FWIW, here are some points to consider when implementing this:

1. A multi-processor system may contain processors that differ in
stepping, or for other reasons (e.g. ARM big.LITTLE).  This *is* quite
common on x86 servers and workstations.  So, you might have more than
one processor model to list.


2. The "vendor_id" and "model name" fields are not enough to single out the 
exact processor model, or for that matter, the microcode it needs for Intel 
processors.  It is common for Intel to NOT change the processor model names 
when there is a bump in stepping, for example.  And there are the (unsupported 
and unsupportable) Engineering Sample processors that people keep buying from 
the black market, and later sell to unsuspecting third-parties.  I don't know 
if AMD does better.


3. I suggest augmenting the vendor_id and model name fields with:

3a. Family, model, stepping information (cpuinfo fields "cpu family",
"model", "stepping"). They are in decimal in /proc/cpuinfo, but nobody
uses them like that, so they should be reported in hexadecimal.  The
kernel actually has a suggested way to display this, which it uses for
/lib/firmware/intel-ucode/* files: "%02x-%02x-%02x" (family, model,
stepping).

3b. Microcode platform id (cpuinfo field "platform_id", currently being
added upstream to the next Linus kernel -- platform_id is a number in
decimal).  It is enough to add this field only when present: on AMD it
will be absent, on Intel it will be present in the future.


I suggest these fields to be reported as a single line to identify the 
"hardware":
GenuineIntel, Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2400 CPU @ 3.10GHz; FMS: 06-2a-07

or, on a kernel that reports platform_id in /proc/cpuinfo:
GenuineIntel, Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2400 CPU @ 3.10GHz; FMS: 06-2a-07 (id: 1)


4. Current microcode version is *relevant* (when it is too old, even the 
installer will malfunction, as seen with Intel Broadwell and Skylake), so it 
might also be useful to have it upfront in the screen.  This is present in 
cpuinfo as well (field "microcode"), and should be reported in hexadecimal.

NOTE: I suggest compressing repeated sequences of spaces in the "model
name" field.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1444682

Title:
  Software properties gtk implies my cpu is unknown and not working.

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