Re: nvidia driver
On Friday 03 November 2006 12:43, you wrote:
> That's called dumb luck.
>
> Whenever you install from the nvidia-installer, it wrecklessly
> overwrites files scattered over /usr, which dpkg is meant to be managing
> (i.e. components of X). Whenever these files get updated by the package
> manager, X breaks. Whenever a change is made to packaging structure, it
> breaks too. If you uninstall the NVidia driver, guess what - it breaks
> some more.
>
> Packages are provided for a good reason.
Hi Jo,
You are right, it might have been luck - but I wouldn't call it 'dumb'.
First of all, its no secret which files are installed by the Nvidia installer:
there is a detailed list with files and destinations in Appendix C of the
Nvidia Readme.
Second, I have often heard the complaints over broken systems. However, I did
never observe any of these problems, not even after uninstalling the Nvidia
driver. An upgrade from Sarge to Etch also worked flawlessly (except the
Nvidia driver itself, which has to be compiled after the upgrade as it
depends on the kernel). And updates of XFree or X.Org Debian packages never
made any troubles.
Of course you are right that "packages are provided for a good reason" - but
they are not always provided. Sarge is still featuring version 7174, and
sarge-backports have 8174, compared with the recent 8776 from Nvidia. And
Etch has no package at all, you have to use the Sid packages. Therefore, I
will stick with the Nvidia installer simply because in my experience it works
on Sarge as well as on Etch and Sid, on 32bit as well as on 64bit - and
because it gives me allways an up-to-date driver.
Regards, Clemens
--
>---
Clemens Bergmann
Schwertlilienweg 14
68259 Mannheim
mail@clemens-bergmann.de
>---
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