what is nvidia-kernel ?

Gentree · Posted: Tue May 11, 2004 7:13 pm Post subject: what is nvidia-kernel ?

What exactly is nvidia-kernel?

Apparently it unpacks and installs a binary nvidia driver , but then I see you need to compile it after your kernel.

So does it patch the kernel binaries or what?

Do I need to re-emerge it every time after I rebuild my kernel or just if I change kernel version.

Then what about openglx-update ? Some say its a must , some say they never did it and all works.

This all seems very fuzzy.

Anyone with direct knowlege know what the score is here?

Thanks in advance. Gentree.

cram · Posted: Tue May 11, 2004 7:21 pm Post subject:

Gentree · Posted: Tue May 11, 2004 7:52 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the reply , at least I feel a bit more like I know what I'm doing .

Sugarat · Guru Joined: 24 Jul 2002 Posts: 348

When people refer to the kernel, they usually mean the compiled binary, - bzImage or thereabouts.

As the nvidia-kernel is itself a 'kernel module' that is inserted into a running kernel, it needs to be linked against the kernel that you are running. That is to say that it contains code that depends on the code in your kernel.

So, if you recompile your kernel it changes, rendering the nvidia module unable to insert itself properly, hence needing recompilation.

Not perfectly clear I grant you, but I hope this will suffice as an attempt at explanation.
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Gentree · Posted: Tue May 11, 2004 10:27 pm Post subject:

Ok , thanks , it's becoming a lot clearer.

As I started to realise last week , nvidia-kernel is a complete misnoma.

From what you say this _module_ is statically linked to the kernel binary code, which explains why it needs rebuilding itself each time the kernel binary changes.

This probably also explains why it needs to be loaded with modprobe once the kernel is running.

Thanks a lot for your help.

Now I know what it is and isnt maybe I can find a way to get it to work!

Cheers.