Arch Linux

wisp558

Member

Registered: 2010-06-10

Posts: 17

Using vendor nvidia driver binary -- GeForce 8500GT

A while back, I noticed an issue with the current nvidia binary package; All the apps I had that used GLX (mplayer, foremost) were giving a library not found issue. libGL.so, to be specific. Normal OpenGL apps would work, if I recall, but the GLX ones would give me crap. It was getting quite pervasive, and I set out to fix it. After putting my arch install through seven shades of broken, I have now wound up with *no* nvidia package install, but am using the package distributed from the nvidia website, leading me to think that it's a problem with the nvidia package.

Although that issue should be fixed, my present issue is thus: Things that think they need to install libgl or the nvidia drivers keep trying to install them from the repos, but I have them blacklisted for obvious reasons. How can I make pacman *think* I have them installed, so it will quit throwing dependency errors every time I try to pacman -Syu?

Thanks,
Wisp

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,362

Re: Using vendor nvidia driver binary -- GeForce 8500GT

Are you installing apps outside of pacman? The nvidia-utils package in the repos provides libgl, so there should not be any problem.

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Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

wisp558

Member

Registered: 2010-06-10

Posts: 17

Re: Using vendor nvidia driver binary -- GeForce 8500GT

You would think that. I definitely did. I definitely verified the existance of libGL.so. I think I should clarify, the error was about undefined symbols in libGL.so (sorry, I let some time drift in between installing the vendor binary and making the thread)

I definitely was getting the errors with an up-to-date nvidia-utils package.

As I've stated, atm I'd like to make Arch *think* I have nvidia* packages installed, and also for it to not try to upgrade them, as that would obviously break stuff.

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,362

Re: Using vendor nvidia driver binary -- GeForce 8500GT

The way to do that is to use the Arch nvidia package, or one of the AUR packages (I use nvidia-utils-beta and maintain nvidia-beta-all). Those packages basically unpack nvidia's installer and move files to the correct place. If something doesn't work report the error, get it fixed in the Arch package.

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Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

wisp558

Member

Registered: 2010-06-10

Posts: 17

Re: Using vendor nvidia driver binary -- GeForce 8500GT

I didn't realize there was an nvidia beta package. I'll be sure to try that, thanks.

I still find it a tad off that there isn't a way to mark a package satisfied, if you like to compile a specific package for personal usage, I always compile my own mpd to custom tailor the supported feature, I realize you can't get all of them in a binary distro, certainly, but it seems reasonable that the distro should at least tolerate such an endeavor. What is the standard procedure for this, if any?

(I suspect I may get directed to look at makepkg and if so, could you point me in the way of a slightly more friendly and comprehensive guide than what's on the wiki, that article has always been a bit too terse and brief for me to gain a working knowledge from.)