Layer or replace libfprint

Is it possible to replace the included version of libfprint through layering or otherwise?

I have an old Dell laptop. It has an unfortunately not stunningly compatible finger print scanner (

27c6:538c

27c6:538c

27c6:538c

27c6:538c). Fortunately some kind soul has come up with a variant of the driver needed and I've used it successfully with an Arch- based distro previously.

Even more helpfully, it has been packaged for Fedora. Unfortunately if I add the repo and attempt to layer it via rpm-ostree, it errors on attempting to create a hardlink (file already exists).

Am I hooped and going to have to make a custom bazzite image?

Solution

That's unfortunate. What about trying "rpm-ostree override remove libfprint"? Does it successfully check out?

Jump to solution

amel•3/15/25, 7:57 PM

T480s user here who also requires a different fingerprint driver
It should be possible, i checked the copr repo and one of the comments shared the steps you need to take (remove libfprint, install the new pkg, systemctl commands ...)
I'm on mobile so i can't directly verify, but you can add the repo to /etc/yum.repos.d (i think theres a copr enable/disable wrapper in bazzite, so maybe you can check if running "copr enable manciukic/libfprint-tod-goodix" works). Then you could try

rpm-pstree override remove libfprint --install libfprint-tod-goodix

and follow the rest of the steps provided by bson133 in the copr repo comments

amel•3/15/25, 7:59 PM

Theoretically this should work - i followed similar steps for my T480s when i was using bluefin. I'm not sure if that's all it takes for you to have it working, so YMMV

VohkOP•3/15/25, 8:00 PM

I'll give it a try, thanks!

amel•3/15/25, 8:01 PM

Oops also i meant bson123 if you're ctrl+f-ing lol

amel•3/15/25, 8:03 PM

Ah also if you're trying to do this on aurora and/or bluefin im not sure if it will work, since these images are now built with dnf5 instead of rpm-ostree? I believe. I had tried when bluefin was still using rpm-ostree
...In which case if rpm-ostree is unable to remove libfprint you might need to create a custom image

VohkOP•3/15/25, 8:04 PM

Ah, good to know. I'm still kicking around whether I want to put bluefin on the laptop instead, since it doesn't have the jjuice to do any sort of gaming.

VohkOP•3/15/25, 8:05 PM

Well, lets give it a shot and see what happens. Worst case I have a device to image this afternoon :grinningdevil:

amel•3/15/25, 8:06 PM

Good luck! In my case i ended up making a custom image lol in the long run it's more worry-free

VohkOP•3/15/25, 8:10 PM

Dang. Looks like I'm cooked. dnf gets the expected errors from trying to write to a read-only system/db, and rpm-ostree reports libfprint is "not currently requested" when attempting to uninstall, and checking out fails because a file it wants to hardlink already exists.

VohkOP•3/15/25, 8:10 PM

Guess I'm going to have to learn how to make my own image then at some point. On the plus side, I can add Firefox & 1password at the same time instead of layering.

VohkOP•3/15/25, 8:11 PM

The help was much appreciated

Solution

amel•3/15/25, 8:17 PM

That's unfortunate. What about trying "rpm-ostree override remove libfprint"? Does it successfully check out?

VohkOP•3/15/25, 8:29 PM

Hmm, that seems to have worked.

VohkOP•3/15/25, 8:32 PM

Oh. And now it seems to be installing, without that error at least... :luck:

Aamel That's unfortunate. What about trying "rpm-ostree override remove libfprint"? Do...

VohkOP•3/15/25, 8:36 PM

It worked! and on reboot, detected and working as normal. I will probably be punished for my rpm-ostree based sins later on, but I'll take it

Thank you!

amel•3/15/25, 8:39 PM

So I take it you're also able to layer the copr package as well? glad to hear! Hope it's all it takes to get it working

VohkOP•3/15/25, 8:42 PM

Yes, the original blocker was just doing rpm-ostree uninstall libfprintrpm-ostree uninstall libfprint was erroring on that it was not currently requested. So the final series looked like:

Add the repo: sudo dnf copr enable manciukic/libfprint-tod-goodixsudo dnf copr enable manciukic/libfprint-tod-goodix
Uninstall the shipped lib: rpm-ostree override remove libfprintrpm-ostree override remove libfprint
Install the special version: rpm-ostree install libfprint-tod-goodixrpm-ostree install libfprint-tod-goodix
Reboot as instructed.

VohkOP•3/15/25, 8:42 PM

On reboot, immediately detected and fully functional.

VohkOP•3/15/25, 8:43 PM

As long as that doesn't result in any headaches on future updates, should be golden :luck:

amel•3/16/25, 12:59 AM

"uninstall" is for removing layered packages, whereas "override remove" is for removing a package that came with the image without layering. in the future, if you want to f.ex remove libpfrint-tod-goodix, you will have to run the "uninstall" version
(There's also the reset option though, which removes all overrides & layers meant to be done before major upgrades)
But that is something future you will have to take care of, not present you

‍

VohkOP•3/16/25, 4:20 AM

Aaaaah, that makes sense.

Layer or replace libfprint

Similar Threads

Similar Threads

Similar Threads