Thread: Installing NVIDIA graphics drivers on recent distributions (Fedora, Ubuntu ...)

Please note: Whenever possible, it is suggested that you make use of your Linux distribution's NVIDIA Linux graphics driver packages. This will make sure superior assimilation with the distribution's local package management system as well as reduce the possibility of problems after system updates, etc.

Fedora Core 6, Fedora 7/8/9 & RHEL5

If you wish to set up the NVIDIA Linux graphics driver on a Fedora Core 6, Fedora 7/9 or RHEL5 system, please make sure that your system meets the following requirements:
* The latest update kernel is installed and in use
* a kernel-devel RPM is installed that corresponds to the kernel that is in utilize. Note, FC6 has a identified bug which rarely set up a kernel-devel RPM that is a unusual arch than the kernel (i586 & i686 mixed).
* The pkgconfig and xorg-x11-server-sdk RPMs are installed (only applies to FC6)
* Xen kernels are not at present supported
The items above can be addressed with the subsequent commands (they need to be run as root):
# Yum set up kernel-devel xorg-x11-server-sdk pkgconfig
# yum update
# reboot
If you are by means of an SMP (multi-CPU and/or multi-core) enabled system in FC5 (only), please change kernel-devel with kernel-smp-devel in the command above.

The SELinux requirement can be addressed via two mechanisms after the NVIDIA Linux graphics driver has been installed:

1) If you do not wish to use SELinux enforcement, you can stop it by running the `setenforce 0` command previous to starting X, or by adding selinux=0 to the conclusion of the kernel line in /etc/grub.conf as well as rebooting.

2) If you desire to make use of SELinux enforcement, you will require altering the security context of the NVIDIA X driver module as well as of the server-side NVIDIA GLX extension module. To get this, please run the commands scheduled for your platform below:

Linux/x86 (32-bit):
# Chcon -t texrel_shlib_t /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.so
# chcon -t texrel_shlib_t /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so.1.0.9631
# chcon -t texrel_shlib_t /usr/lib/tls/libnvidia-tls.so.1
# chcon -t texrel_shlib_t /usr/lib/libGLcore.so.1.0.9631
Linux/x86-64 (64-bit):
# chcon -t texrel_shlib_t /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.so
# chcon -t texrel_shlib_t /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so.1.0.9631
# chcon -t texrel_shlib_t /usr/lib64/libGLcore.so.1.0.9631
# chcon -t texrel_shlib_t /usr/lib64/tls/libnvidia-tls.so.1

Debian GNU/Linux or [K]Ubuntu with Xorg 7.x

If you desire to set up the NVIDIA Linux graphics driver on a Debian GNU/Linux or Ubuntu system that ships with Xorg 7.x, please make sure that your system meets the following necessities:
* Development tools like make and gcc are installed
* the Linux-headers package matching the installed Linux kernel is installed
* the pkg-config and xserver-xorg-dev packages are installed
* the nvidia-glx package has been uninstalled with the --purge option and the files /etc/init.d/nvidia-glx and /etc/init.d/nvidia-kernel do not exist
If you make use of Ubuntu, please also make sure that the Linux-restricted-modules or Linux-restricted-modules-common packages have been uninstalled. Otherwise, you can correct the /etc/default/Linux-restricted-modules or /etc/default/Linux-restricted-modules-common configuration file and disable the NVIDIA Linux-restricted kernel modules (nvidia, nvidia_legacy) by means of:
DISABLED_MODULES="nv nvidia_new"
Additionally, delete the following file if it exists:
/lib/linux-restricted-modules/.nvidia_new_installed

Please note: Unluckily, it has turn into tricky to keep path of the pre-/post-installation steps necessary for [K]Ubuntu, as well as the exceeding instructions might be imperfect. If in doubt, it is suggested that you make use of your distributor's NVIDIA Linux graphics driver packages, wholly.

Report of problem:
The FC6 version of Anaconda seems to select the i586 kernel in its place of the i686
One it's believed to on some P4 as well as Centrino systems. I had this happen to me With an install of Rawhide from the 21st (which is essentially FC6), Guillaume Kulakowski had this happen (see URL with description in French) on a Centrino with the official FC6 release.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
Anaconda-11.1.1.3-1

How reproducible:
No idea.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Install FC6 on an affected system and check the kernel architecture.

Actual results:
The kernel is an i586 kernel.

Expected results:
The kernel is an i686 kernel.

Additional info:
My (brutal) fix:
1. wget the i686 kernel
2. rpm -e kernel
3. rpm -ivh kernel-*.i686.rpm

I don't think rpm -e on the current kernel is that great an idea though. I risked it because I couldn't think of a better solution which doesn't screw up the RPM database and/or the file system in one way or the other.

(Note down that this is a new-fangled PC with a fresh set up, not the one where the Smart PM certain to choose an i586 kmod for several reason. That one was part of
#192775).

Please affix the output of cat /proc/cpuinfo as well as also if you do mv /etc/rpm/platform /etc/rpm/platform.bak; rpm --showrc | head; mv \ /etc/rpm/platform.bak /etc/rpm/platform.

Same at this time on a Dell Latitude D800 (which has a Pentium M 1.6, see attach cpuinfo):

mv /etc/rpm/platform /etc/rpm/platform.bak; rpm --showrc | head; mv \ /etc/rpm/platform.bak /etc/rpm/platform
ARCHITECTURE AND OS:
Build arch : i386
Compatible build archs: pentium3 i686 i586 i486 i386 noarch fat
Build os : Linux
Compatible build os's : Linux
Set up arch : pentium3
Set up os : Linux
Compatible archs : pentium3 i686 i586 i486 i386 noarch fat
Compatible os's : Linux

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=211941