(1) thanks! (1a) thanks! (2) OK, should we split out a separate bug for that one then? (3) I think the bigger issue is that the behavior of --gpgpu is undocumented: https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-drivers-common/pull/108 I feel --headless would be more self-explanatory, but I get that we need to keep --gpgpu for both backwards- and sabdfl-compat reasons, and adding an alias/deprecation may just add to the noise.
(3a) thanks! -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to ubuntu-drivers-common in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2081881 Title: nvidia driver installation modes are unclear and in conflict w/ the server guide Status in ubuntu-drivers-common package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: The intended behavior of `ubuntu-drivers` has always been mysterious to me. Here are a few examples: (1) It is not clear to me what --gpgpu is intended to do. The help output simply says: Options: --gpgpu gpgpu drivers According to https://ubuntu.com/server/docs/nvidia-drivers- installation: > Check the available drivers for your hardware > For desktop: > > sudo ubuntu-drivers list > or, for servers: > > sudo ubuntu-drivers list --gpgpu ``` But both commands list the same set of packages - just in a different order: $ sudo ubuntu-drivers list nvidia-driver-550-open, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-550-open-generic) nvidia-driver-470-server, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-470-server-generic) nvidia-driver-535-open, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-535-open-generic) nvidia-driver-535-server-open, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-535-server-open-generic) nvidia-driver-550, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-550-generic) nvidia-driver-535-server, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-535-server-generic) nvidia-driver-470, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-470-generic) nvidia-driver-535, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-535-generic) $ sudo ubuntu-drivers list --gpgpu nvidia-driver-470-server, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-470-server-generic) nvidia-driver-535-open, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-535-open-generic) nvidia-driver-550, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-550-generic) nvidia-driver-535-server, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-535-server-generic) nvidia-driver-470, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-470-generic) nvidia-driver-550-open, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-550-open-generic) nvidia-driver-535, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-535-generic) nvidia-driver-535-server-open, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-535-server-open-generic) But there's no indication that the order means anything. `sudo ubuntu-drivers install --gpgpu` on this system will install nvidia-headless-no-dkms-535-server. Which, notably, installs no kernel drivers (neither DKMS nor signed) on my system. `sudo ubuntu-drivers install`, OTOH, will install nvidia-driver-550 linux-modules-nvidia-550-generic. (2) According to https://ubuntu.com/server/docs/nvidia-drivers- installation, ubuntu-drivers "always tries to install signed drivers which are known to work with Secure Boot." But, if there isn't an l-r-m package available for the current kernel, it will fall back to a -dkms package. It seems like that would be the case in the window between pushing out a new nvidia-graphics-drivers package and l-r-m's having been built against it. Maybe that archive state "shouldn't happen" - but if this mode is documented to install signed drivers, then unavailable signed drivers should be an error. (3) There's no option to automatically install the best "-open" variant. There is a `--free-only` option, but that filters out all nvidia drivers. Suggestions: From what I can tell, the `--gpgpu` actually intends to install drivers for a headless system. (Maybe it is just a bug that it installs no driver on my system?) Assuming that is the intent, then `--headless` seems like a better option name. Perhaps we could add `--headless` as an alias for `--gpgpu`... and maybe deprecate --gpgpu? Could we add a `--server|--desktop` flag so a user can explicitly choose the server variant? I realize that `--server` and `--headless` seem similar - but we do provide the full graphics stack for the -server variant drivers, and that does make sense on some systems (DGX A100 Station, for example). Again, documentation could clarify the difference. Could we allow the -open variants to be installed with --free-only? Or could we add a flag to select the -open variant, and document the difference between that and --free-only? To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-drivers-common/+bug/2081881/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
