Building kernel modules for 550.163.01 on kernel verson 6.12.100+deb13-amd64 fails

Graphics / Linux Linux
1

Today (August 2nd, 2026) i attempted to install updates for Debian 13. It left the 6.12.100+deb13-amd64 kernel in such a state that booting from it results in a kernel panic. I am able to boot in an older version (linux-image-6.12.96+deb13-amd64).

I tried to reconfigure with dpkg --configure -a but it still doesn’t work as expected. The output shown for this command is

Setting up linux-image-6.12.100+deb13-amd64-unsigned (6.12.100-1) ...
/etc/kernel/postinst.d/dkms:
Sign command: /lib/modules/6.12.100+deb13-amd64/build/scripts/sign-file
Signing key: /var/lib/dkms/mok.key
Public certificate (MOK): /var/lib/dkms/mok.pub

Autoinstall of module nvidia-current-open/550.163.01 for kernel 6.12.100+deb13-amd64 (x86_64)
Building module(s)..........(bad exit status: 2)
Failed command:
env NV_VERBOSE=1 make -j8 modules KERNEL_UNAME=6.12.100+deb13-amd64

Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 6.12.100+deb13-amd64 (x86_64)
Consult /var/lib/dkms/nvidia-current-open/550.163.01/build/make.log for more information.

Autoinstall on 6.12.100+deb13-amd64 failed for module(s) nvidia-current-open(10).

Error! One or more modules failed to install during autoinstall.
Refer to previous errors for more information.
run-parts: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/dkms exited with return code 1
dpkg: error processing package linux-image-6.12.100+deb13-amd64-unsigned (--configure):
installed linux-image-6.12.100+deb13-amd64-unsigned package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-headers-6.12.100+deb13-amd64:
linux-headers-6.12.100+deb13-amd64 depends on linux-image-6.12.100+deb13-amd64 (= 6.12.100-1) | linux-image-6.12.100+deb13-amd64-unsigned (= 6.12.100-1); however:
Package linux-image-6.12.100+deb13-amd64 is not installed.
Package linux-image-6.12.100+deb13-amd64-unsigned is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package linux-headers-6.12.100+deb13-amd64 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-headers-amd64:
linux-headers-amd64 depends on linux-headers-6.12.100+deb13-amd64 (= 6.12.100-1); however:
Package linux-headers-6.12.100+deb13-amd64 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package linux-headers-amd64 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
linux-image-6.12.100+deb13-amd64-unsigned
linux-headers-6.12.100+deb13-amd64
linux-headers-amd64

The kernal header package has been installed:

linux-headers-6.12.100+deb13-amd64 is already the newest version (6.12.100-1).
linux-headers-6.12.100+deb13-amd64 set to manually installed.
Summary:
Upgrading: 0, Installing: 0, Removing: 0, Not Upgrading: 0
3 not fully installed or removed.
Space needed: 0 B / 15.0 GB available

In the log created by dkms, i see only one thing that i didn’t expect:

/var/lib/dkms/nvidia-current-open/550.163.01/build/nvidia/nv-pci.c: In function ‘nv_resize_pcie_bars’:
/var/lib/dkms/nvidia-current-open/550.163.01/build/nvidia/nv-pci.c:237:9: error: too few arguments to function ‘pci_resize_resource’
237 | r = pci_resize_resource(pci_dev, NV_GPU_BAR1, requested_size);
| ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In file included from /var/lib/dkms/nvidia-current-open/550.163.01/build/nvidia/nv-pci-table.h:27,
from /var/lib/dkms/nvidia-current-open/550.163.01/build/nvidia/nv-pci.c:24:
/usr/src/linux-headers-6.12.100+deb13-common/include/linux/pci.h:1421:18: note: declared here
1421 | int __must_check pci_resize_resource(struct pci_dev *dev, int i, int size,
| ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
make[4]: *** [/usr/src/linux-headers-6.12.100+deb13-common/scripts/Makefile.build:234: /var/lib/dkms/nvidia-current-open/550.163.01/build/nvidia/nv-pci.o] Error 1
make[4]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....

But I do not have the know-how to determine if this is the actual problem, or how to fix it.

make.log (101.6 KB)

2

To quote my post on the Debian Forums:

Sadly, Debian-packaged drivers should basically be considered as unmaintained currently: v550 that they are based on has been EOL upstream for almost a year now (and as a consequence is probably vulnerable to multiple security issues reported&fixed in v580) and there have been no maintenance updates from the Debian team since then either. The version from backports has stopped to compile on Backports kernels about 3 months ago and looking at your `make.log`, apparently now the time has come for the base suite as well…

not the one from Nvidia’s website

So NV themselves provide 2 packaging methods of their drivers, I guess you were referring to so called Unix drivers distributed as distro-agnostic dot-run executable files. These drivers are not recommended because of a plethora of issues they have, but NV also provides `apt` repos with so called “data-center drivers” (“NV DC drivers” in short), that despite the name, generally do contain all the desktop elements as well. Due to the lack of better alternatives, this is the most recommended option currently, though not completely without issues. Have a look at the dedicated wiki section and the official guide linked from there. In short, you need to:

  1. purge the old Debian driver
  2. Add NV apt sources as described in the relevant section of the official guide
  3. Install nvidia-open package

This will install the open flavor of the latest version (currently 610.something.something), if you want to use some specific version, first install nvidia-driver-pinning-${DESIRED_VERSION} and run apt update before installing nvidia-open.

I will be updating the wiki also later today

UPDATE:
also the proprietary flavor of Debian-packaged v550 still seems to work ok with 6.12.100.

3

Thanks for the explanation and workaround/fix.

I executed the actions lined out in your post, and i now have the latest 590 drivers running on the most recent Debian kernel version.

Only downside is that apt keeps complaining about the unverified packages that are being installed with/for Nvidia.

I considered taking on the maintenance of the Debian repo’s, but as i am not very versed in c(++) and/or Graphic drivers, i came to the conclusion that is not realistic.

Any way - thanks again for the quick response on my post.

Regards,

Fabien H. Dumay

4

you mean you installed nvidia-driver-pinning-590 intentionally? Because the latest is 610.x.y as mentioned…

This definitely should not be happening… Sth is wrong with your system, if you want to try to resolve it, post the exact error output and the contents of files in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ and /etc/apt/sources.list.