What are the different driver versions? Long Lived vs Short Lived vs geforce.com

Updating my GT-650M driver for Linux x86_64 and am wondering what the different versions are?

nvidia.com/object/unix shows:
Latest Long Lived Branch Version: 410.93
Latest Short Lived Branch Version: 415.27

but Download The Latest Official GeForce Drivers shows the latest as: 418.43

What is the difference between 410, 415 and 418 series? (and also say 390 which is still being updated)?

Hello,

You can view the release highlights and information of each driver here: https://www.nvidia.com/object/linux-amd64-display-archive.html

418.43 - https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/142958/en-us
415.27 - https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/141847/en-us
410.93 - https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/141700/en-us

So which one is the “main” one? I haven’t been able to find an explanation anywhere and they both seem to address different issues with X.

  • Does “Short Lived” mean “beta”?

  • Does 418 replace 410/415? (If so how come a new 410 came out when the latest 418 came out?)

  • Is 410 more stable than 415 which is more stable than 418?

  • Which one has the latest features for DXVK?

  • Which one should I try to see if my HDMI recession issue I’m having has been fixed?

Thanks for helping me understand…

Hello,

There has been a lot of discussion on this subject.This topic might offer some clarity:

https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/1044231/linux/which-driver-to-use-long-short/

Thanks for the link. Unfortunately that did not clarify it :(

It seems the “Long Lived” incorporates fixes and “Short Lived” incorporates new features.

So does short lived get the fixes from long lived? And how long until features from short lived get into long lived? Or are they experimental features?

It seems there is no “latest” driver that has all the fixes AND the newest features…

UPDATE:

nvidia.com/object/unix now shows 418 as the latest Long Lived branch.

But I’m still unclear on the difference between Long and Short. I guess the version number, release date, and release notes need to be compared each time…

I asked for clarification here as there are now two concurrent “long lived” releases which makes no sense to me, and the short-lived release has disappeared, but failed to get an official reply.

The situation remains confusing/confused as the most recent 410.104 “long lived” release is no longer listed even though it was updated a few weeks ago.

I’m also seeing reports of problems with 418.43 (for instance, broken audio) that don’t affect 410.104 which reinforces my opinion that 410.104 is the true stable long-lived release, while 418.43 is actually the beta/short-lived release (there is no current short-lived release according to the release summary).

Some clarity would be welcome, as Nvidia only make this hard for themselves and those trying to support their hardware.

seems like 410 is no longer listed anywhere as the latest. I think it just took awhile for the 410 → 418 transition to be the main branch I guess?

The “short-lived branch” has also disappeared. Coincidence? Or wires crossed?

410.104 announcement: https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/1047709

418.43 announcement: https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/1047710

Both were announced on the same day (410.104 before 418.43). Both are labelled as being the “long-lived branch release”. 410.104 doesn’t appear in the release summary, and neither does the “short lived branch-release” which I suggest is actually what 418.43 should have been called.

To me, it just looks like an announcement cock-up:

410.104 → long-lived branch release

418.43 → short-lived branch release

Hi milhouse,

Any given release branch is either long-lived or short-lived. The difference is in how long the branch is maintained and how many releases are made from each branch. A short-lived branch typically has only one or two (non-beta) releases, while long-lived branches will have several.

So both 410 and 418 are long-lived branches, and the releases for 410.104 and 418.43 just reflect that – some customers are still using the 410 series and don’t want to move to 418, so we made a release from that branch even though a newer long-lived branch is available.

When we make changes to the driver, we evaluate the oldest branch the change needs to go into. New features go into whatever the latest branch is, while bug fixes go into the older branches and are integrated through the newer branches. So using a short-lived branch doesn’t mean that you miss out on fixes, it just means that you also get the latest features.

The sticky post lists the latest releases from the current short- and long-lived branches.
https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/533434/linux/current-graphics-driver-releases/

If you want a list of releases from all branches, including older long-lived branches, look here:
https://www.nvidia.com/object/linux-amd64-display-archive.html

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@aplattner thank you for the explanation, it is appreciated. I do think the naming policy remains a little confusing, but I guess it is what it is.

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In the list of “Latest Long Lived”, “Latest Short Lived” and “Latest Legacy” drivers on the Unix Driver Archive page, I think it would be enormously helpful to add a few words describing the branches in terms of a tradeoff between stability and features. Something like:

Long lived branches may be more stable, while short lived branches may have more features.

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One final note on this topic. There are 4 places to check for drivers:

https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx
will search for the latest long-lived or short-lived for a specific card.

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/drivers
will search for the latest short-lived for a specific card.

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/unix
will list the latest long-lived, short-lived, and legacy drivers for all cards.

and
https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/current-graphics-driver-releases/28500
will also list the latest long-lived, short-lived, and legacy drivers for all cards.

enjoy!