Red Hat based systems ship with a nvidia-compatible graphics kernel module (nouveau). However, in some situations the 3rd party proprietary graphics kernel module from nvidia is needed instead. This 3rd party kernel module is not supplied or supported by Red Hat. With each new kernel, a 3rd party kernel module (like the proprietary nvidia one) needs to be rebuilt. This process can be tedious and confusing (eg, why did my graphical login break after a reboot?). There is a facility named "DKMS" which stands for Dynamic Kernel Module SystemSupport. This enables the automatic rebuild of 3rd party kernel modules at the time of the new kernel installation. This is done via hooks which are present in the kernel post-install RPM scriplet. This document describes how to install the nvidia kernel module with DKMS support, so a manual rebuild of the nvidia kernel module is no longer required for every new kernel.
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Find the nvidia graphics (video)
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model
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number
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.
# lspci | grep -i nvidiaan example output to look forAn example of what the output looks like (this is just the graphics card line from the output):
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP107GL [Quadro P600] (rev a1)2) google A google search for 'nvidia
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linux'
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finds the
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nvidia
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linux
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download
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page:
https://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html
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Under
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the
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"64
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bit"
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section
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at
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the
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top of that page,
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select
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"Latest
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Long
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Lived
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Branch
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Version".
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It currently
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looks
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like
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this:
Linux
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x86_64/AMD64/EM64T
Latest
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Long
...
Lived
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Branch
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Version:
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410.78
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After selecting
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the
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latest
...
long
...
lived
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branch
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above,
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then
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select
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the
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"Supported
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products"
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tab,
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and
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search
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for
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the
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model
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name/number
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from
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step
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1
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above.
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From
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the
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example
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in
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step
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1,
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I
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found
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"Quadro
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P600"
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in
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the
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list
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of
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supported
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products.
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If
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you
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cannot
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find
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your
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model
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number,
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you
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may
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have
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to
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look
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in
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the
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legacy
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versions
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(go
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back
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to
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step
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3
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above).
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Click download.
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The current
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link
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(NON-legacy)
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from
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above
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is
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(as
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of
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2018-Dec-7):
http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/410.78/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-410.78.run
And the
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current
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LEGACY
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driver
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as
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of
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2018-Dec-10
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is
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(for
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older
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graphics
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cards)
http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/390.87/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-390.87.run
An example of how to directly download one of the above using a command line:
# mkdir /scswork/ksa
# cd /scswork/ksa command line download:
# curl -sLO 'http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/410.78/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-410.78.run'
[root@pc95621 ksa]# pwd
/scswork/ksa
6) install dkms:
Install the DKMS rpm (this should be automatically available from the EPEL yum repository)
# yum install dkms(installing Installing dkms
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should
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also
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install
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the
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required
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kernel-devel
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RPM (if it's not already installed).
The kernel-devel RPM is needed to build the nvidia kernel module.
You can view the help info (optional) with this command (use -A to view "Advanced help options)
# /bin/sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-xxxxx[version].run --help
# /bin/sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-xxxxx[version].run -A 8) stop
Stop the
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currently
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running
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X
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server
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by
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changing
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to
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run
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level
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3. This is required by the nvidia installer.
This will kick off anyone who is logged in at the video console.
# init 39) run Run the
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installer (this installs and builds without any questions):
# /bin/sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-xxxxxx[version].run --dkms --run-nvidia-xconfig --no-questions
If you prefer to have an interactive installation, and answer questions during the install:
# installer/bin/sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-[version].run
The installer will build any required kernel modules. This could take quite a while (several minutes to 10s of minutes).
Next, reboot. This is optional -- but recommended for verification that everything works after a reboot.
The following command will tell you which kernels have the nvidia module installed:
# builds any required kernel modules. this could take quite a while (minutes to many minutes)
10) reboot (optional -- for verification if possible)
11) this command will tell you which kernels have the nvidia module installed:
find /lib/modules | grep nvidia.ko12) after the
After the reboot,
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this
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is
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how
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to
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verify
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the
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nvidia
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module
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is
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being
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used
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and
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the
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install
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was
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successful (look for gdm in the output from the last ps tree command below).
# lsmod | grep nvidia
# ps axuwwwaxuww | grep X
# ps axuwwf | less
There are also nvidia and X server log files which can be viewed.
/var/log/nvidia-installer.log
/var/log/Xorg.0.log
References:
DKMS
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Kernel_Module_Support
Kernel Module Weak Updates
https://trapsink.com/wiki/Kernel_Module_Weak_Updates