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Nvidia releases open-source GPU kernel modules

developer.nvidia.com

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Re: Nvidia releases open-source GPU kernel modules

#31

Post by HidyBush »

weinzierl wrote: post #5

I wonder if it is the result of the LAPSUS$ hack. This was their statement from early March: "After evaluating our position and Nvidia's, we decided to add one more requirement. " "We request that Nvidia commits to completely Open Source (an distribute under a FOSS License) ther GPU drivers for Windows, macOS and Linux, from now on and forever." "If this request is not met, on Friday we will release the complete Sili…

I don't think so. Phoronix.com just over a year ago reported that a big GPU maker was going to open source their drivers. I can't find the link but I believe this thing has been in the making for a long while

[edit] found it: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Big-New-...

Re: Nvidia releases open-source GPU kernel modules

#34

Post by zokier »

marcodiego wrote: post #20

Hell is freezing? Serious, does it means we won't need Nouveau anymore? How many and which binary blobs it still needs? Are they encrypted or require signing?

Nouveau is still needed if you want open-source userland; the new nvidia open source thingy is only kernel-side and presumably works only with their own userspace drivers.

Re: Nvidia releases open-source GPU kernel modules

#35

Post by geerlingguy »

With this announcement, I'm now interested in trying out some Nvidia graphics cards on the Pi again. Nouveau had some issues, and the official drivers had no source available, so I couldn't hack them to work.

With the source available... it could be possible! Of course, CUDA support may never happen there, at least not using open source code.

Re: Nvidia releases open-source GPU kernel modules

#36

Post by salawat »

weinzierl wrote: post #5

I wonder if it is the result of the LAPSUS$ hack. This was their statement from early March: "After evaluating our position and Nvidia's, we decided to add one more requirement. " "We request that Nvidia commits to completely Open Source (an distribute under a FOSS License) ther GPU drivers for Windows, macOS and Linux, from now on and forever." "If this request is not met, on Friday we will release the complete Sili…

This doesn't actually solve the major standing issue with Nvidia's drivers as far as I'm aware, because the biggest thorn has been the secretful FALCON units, and the code signing of firmware blobs that's kept projects like nouveau from being able to gain traction.

Remember, it isn't enough that the kernel module is FOSS. The firmware is where the crux is.

Re: Nvidia releases open-source GPU kernel modules

#38

Post by 8organicbits »

This may be a boon for unlocking hardware features on GeForce. Stuff like below shows that some things are just disabled in hardware, but lots of reverse engineering would be needed to bypass it.

https://www.ibtimes.com/nvidia-geforce-graphics-card-virtual...

Re: Nvidia releases open-source GPU kernel modules

#39

Post by bcatanzaro »

black_puppydog wrote: post #27

Would love to hear from folks who worked on this! Was this an ongoing thing? Did it have to be pitched hard? What finally made the difference? I'm assuming here it's not because of LAPSUS as some speculate. This seems like it must have been in the making for quite a while.

I didn't work on this but I have watched it with interest for a very long time. It has been a strategic initiative in order to improve the GPU compute ecosystem. No one loves having a tainted kernel and everyone who uses a GPU with Linux (which is almost all data center GPUs) would prefer to have the kernel modules open source. It took a lot of work and planning to figure out how to do this over many teams for a very long time, and then an enormous amount of testing to prove the new drivers were fast enough to be deployed.
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