Do I need kernel-firmware-all?

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1

I was looking through installed packages and found out that I have installed kernel-firmware-all and as an effect I have installed many (all?) packages from kernel-firmware-* family. I don’t have hardware like wireless card or ADSL modem. Can I safely remove packages with drivers for hardware which I don’t have?

Also, I have Nvidia GeForce graphic card but I use proprietary driver from Nvidia. Do I need kernel-firmware-nvidia?

2

Yes, you can uninstall kernel-firmware-all and all other packages that you do not need, including kernel-firmware-nvidia.
As an example here is what I have here:

LT-B:~ # zypper se -si kernel-firmware
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...

S  | Name                      | Type    | Version      | Arch   | Repository
---+---------------------------+---------+--------------+--------+-----------
i  | kernel-firmware-atheros   | package | 20250206-2.1 | noarch | repo-oss
i+ | kernel-firmware-bluetooth | package | 20260116-1.1 | noarch | repo-oss
i  | kernel-firmware-i915      | package | 20260114-1.1 | noarch | repo-oss
i  | kernel-firmware-intel     | package | 20251228-1.1 | noarch | repo-oss
i+ | kernel-firmware-realtek   | package | 20251217-2.1 | noarch | repo-oss
i  | kernel-firmware-sound     | package | 20260110-1.1 | noarch | repo-oss
LT-B:~ #

Of course you may need something different, if in doubt keep the package (better safe than sorry :wink: )

1 Like
3

Thank you very much @OrsoBruno :slight_smile:
I will try to be cautious.

4

Some more information here in this GitHub gist.

See also section “Minimizing the Footprint” and why we chose not to be too aggressive in installing just the bare minimum of firmware packages.

You may come to a different conclusion in your use case.

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