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

Question

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

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

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited Aug 11 '21 at 01:51

3

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.

edited Aug 11 '21 at 01:51

Pablo Bianchi

15,657

answered May 25 '20 at 04:12

Jaydin

1,446

1

This command returned: snap "fwupd" is not installed. So did not fix for me. Running Ubuntu 20.04.1 – Vadim H Oct 18 '20 at 05:01
@VadimH , I wonder if this issue is related to the fwupd version. Which version of fwupd do you have installed? Use apt list --installed | grep fwupd. – Jaydin Oct 18 '20 at 23:34
@JayDin I have fwupd-signed/focal-updates,now 1.27.1ubuntu2+1.3.11-1~focal1 amd64 [installed,automatic]; fwupd/focal-updates,now 1.3.11-1~focal1 amd64 [installed,automatic]; libfwupd2/focal-updates,now 1.3.11-1~focal1 amd64 [installed,automatic]; libfwupdplugin1/focal-updates,now 1.3.11-1~focal1 amd64 [installed,automatic]. – 4LegsDrivenCat Oct 19 '20 at 19:24
@4LegsDrivenCat - I have added an update to the answer. I suspect this warning is due a specific device/vendor. If it's of interest, I can start a chat so that we can try to find the culprit by comparing our devices. – Jaydin Oct 19 '20 at 21:14
@JayDin Thanks, the issue not worth it. Maybe it is related to the fact that I manually installed latest Linux kernel. – 4LegsDrivenCat Oct 20 '20 at 14:17
@JayDin Yes, I have the same versions as 4LegsDrivenCat – Vadim H Oct 20 '20 at 14:35
1

The warning no longer appears after upgrading to Ubuntu 20.10. – 4LegsDrivenCat Oct 26 '20 at 13:15
@4LegsDrivenCat - what is the fwupd version in Ubuntu 20.10? Is it a snap or apt install? – Jaydin Oct 27 '20 at 01:32
@JayDin snap list | grep fwupd returns nothing, apt list --installed | grep fwupd returns fwupd-signed/groovy,now 1.30+1.4.5-1 amd64 [installed,automatic] fwupd/groovy,now 1.4.5-1 amd64 [installed,automatic] libfwupd2/groovy,now 1.4.5-1 amd64 [installed,automatic] libfwupdplugin1/groovy,now 1.4.5-1 amd64 [installed,automatic] – 4LegsDrivenCat Oct 27 '20 at 13:31
Thanks @4LegsDrivenCat - hopefully that means that this warning is fixed from fwupd version 1.4.5-1 onward. – Jaydin Oct 28 '20 at 05:55
I have the same problem on Ubuntu 20.04. No snap fwupd. Apt version of fwupd: fwupd-signed/focal-updates,now 1.27.1ubuntu2+1.3.11-1~focal1 amd64 [installed,automatic] fwupd/focal-updates,now 1.3.11-1~focal1 amd64 [installed,automatic] libfwupd2/focal-updates,now 1.3.11-1~focal1 amd64 [installed,automatic] libfwupdplugin1/focal-updates,now 1.3.11-1~focal1 amd64 [installed,automatic] – folow Oct 30 '20 at 13:41
@JayDin I've encountered this on Ubuntu 20.04. I have NO devices that could have updated firm (in fact I reproduced this in KVM virtualised). There is no fwupd snap installed in 20.04 LTS - just the apt system version. The problem seems to be the snap-store UI: in a fresh install of 20.04, fully updated via apt but with NO updates to snaps, it is fine. Updating "snap-store" (preinstalled) from version "3.36.0-80-g208fd61" to version "3.36.0-82-g80486d0" causes the problem. Why is the snap store UI trying to get a list of firmware updates? Does the UI have a bug in how it invokes the tool? – Alexandros Nov 14 '20 at 14:32

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 11 '21 at 02:02

1

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

edited Aug 11 '21 at 02:02

Pablo Bianchi

15,657

answered Aug 03 '21 at 11:45

Ryhan

166
2
7

The command did the trick, I also changed my BIOS settings, it was configured to boot to LEGACY first, now it boots to UEFI first. The error message is gone. – leoperbo Jan 22 '22 at 15:13

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 11 '21 at 01:57

0

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

sudo fwupdmgr enable-remote lvfs

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

4 Answers4

Linked