Well, thanks for the detailed explanation. I believe I understand it better now.
Russ Allbery writes: "Installing the source package pulls in nvidia-glx via Recommends. nvidia-glx in turn requires a kernel module, so apt-get and aptitude look for some way to get a kernel module, find DKMS, and install the -dkms package and its requirements, which include such things as kernel headers and a compiler matching the compiler used for your kernel." I guess my final question is how can the -source pkg be installed w/o the above happening, like it was before for users like me. It would appear to me your suggestion - "I think the solution for your particular problem would be to downgrade the Recommends of nvidia-glx from nvidia-kernel-source to a Suggests." would be the way to go. Even the edge cases you mention shouldn't need the glx pkg pulled in right away, well as far I can see. I haven't tried m-a for a while but that would seem to be affected also. We just need the source so we can build the kernel module whenever we want. The only problem I experienced before was forgetting to install glx after installing the new kernel module. Just had to install it before I could get into X. It would seem if the module build process included post-install hooks or something similar to pull in the correct glx pkg upon it's install that would help. I suppose I could look into using the dkms, but I like to do it the old way myself. I did try it once a few years ago, but it didn't seem ready. I always built custom kernels for performance and the ability to only load needed modules or build in what's needed. Back when I started that it seemed to add to security - maybe an illusion now. I only have one old machine and it takes not much effort on my part to build a new kernel-image and the nvidia module, unless many changes are made to the kernel. OK, one more question. If I had built and installed the custom headers, would dkms find that and not want to install other kernel stuff, or are the meta pkgs what it looks for? Thanks again for the detailed explanations, I really appreciate it. Steven Altermatt
