Newer `x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers` now provides fbdev support however nvidia kernel modules should be available at early boot for this to work according to [1]. It would be nice if ebuild will include `dist-kernel_reinstall_initramfs` call in case `dist-kernel` USE flag is used. [1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Talk:NVIDIA#Framebuffer_consoles_experimental_support
Personally don't think its fbdev support is useful for initramfs early boot when something else like SIMPLEDRM can do the job and will be more reliable (nvidia's fbdev should have the perk of being able to replace a loaded simpledrm or even nouveau which is greatly why nvidia has implemented it, not that I experimented with that much -- otherwise would have to use simplefb/efifb). Plus including nvidia modules on initramfs has a tendency to easily end up in mismatch when anything goes wrong (they are also massive, expect like +50-100MB to the initramfs including the gsp firmwares). It would also need to setup additional configuration given dracut skips nvidia + its firmwares by default last I know of.
I think the USE would also be confusing for users, do not really want to encourage use of experimental fbdev=1 at the moment and is useless to include without it.
Ionen, thanks for quick reply! I understand your rationale so fill free to close this as WONTFIX. In case someone will be interested I succesfuly tested nvidia fbdev. I'm still unsure whether nvidia modules should be included in the initramfs. In my case fb (and efifb) was compilled in the kernel so nvidia fbdev threw error. After disabling efifb (it can not be compilled as a module) and reconfiguring fb as module nvidia fbdev works fine. Nvidia fbdev works fine for me as efifb. However with efifb I getting immediate console output at the boot in contrast to nvidia fbdev. There is also flickering when switching from GNOME X11 session to console with nvidia fbdev which is same with efifb (I hoped it will not be issue with nvidia fbdev). Here is my configuration for including nvidia modules to initramfs with dist-kernel (and auto-rebuild initramfs on nvidia modules recompile): /etc/dracut.conf.d/nvidia.conf: ``` hostonly="yes" add_drivers+=" nvidia-drm nvidia-modeset nvidia-peermem nvidia-uvm nvidia " install_items+=" /lib/firmware/nvidia " mdadmconf="yes" lvmconf="yes ``` /etc/portage/env/x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers: ``` post_pkg_postinst() { if [[ -z ${ROOT} ]] && use dist-kernel; then dist-kernel_reinstall_initramfs "${KV_DIR}" "${KV_FULL}" fi } ```
(In reply to nE0sIghT from comment #3) > Ionen, thanks for quick reply! I understand your rationale so fill free to > close this as WONTFIX. Alright, will do that for now. Not to say entirely closed to revisiting this eventually. Ideally we'll eventually have a better way to schedule building the initramfs though then this may never be needed, zfs-kmod's postinst method has the downside of rebuilding it twice for gentoo-kernel[initramfs]
The bug has been referenced in the following commit(s): https://gitweb.gentoo.org/repo/gentoo.git/commit/?id=f439b4ec05b1982f06f67fbf39a46ae0db187a76 commit f439b4ec05b1982f06f67fbf39a46ae0db187a76 Author: Andrew Ammerlaan <andrewammerlaan@gentoo.org> AuthorDate: 2024-05-08 06:02:53 +0000 Commit: Andrew Ammerlaan <andrewammerlaan@gentoo.org> CommitDate: 2024-05-17 12:06:42 +0000 linux-mod-r1.eclass: add USE=initramfs Adds a new variable that adds the "initramfs" flag when set. This new flag controls whether or not the modules that were built should be included in the initramfs. If the modules should be included, then we also rebuild the initramfs/uki in post_install using installkernel. Bug: https://bugs.gentoo.org/923025 Bug: https://bugs.gentoo.org/928271 Signed-off-by: Andrew Ammerlaan <andrewammerlaan@gentoo.org> eclass/linux-mod-r1.eclass | 54 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 54 insertions(+)
