Possible Ubuntu Feisty kernel caveat Feisty using deprecated kernel module

Accelerated Computing CUDA CUDA Programming and Performance
#1

I recently found some rather weird thing on Ubuntu Feisty which could be a problem in later versions of CUDA. To make it clear, AFAIK CUDA runs fine out of the box, but who knows what will happen as CUDA develops further…

The linux-restricted-modules-$KERN_VERSION packages contain an older version of the Nvidia kernel module, which will be build on boot time and placed in /lib/modules/$KERN_VERSION/volatile. The Nvidia installer will place the kernel module (using the same name) in /lib/modules/$KERN_VERSION/kernel/drivers/video. As a result, modprobe will always load the old driver instead of the newer drivers which is not what one might expect after installing the CUDA drivers.

To circumvent this, I did the following:
(1) Disable build of Nvidia module in /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common
=> DISABLED_MODULES=“nv”
(2) Remove already built modules:
# rm -rf /lib/linux-restricted-modules/$KERN_VERSION/nv*
(3) Reboot.

Substitute $KERN_VERSION with your kernel version string (at my box currently: 2.6.20-16-generic).

Robert

#2

This is actually an Ubuntu bug. See:
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=72490

#3

I won’t say it’s a bug. It’s simply a result from using non-Debian packages (the stuff provided by Nvidia) with Debian. Hopefully Nvidia will release deb packages for Debian derivates some time…

#4

I didn’t remove anything. The problem is, that the “nv” macro is broken in Feisty (and does not include all the nvidia modules).

a

DISABLED_MODULES="nvidia nvidia_legacy nvidia_new"

in /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common does the job.

Cheers

Nathan

#5

Umm, nice to know that. Maybe someone should update the post mentioned above to make clear the Ubuntu scripts are broken…

Sorry to bugger you, but did you check that the new modules are loaded with dmesg? Cuda runs nice with Ubuntu’s kernel module, so you won’t notice.

Robert

#6

Um, a little off-topic, but “bugger” doesn’t mean “bother”. I’ll let you read for yourself: http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?s=bugger&gwp=13

Regards,

Ross

#7

I also hope that NVIDIA will release packages of CUDA for Ubuntu and keep them up to date for each release of the distribution or CUDA. It seems reasonable considering how popular Ubuntu is.

Can anyone from NVIDIA comment on the possibility of future Ubuntu support?