Re: nvidia and stock kernel

[seb@frankengul.org]

On Sun, Jan 16, 2005 at 08:03:24AM -0800, Ric Otte wrote:
> Hi,
> This doesn't seem to work for me.
> There is no .deb in /usr/src/modules/nvidia (or in any of the
> subdirectories).  The error message from debian/rules binary_modules
> said 
> *** Failed rivafb sanity check. Bailing out! ***
> 
> make[1]: *** [rivafb-sanity-check] Error 1
> make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel/nv'
> 
> And (sorry to be so ignorant), but how do i do a good rm at every
> installation of a kernel-image?  I used to roll my own kernels, but
> because this is amd64, i decided to try the stock kernel.  Any
> suggestions are appreciated. T hanks,
> Ric
> 

Ok, I will explain a little further.
Stock kernel is delivered with the rivafb module. This will allow you to
use the framebuffer (console). But this will conflict with the nvidia
kernel module.
The rivafb claims to handle the card and won't let anyone else touch it.
That is the meaning of the rivafb-sanity-check message.
So, for using the private nvidia kernel, you need to get rid of the
rivafb (you don't want hotplug to install it at the place of the
propietary module). 
One possibility is to do a 
mv /lib/modules/<kern_vers>/kernel/driver/video/rivafb.ko 
/lib/modules/<kern_vers>/kernel/driver/video/rivafb.ko.disabled.
But a rm is as good as the mv since once you get the nvidia installed,
you certainly won't need the rivafb anymore.
Once you rmm'ed the modules, do the build again and it will produce a
kernel module packages you can install then.

The problem with the kernel image is that every time you upgrade the
kernel-image package, it will reinstall the rivafb module. So, you will
have to redo the same process again (i.e. remove the rivafb module,
rebuild the nvidia for the new kernel, install the module).
That what I meaned by doing a good rm at each kernel-image :).

Hope this helps.

	Seb