How to flash other OS to Librem5?

Hardware Librem 5
1

Hey,

I have used Linux for several years now and I am somewhat used to using the Terminal and also flashing Android devices. I also managed to flash the official Librem5 firmware using the flashing script.

Yet I would like to try other OSes (Mobian, Plasma mobile etc.). I did not manage to flash those using the (somewhat difficult to follow) official instructions.

So my question is: Is there a general way how to flash a firmware to the device and are there any good instructions how to do that? What other OSes would you recommend and I would very much appreciate it, if you could tell me in a way, that the casual Linux user can grasp :smiley:

Thanks!

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2

librem5-flash-image 0.0.5 has a --image argument, which can be used to provide it with an external image to flash.

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3

I tried that. But when I do, I get the following error message:

https://www.codedump.xyz/py/aPd9MIEdK5hWcI4N

This was the command I used btw:
librem5-flash-image --image 20251017-0807-postmarketOS-v25.06-phosh-25-purism-librem5.img

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4

That doesn’t look like librem5-flash-image 0.0.5.

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5

I downloaded the script from here:

is there another script i am missing?

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6

I was flashing Mobian today. Just download their image and run these commands:

  1. sudo apt install git uuu if you haven’t done already.
  2. git clone https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/librem5-flash-image.git (delete the previous folder if you have an error)
  3. cd librem5-flash-image and sudo apt build-dep . It installs all python packages. I don’t know if they’re all included in the old tutorial you linked, but better trying to install them then missing without knowing.
  4. sudo ./scripts/librem5-flash-image --udev if you haven’t done yet.
  5. This is Mobian specific: ./scripts/librem5-flash-image --embedded-boot --image [path plus Mobian image file]. [Edit: It seems it is also required for manual downloaded images of PureOS, especially the --empedded-boot argument. Otherwise I get errors or it does not boot at all after flashing.]
  6. Follow the instructions on terminal. You should know it anyway, but maybe someone else reads this, too. Done.

Keep in mind that Mobian weekly can break from time to time.

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7

It’s neither required nor recommended. What errors are you talking about?

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8

The Crimson builds (plain and LUKS) stay in loop-boot (phone tries to boot and restart after some seconds before seeing anything on screen). Mobian had:

ick@Debian:~/Git/librem5-flash-image$ ./scripts/librem5-flash-image --image ~/Downloads/mobian-librem5-phosh-20251019.img 
2025-10-21 19:21:09 INFO Looking for librem5 u-boot
2025-10-21 19:21:10 INFO Found uboot Build "stable" from Wed Jun 21 13:54:04 2023
2025-10-21 19:21:10 INFO Downloading to /home/ick/Git/librem5-flash-image/tmp_librem5-flash-image_5xk7yi4n
2025-10-21 19:21:10 INFO Downloading uboot from https://storage.puri.sm/librem5/u-boot/latest/artifact/output/uboot-librem5/u-boot-librem5.imx
                                                                                                     
            Enter the flashing mode by holding volume-up button while turning the phone on.

            If it's not detected, follow these steps:
            - Ensure that the phone is powered off
            - Turn all Hardware-Kill-Switches off
            - Unplug the USB cable if connected
            - Remove battery
            - Hold volume-up button
            - Insert the USB-C cable (red light blinks, no green light)
            - Reinsert the battery (red and green lights constantly on, the script will continue)
            - Release volume-up button

Searching...
uuu (Universal Update Utility) for nxp imx chips -- lib1.5.201

Success 0    Failure 1                        


5:43-        2/ 3 [HID(W): LIBUSB_ERROR_IO (-1)          ] SDPV: write -f u-boot-librem5.imx -skipspl
5:43-NXP     1/ 1 [=================100%=================] SDP: boot -f u-boot-librem5.imx           

2025-10-21 19:21:49 INFO Cleaning up.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/ick/Git/librem5-flash-image/./scripts/librem5-flash-image", line 630, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
             ~~~~^^
  File "/home/ick/Git/librem5-flash-image/./scripts/librem5-flash-image", line 613, in main
    flash_image(uuu_target, args.debug)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/ick/Git/librem5-flash-image/./scripts/librem5-flash-image", line 403, in flash_image
    subprocess.check_call(['uuu', uuu_target])
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/subprocess.py", line 419, in check_call
    raise CalledProcessError(retcode, cmd)
subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['uuu', '/home/ick/Git/librem5-flash-image/tmp_librem5-flash-image_gkxbcdrh/flash_librem5r4.lst']' returned non-zero exit status 255.

Which was gone when using --embedded-boot, which is described here.

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9

Please post the entire log then.

Note: the --embedded-boot flag instructs librem5-flash-image to install the bootloader to the eMMC boot partition and make it bootable; while not strictly required at this point, it will become mandatory in the near future.

That’s plain wrong. They got it the other way around - --embedded-boot is what will stop working with Mobian in the future (and what restores the old behavior), the current default is what they want.

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10

I edit the last post.

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11

I use Jumpdrive and nxpmicro-mfgtools on my laptop to mount the Librem 5 eMMC over USB-C, and work from there.

mkdir ~/librem5
curl -sL https://github.com/dreemurrs-embedded/Jumpdrive/releases/download/0.8/purism-librem5.tar.xz | tar Jxv -C ~/librem5

# set all killswitches, remove battery, hold volume-up, plug in librem5, place battery, release volume-up
uuu ~/librem5/purism-librem5.lst

You’ll find the Librem 5 at /dev/sdX

I’ve NixOS installed with Purism kernel but would not necessary recommend as it is a tight fit for the small eMMC and you would have to figure out how to enable phone calls.

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