On Monday 14 July 2008 04:10:57 pm andy wrote: > Stackpole, Chris wrote: > > <snip> > > > > Well I can't guarantee that it will all be smooth sailing when using Sid > > packages. It should work, but obviously mileage varies. You do not want > > to do an apt-get upgrade or anything like that but just a simple > > 'apt-get install package' may work for you. I do not foresee a reason > > why you would need to change your kernel or to change anything but the > > dependencies required by the package being upgraded by apt-get. > > > > I wish you the best. > > > > Have fun! > > Chris Stackpole > > Chris - no worries about a guarantee! I can fully appreciate that and > have, over a number of years of using GNU/Linux now, come to expect that > if something can go wrong, it probably will! The result inevitably has > been that I get dragged kicking and screaming into Computer-World with > all its arcane incantations and nuanced temperaments :-) until I can > figure out a fix that works and stays working and almost certainly due > to the help of many people along the way. > > So, learning from past experiences, I now need to change my question > from one about controlling apt-get to the methodology of installing a > nVidia driver (and associated libraries, etc.) so that whenever the > kernel headers are upgraded, it doesn't deep-six my xorg, which is what > happened today! > > Therefore ... > > What is the "correct"/"best"/least error-prone method for installing an > nVidia driver from the Debian repositories, on a Lenny machine, so that > whenever the kernel headers are upgraded, the xorg continues to work? > > I have done some searching on this, and to be honest some of the docs > seem quite out of date, and some even contradict each other. But so far > I have established that I do the following (I think!): > > 1. identify the kernel I am running (uname -r) > 2. change my apt/sources.list to enable the latest drivers from Sid > 3. download nVidia-driver and nVidia-glx and nVidia-settings (?) from > the Sid repos > 4. download module-assistant > 5. run m-a prepare && m-a a-i nvidia > 6. check it's okay: grep -q ^nvidia /etc/modules || echo nvidia >> > /etc/modules > 7. install the additionals: apt-get install nvidia-glx/Sid > 8. restart the *DM /etc/init.d/gdm restart > > Do I have this correct? If not, an informed steer would be welcomed. > What are the gotchas and any tips for troubleshooting? > > Thanks > > Andy see this: http://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers In short, if you change kernels, you will have issues. Even if you use the Nvidia installer. You will have to re-install against your running kernel either through the Nvidia installer sh or through using modual assistant. The "easy" answer is find the kernel you want and lock it in place (you can do that with synaptic), or compile your own kernel, then lock that in place so Debian will not update it. The slightly harder answer is to update your kernel, make sure your headers are updated, make sure nvidia-glx, and nvidia-kernel have the same version numbers (if they do not, you will not be able to compile the new module), reboot into init 1 (single user mode) run the steps listed in 3. Methods above, exit into init 5. Or: install the Nvidia installer, run the nvidia_installer.sh as root from the cli (remove all nvidia-packages first). Make sure you have a dev environment (install kernel-package should work) or it will fail. You will/might get warnings about your kernel not matching your gcc, I ignore it. When you update the kernel, make sure the headers are updated as well, reboot into init 1 and re-run the Nvidia_installer.sh. In short, make sure you know you will have to re-install every kernel update. If all else fails, keep a copy of xorg.conf in /root and just replace nvidia with nv and it should start. HTH -- Damon L. Chesser damon@damtek.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/dchesser
Attachment:
signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part.