Open Source Firmware Conference 2020

Why LVFS is Essential for OEMs
2020-12-01 , Main Stage

The Linux Vendor Firmware Service is a webapp used by OEMs, ODMs and ISVs to distribute firmware updates safely and securely to millions of Linux users. In this talk I will give a quick overview of what the LVFS actually is, the extra services it provides and describe the ways the Linux client communicates with the server. I’ll explain how the LVFS is essential for OEMs and why ignoring the LVFS and Linux users is short-sighted from a technical and business point of view.

In the talk I’ll show lots of pictures and graphs, which will make some vendors feel good, and make other vendors feel bad. I’ll include lots of technical details that might be interesting to OEMs and Linux users who are deploying firmware updates at scale.

During the talk I’ll also hint at a future specification we’re working on, designed to raise the level of firmware security across the entire ecosystem. The talk will finish with a look to the future.


Related Projects

Linux

Richard has over 15 years of experience developing open source software. He is the maintainer of fwupd, the LVFS, GNOME Software, AppStream-glib, PackageKit, gnome-packagekit, gnome-power-manager, gnome-color-manager, colord, and UPower and also contributes to many other projects and opensource standards.

Richard graduated in 2007 from the University of Surrey with a Masters in Electronics Engineering. He now works as a principle engineer for Red Hat. Richard's outside interests include taking photos, eating good food and looking after his two daughters.

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