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NVIDIA Transitioning To Official, Open-Source Linux GPU Kernel Driver
The day has finally come: NVIDIA is publishing their Linux GPU kernel modules as open-source! To much excitement and a sign of the times, the embargo has just expired on this super-exciting milestone that many of us have been hoping to see for many years. Over the past two decades NVIDIA has offered great Linux driver support with their proprietary driver stack, but with the success of AMD's open-source driver effort going on for more than a decade, many have been calling for NVIDIA to open up their drivers. Their user-space software is remaining closed-source but as of today they have formally opened up their Linux GPU kernel modules and will be maintaining it moving forward. Here's the scoop on this landmark open-source decision at NVIDIA.
Many have been wondering in recent years what sort of NVIDIA open-source play the company has been working on... Going back to the end of 2019 have been signals of some sort of open-source driver effort and various rumblings have continued since that point. Last month I also pointed out a new open-source kernel driver appearing as part of the NVIDIA Tegra sources. Well, now the embargo has just expired and the lid can be lifted - NVIDIA is providing a fully open-source kernel driver solution for their graphics offerings. This isn't limited to just Tegra or so but spans not only their desktop graphics but is already production-ready for data center GPU usage.
(Score: 4, Informative) by soylentnewsfan1 on Thursday May 12 2022, @11:59PM (4 children)
>The GSP is binary-only firmware loaded at run-time. The open-source kernel driver explicitly depends upon the GSP-supported graphics processors. The GSP is a RISC-V based block that succeeded their earlier Falcon micro-controller on earlier NVIDIA GPUs.
I don't think loading megabytes of opaque propriety binary blobs that could do anything was what Richard Stallman meant by Open Source, while the article seems very enthusiastic I wonder if this will actually be a net positive or not, I saw some very pessimistic comments over at hacker news.
(Score: 2) by bussdriver on Friday May 13 2022, @12:35AM (2 children)
Does this mean they are actually downgrading their efforts? The open source one is good enough now they can add a few problem bits and ditch their fine tuned ported binary blob? Then they can half-ass their open source efforts?
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 13 2022, @12:53AM (1 child)
Don't worry, the open source community will find and fix any errors and add support for future cards... just as soon as they finish writing a Code of Conduct and reviewing the code for inappropriate pronouns.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 13 2022, @08:32AM
Actually the FOSS GPU driver community seems to be a haven for transgender ladies.
And doing a fine job of it without your snide remarks.
Thanks Emma, thanks Alyssa.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 13 2022, @04:03AM
Everyone has proprietary firmware. Your average PC has :
Proprietary GPU firmware
Proprietary CPU microcode
Proprietary BIOS code
A blob within a blob in the form of AGESA if you use AMD
Whatever the IME/PSP is doing
Proprietary firmware on all your peripherals : disk/SSDs, monitors, whatever else you have
If you want a totally open platform you have to use RISC-V and even then it's not really guaranteed.
This is still inadequate, but not because it has a firmware blob, but because it doesn't include any user space stuff. You will still need a proprietary X driver, just not a proprietary kernel module. And it's a long way from being integrated into the kernel like the AMD driver is.
It's a step in the right direction, but only a step, when they have a mile to go.
For most users the only visible difference will be that their kernel is tainted with an out of tree module instead of a proprietary module.