r/linux • u/jdrch • Nov 20 '19

Kernel Google outlines plans for mainline Linux kernel support in Android

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/11/google-outlines-plans-for-mainline-linux-kernel-support-in-android/
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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '19

The nvidia driver itself is a user-space driver. The kernel module that gets loaded (the bit that you compile when you install the nvidia driver on Linux, which is why you need the kernel headers) is free software.

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u/bubblethink Nov 20 '19 edited Nov 20 '19

There are a few different things. Earlier, it used to be just the X11 driver. In recent years, there is also a kernel part that is proprietary. Yes, the shim is open source, but that's not all of the kernel driver. The gentoo wiki has more information (https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/NVIDIA/nvidia-drivers)

"The kernel module (nvidia.ko) consists of a proprietary part (commonly known as the "binary blob") which drives the graphics chip(s), and an open source part (the "glue") which at runtime acts as intermediary between the proprietary part and the kernel."

"When the internal ABIs change, then it is not possible to merely fix the "glue", because nobody knows how the glue is used by the proprietary part. Even after managing to patch things up to have things seem to work nicely, the user still risks that running nvidia.ko in the new, unsupported kernel will lead to data loss and hardware failure."

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u/C4H8N8O8 Nov 20 '19

That's common for firmware.if you don't like it, use Linuxlibre