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Jaydin
Asked: 2020-05-25 19:03:45 +0800 CST

Unable to get a list of updates: remote lvfs has no cache signature

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Ubuntu Software (aka Gnome Software) on Ubuntu 18.04 has started giving the error message: Unable to get a list of updates: remote lvfs has no cache signature

Ubuntu Software error message

This issue started recently and, based on a bit of online research, it may be related to Linux Vendor Firmware Service (LVFS) and the fwupd application.

Here are the installed fwupd packages:

~$ apt list --installed | grep fwupd
fwupd/bionic-updates,now 1.2.10-1ubuntu2~ubuntu18.04.3 amd64 [installed]
fwupd-signed/bionic-updates,now 1.10~ubuntu18.04.3+1.2.10-1ubuntu2~ubuntu18.04.3 amd64 [installed,automatic]
fwupdate/bionic-updates,now 12-7~ubuntu18.04.3 amd64 [installed]
fwupdate-signed/bionic-updates,now 12-7~ubuntu18.04.3 amd64 [installed]
libfwupd2/bionic-updates,now 1.2.10-1ubuntu2~ubuntu18.04.3 amd64 [installed,automatic]

and

~$ snap list | grep fwupd
fwupd 1.4.2 2084  latest/stable    richard-hughes  classic
software-center gnome-software fwupd

4 Answers

  1. Update 22-Oct-2020: From the discussions below it seems like this warning pops up for a few people for fwupd versions from 1.3.x, so this issue may not be directly due to whether fwupd is installed via snap or apt. Instead, it may be due a combination of having a 1.3.x+ version of fwupd and using a specific device/vendor.

    I believe I found the answer after a bit of trial and error. I seem to have both the snap and apt versions of fwupd installed. Removing the fwupd snap version seems to fix the warning message:

    snap remove fwupd

    However, I don't believe this warning is causing any problems as it seems to be due to misconfiguration on the firmware vendor side. At worst, this warning means that you won't get firmware updates automatically for the affected devices.

    My snap fwupd version number (1.4.2) was newer than apt version number (1.2.10), so I decided to just keep the snap version and ignore the warning message.

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  2. Open terminal and try this command

    fwupdmgr --force refresh

    From man page:

    --force Force the action by relaxing some runtime checks

    refresh [FILE FILE_SIG REMOTE-ID] Refresh metadata from remote server

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  3. It's probably somehow disabled, so you have to enable it using:

    sudo fwupdmgr enable-remote lvfs

    Related documentation.

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  4. If your device is listed as a supported device I recommend following the instructions here https://support.starlabs.systems/kb/updates/installing-updates-from-the-lvfs and install the GUI which will enable you to keep track and update your device's firmware. Going through these steps seemed to fix my issues.

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