| Summary: | Latest nvidia-drivers does not support all cards | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Product: | Gentoo Linux | Reporter: | Paul McDermott <pmcdermott98> |
| Component: | Current packages | Assignee: | Gentoo Linux bug wranglers <bug-wranglers> |
| Status: | VERIFIED INVALID | ||
| Severity: | major | CC: | lordhabbit, nshephard |
| Priority: | High | ||
| Version: | unspecified | ||
| Hardware: | x86 | ||
| OS: | Linux | ||
| Whiteboard: | |||
| Package list: | Runtime testing required: | --- | |
|
Description
Paul McDermott
2007-08-30 11:20:49 UTC
> Downgrading to 1.0.9639 fixes the problem, but does not prevent accidental
> future 'upgrades'. Should we bring back a nvidia-legacy-drivers for users of
> older cards?
No way. Read the message and do what it tells you to do.
NOTABUG.
Just to be crystal clear, I don't mean the dmesg message, I mean the elog message that the ebuild shows if you are trying to compile the drivers version with an unsupported card and which you've ignored. I don't think you're right, Jakub: if you emerge nvidia-drivers, you should indeed pay some attention and notice that versions > than $whatever are not supported. However, like the original post says, downgrading does not prevent accidental future upgrades. In the simplest case, an emerge -DuN will get you the newest nvidia-drivers, which will not work with your card, and you will be nonethewiser until X refuses to start on next reboot. In fact, a full deep update with newuses can take a day or more, and you bet I won't be watching the screen for warnings all along. Drawing on the experience of others can be good: Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora and openSUSE all have a separate package for nvidia-legacy-drivers, iIrc. Why shouldn't Gentoo? Specially in such an important package for desktop users as X video drivers. Even when there is a simple solution to the issue, being forced to drop to a text-only console is at the very least distressing. Thus, as the not-so-proud owner of a GeForce 2 MX200 and a Gf4200Ti, I request the reopening of this bug If you don't pay attention to the messages the ebuild provided, you'll get non-working drivers version. If you dislike this, you can either maintain your own ebuilds in your own overlay, or complain to nVidia, or don't buy nVidia cards. We are not going to have another round of ranting a la Bug 154805; this bug is CLOSED, no need for more comments. Thanks. Though I feel an immense necessity to be as rude as you have just been, I won't. I once more request the reopening of this bug because it is abouy a REAL PROBLEM which has quite some Gentoo users unnerved. I acknowledge that this mess is the _sole_ fault of nVidia, who stubbornly refuses to support legacy users with their new drivers. However, as "upstream" and "not Gentoo's fault" as this can be, people who just update their system with packages marked as "stable" get their X broken. Right now, there is only one nvidia-drivers package in Gentoo, but there are at least 2 and maybe 3 different nVidia drivers. These can be regarded as just different versions of the same package, but effectively some versions (7xxx and 9xxx) iIrc are cutoffs, so the next one won't support cards that one did. If kept as a single package, that means, as I stated before, that upgrading your system with a new _stable_ version of the same drivers package you had will break your system and the only possible fixup is to downgrade to a concrete version. Which will again be updated to the latest "stable" version on the next "emerge -u world" and get your X borked again. I'm _not_ asking Gentoo devs/mantainersto fix anything with the new drivers to make them work with my ancient cards. I'm just asking them to have a separated nvidia-legacy-drivers with the last version (say 9xxx) that worked with that cards and never ever update it again. That way, when an user comes complaining to the forums that drivers update broke his X, we can just tell him "it's nVidia fault, use the new ndivia-legacy-drivers and you're all set" instead of "it's nVidia fault, get over it". You see? the "it's nVidia fault" part remains. It's just the second part that changes from a rant to a solution. And of course you'll say "there is already a solution, just install the downgraded version that worked". Of course, but that is not viable because of the update issue I mentioned. And while I'm sure newer versions than 9xxx could be masked out by the user in p.mask, is it sooo difficult to provide this smallish tiny comfort to some users who feel Gentoo is the only thing that can run fast on their outdated machines. I'll finish asking you, J. Moc, to actually take some time before answering a comment. As unnerving as it can be to answer a noobish-like request (and I know cuz I was in a support service for some months), and as unfair as it can be that users constantly complain to you, unpaid volunteers who spend their spare time in making Gentoo better, I feel your last post was absolutely rude. I insist: do you really expect me - or anyone - to watch the screen for some 32 hours (the time my last "emerge -u" took) so that I can catch warnings as they fly by the screen? If it weren't because Porthole (an app marked as _unstable_) offers me a summary at the end, I would only be able to read the very last screen (that with "run etc-udpate" and all). So please, stop ranting "you should have read the warnings" because I try - I REALLY try, and still get my X borked. Besides that, thanks to every one (including you Jakob) that works on their spare time and absolutely unpaid to make this distro better for everyone. (In reply to comment #5) > I'm just asking them to have a separated > nvidia-legacy-drivers with the last version (say 9xxx) that worked with that > cards and never ever update it again. That won't be done for reasons stated over and over again on Bug 154805, please drop this topic. No nvidia-drivers, nvidia-legacy-drivers, nvidia-more-legacy-drivers, nvidia-rotten-iron-drivers, sorry. Not maintainable, complain upstream. We have nvidia-drivers.eclass instead, it's up to user to choose right drivers for their HW, exactly as they need to do it when compiling kernel. For the rest of your topic, why don't you just use ELOG features that have been available for over 1 1/2 year (see /etc/make.conf.example)? Not to mention that portage 2.1.3.x provides a summary of all elog messages after the emerge is finished, by default. Please stop blaming us for not using features that are available. No more comments here, closed, dead and burried. :) *** Bug 193041 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. *** |
