diff --git a/rhel8/nvidia.md b/rhel8/nvidia.md index 252521c6..0b472e73 100644 --- a/rhel8/nvidia.md +++ b/rhel8/nvidia.md @@ -43,5 +43,20 @@ If the driver version is too old, it will install an older kernel version and yo ## Versioning Mess +I did not find much information about Nvidia driver version structure and policy. Still I concluded that they use following pattern. + +Their drivers are oranized in **driver branches**. As you see for example in their [Unix Driver Archive](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/unix/) noted as e.g. `470.xx series`. + +There are `Production` and `New Feature` branches (and, on the above linked page, a `Beta Version` which is not linked to any of the above branches (yet?). + +Such a branch can be considered a major release and with new braches adding support for new hardware or removing support for old hardware. +The drivers within a branch are maintained quite a long time. Individual drivers in that branch get increasing version numbers which just start with the same first "branch" number. + +In the RPM repo there are more branches available than listed in the [Unix Driver Archive](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/unix/). It is not possible to find out retrospectively to what type of branch it belongs. Also it is not possible to find out from the package meta information if a driver is considered beta or not. That you only find out by googling "Nvidia $DRIVER_VERSION" and looking at the respective driver page. In my experience the first few driver versions of a branch are usually "beta". + +To figure out what driver branch to use for given hardware, go to their [Download page](https://www.nvidia.de/Download/index.aspx) and search its Linux driver. It will then point out a driver version and its first number points out the driver branch to use. Note that this is not always the full story. For example the Tesla K40c gives [driver 460.106.00](https://www.nvidia.de/Download/driverResults.aspx/182244/en-us), where as the 470 branch driver still works, though the [470 driver](https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/194637/en-us/) still works, even though the hardware is not listed as supported there. + + + ## Manual Operation