"No such file or directory" error on .../vc/hardfp/* on first run

[dfandrich]

Running rpi-update for the first time gave me the following log ending in an error:

 *** Raspberry Pi firmware updater by Hexxeh, enhanced by AndrewS and Dom
 *** Performing self-update
 *** Relaunching after update
 *** Raspberry Pi firmware updater by Hexxeh, enhanced by AndrewS and Dom
 *** We're running for the first time
 *** Backing up files (this will take a few minutes)
 *** Backing up firmware
 *** Backing up modules 6.1.21-v7+
##############################################################
WARNING: This update bumps to rpi-6.6.y linux tree
See: https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?p=2191175

'rpi-update' should only be used if there is a specific
reason to do so - for example, a request by a Raspberry Pi
engineer or if you want to help the testing effort
and are comfortable with restoring if there are regressions.

DO NOT use 'rpi-update' as part of a regular update process.
##############################################################
Would you like to proceed? (y/N)
 *** Downloading specific firmware revision (this will take a few minutes)
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
  0     0    0     0    0     0      0      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--     0
100  144M  100  144M    0     0   615k      0  0:03:59  0:03:59 --:--:--  663k
 *** Updating firmware
 *** Updating kernel modules
 *** depmod 6.6.54-v7+
 *** depmod 6.6.54-v8-16k+
 *** depmod 6.6.54-v8+
 *** depmod 6.6.54-v7l+
 *** depmod 6.6.54+
 *** Updating VideoCore libraries
 *** Using HardFP libraries
cp: cannot stat '//root/.rpi-firmware/vc/hardfp/*': No such file or directory

and sure enough, /root/.rpi-firmware/vc doesn't exist.

This is on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W Rev 1.0 originally running the 2023-05-03 Raspi release with rpi-update ver. 20210618 on a machine with all updates installed with apt-get.

I should note that despite the command exiting with a status code 1, rebooting the device did, indeed, successfully boot into a newer kernel.