Plugin: Intel USB4

Introduction

This plugin supports the Goshen Ridge hardware which is a USB-4 controller from Intel. These devices can updated using multiple interfaces, but this plugin only uses the XHCI interface.

Firmware Format

The daemon will decompress the cabinet archive and extract a firmware blob in an unspecified binary file format, with vendor specific header.

This plugin supports the following protocol ID:

  • com.intel.thunderbolt

GUID Generation

These devices use the standard USB DeviceInstanceId values for the USB Hub, e.g.

  • USB\VID_8087&PID_0B40 (quirk-only)

These devices also use a custom InstanceId, which is quite intentionally identical to thunderbolt plugin:

  • TBT-{nvm_vendor_id}{nvm_product_id}

Update Behavior

By default the USB4 controller will reboot at the end of the update.

Some devices (e.g. inside some Dell docks) will instead be updated the next time the USB-C plug from the dock is unplugged from the host, or when activated manually.

Vendor ID Security

The vendor ID is set from the USB vendor, in this instance set to USB:0x8087

External Interface Access

This plugin requires read/write access to /dev/bus/usb.

Version Considerations

This plugin has been available since fwupd version 1.8.5.