded from the SD card/disk by the EEPROM, they are not burned into a ROM.