NVIDIA Fully Adopts Open-Source GPU Kernel Modules in Upcoming R560 Driver Release

Lawrence
Jengar

Jul
18,
2024
05:52

NVIDIA
transitions
to
open-source
GPU
kernel
modules
with
the
R560
driver
release,
enhancing
performance
and
support
for
modern
GPUs.

NVIDIA
has
announced
a
significant
shift
in
its
driver
strategy,
transitioning
entirely
to
open-source
GPU
kernel
modules
with
the
upcoming
R560
driver
release,
according
to
the

NVIDIA
Technical
Blog.
This
move
builds
on
the
company’s
initial
release
of
open-source
GPU
kernel
modules
with
the
R515
driver
in
May
2022,
which
was
aimed
at
datacenter
compute
GPUs.

Performance
and
New
Capabilities

Over
the
past
two
years,
NVIDIA
has
worked
diligently
to
ensure
that
the
open-source
GPU
kernel
modules
meet
or
exceed
the
performance
of
their
proprietary
counterparts.
The
company
has
also
introduced
several
new
features,
including:

• Heterogeneous
  memory
  management
  (HMM)
  support
• Confidential
  computing
• Coherent
  memory
  architectures
  for
  Grace
  platforms
• And
  more

These
advancements
have
led
NVIDIA
to
believe
that
the
time
is
right
for
a
full
transition
to
open-source
GPU
kernel
modules.

Supported
GPUs

Not
all
GPUs
will
be
compatible
with
the
open-source
GPU
kernel
modules.
For
cutting-edge
platforms
such
as
NVIDIA
Grace
Hopper
or
NVIDIA
Blackwell,
the
open-source
modules
are
mandatory,
as
proprietary
drivers
are
unsupported.
NVIDIA
recommends
switching
to
the
open-source
modules
for
newer
GPUs
from
the
Turing,
Ampere,
Ada
Lovelace,
or
Hopper
architectures.

However,
older
GPUs
from
the
Maxwell,
Pascal,
or
Volta
architectures
will
not
be
compatible
with
the
open-source
modules
and
should
continue
using
the
proprietary
driver.
For
mixed
deployments
with
older
and
newer
GPUs,
the
proprietary
driver
remains
the
recommended
option.

NVIDIA
provides
a
detection
helper
script
to
assist
users
in
determining
the
appropriate
driver
for
their
system.

Installer
Changes

The
default
driver
installed
by
all
methods
is
shifting
from
the
proprietary
to
the
open-source
driver.
Specific
scenarios
requiring
attention
include:

• Package
  managers
  with
  the
  CUDA
  metapackage
• Runfile
  installations
• Installation
  helper
  script
• Package
  manager
  specifics
• Windows
  Subsystem
  for
  Linux
• CUDA
  Toolkit

Using
Package
Managers
with
CUDA
Metapackage

When
installing
the
CUDA
Toolkit
via
a
package
manager,
users
typically
install
a
top-level

cuda
package,
which
includes
both
the
CUDA
Toolkit
and
the
associated
driver
release.
With
the
upcoming
CUDA
12.6
release,
the
process
will
switch
to
favoring
the
open-source
modules
by
default.

Using
the
Runfile

For
those
installing
CUDA
or
NVIDIA
drivers
using
the

.run
file,
the
installer
will
automatically
select
the
best-fit
driver
for
the
system.
Users
can
also
manually
choose
between
proprietary
and
open-source
drivers
via
UI
toggles
or
command-line
overrides.

Using
the
Installation
Helper
Script

NVIDIA
has
created
a
helper
script
to
guide
users
in
selecting
the
appropriate
driver
for
their
GPUs.
The
script
can
be
run
after
installing
the

nvidia-driver-assistant
package.

Package
Manager
Details

NVIDIA
recommends
using
package
managers
to
install
CUDA
Toolkit
and
drivers.
Specific
commands
for
different
distributions
include:

apt:
Ubuntu
and
Debian-based
Distributions

$ sudo apt-get install nvidia-open

dnf:
Red
Hat
Enterprise
Linux,
Fedora,
Kylin,
Amazon
Linux,
Rocky
Linux

$ sudo dnf module install nvidia-driver:open-dkms

zypper:
SUSE
Linux
Enterprise
Server,
OpenSUSE

$ sudo zypper install nvidia-open

Windows
Subsystem
for
Linux

WSL
uses
the
NVIDIA
kernel
driver
from
the
host
Windows
OS,
requiring
no
specific
driver
installation
within
WSL.

CUDA
Toolkit

The
installation
process
for
the
CUDA
Toolkit
remains
unchanged.
Users
can
install
it
via
package
managers
with
the
following
command:

$ sudo apt-get/dnf/zypper install cuda-toolkit

More
Information

For
detailed
instructions
on
driver
installation
and
CUDA
Toolkit
setup,
refer
to
the

CUDA
Installation
Guide.

Image
source:
Shutterstock