Arch Linux

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Member

Registered: 2015-10-02

Posts: 1

Why does `nvidia' not need DKMS

Installing either the AMD Catalyst driver or VirtualBox driver requires compilation at installation/update. You can do the same with the nVidia driver with the package `nvidia-dkms'. This is business as usual for most distros.
But on Arch, there's the `nvidia' package, which does not need DKMS. Why? And considering the tremendous convenience afforded to the user by providing such a non-DKMS driver package, why is one not also provided for Catalyst and VirtualBox, since they are also commonly installed drivers?

byte

Member

From: Düsseldorf (DE)

Registered: 2006-05-01

Posts: 2,046

Re: Why does `nvidia' not need DKMS

Because it's built in sync with the current kernel package: https://projects.archlinux.org/svntogit … ges/nvidia
And note that the nvidia-dkms and nvidia packages are built from the same PKGBUILD.
Also, binary packages for catalyst and virtualbox modules exist, though maybe not in official Arch repos.

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