MIR for nvidia-experimental-NNN and nvidia-settings-experimental-NNN
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
nvidia-graphics-drivers-experimental-304 (Ubuntu) |
Fix Released
|
Wishlist
|
Unassigned | ||
nvidia-settings-experimental-304 (Ubuntu) |
Fix Released
|
Wishlist
|
Unassigned |
Bug Description
The nvidia-
[Availability]
Uploaded to nvidia-
[Rationale]
These packages will provide one or more minor versions of upstream nvidia beta drivers, which are not currently provided via any other mechanisms. These are expected to be required by certain 3rd party commercial games at the time of their release. Supporting commercial game vendors is an important goal for Ubuntu and Canonical.
nvidia-settings-* is a tool for configuring the video driver.
For risk reduction reasons, rather than a single nvidia-experimental package which we add new major versions to, we will be packaging each new major series as a separate source package. This way users are exposed to beta drivers at the point they opt-in. See tech board meeting for full discussion on this.
We are asking for MIR for the nvidia-
[Quality Assurance]
These packages are maintained and installed the same way as nvidia alternative drivers, so largely benefits from the QA done on our regular packaging. The mission of the experimental series of packages is to provide less-tested beta drivers, so by definition the level of QA will be lower than with stable nvidia drivers; but the package is opt-in, and a user-visible warning to this effect is included in the driver description.
[Maintenance]
The experimental packages are maintained exclusively in Ubuntu. We will update from upstream as appropriate (such as at request by 3rd party game developers that require newer versions). As this is a closed source binary driver we won't be able to fix most issues, but can pull new beta updates if needed as they're made available, and will of course be tending to any packaging flaws that arise. But our hope is to structure our processes such that this is largely a maintenance-free package that we just update once and a while.
[Security]
-nvidia has a history of security review including various known issues; this package is no better or worse on this count.
Security Checks, UI standards, Dependencies, Standards Compliance: Same as -nvidia
[Background Information]
1. This package was proposed to the Technical Board for acceptance. It was approved at the Sept 17th meeting.
2. The Ubuntu packaging for this driver is maintained in the experimental branch of the normal nvidia package, at github:
- https:/
- https:/
3. Once accepted to quantal, will be submitted for SRU to precise (See LP: #1047681)
4. On upgrade to a new Ubuntu release, users who have installed this driver will be automatically returned to the stable driver.
Changed in nvidia-common (Ubuntu): | |
importance: | Undecided → Wishlist |
description: | updated |
description: | updated |
summary: |
- MIR for nvidia-experimental + MIR for nvidia-experimental-NNN |
description: | updated |
Changed in nvidia-graphics-drivers-experimental-304 (Ubuntu): | |
importance: | Undecided → Wishlist |
summary: |
- MIR for nvidia-experimental-NNN + MIR for nvidia-experimental-NNN and nvidia-settings-experimental-NNN |
description: | updated |
Changed in nvidia-graphics-drivers-experimental-304 (Ubuntu): | |
importance: | Undecided → Wishlist |
Changed in nvidia-settings-experimental-304 (Ubuntu): | |
importance: | Undecided → Wishlist |
no longer affects: | nvidia-common (Ubuntu) |
Changed in nvidia-settings-experimental-304 (Ubuntu): | |
status: | New → Fix Committed |
Seems fine, as it is a split from existing package, is opt-in, and the plan has tech board approval.
Some hopefully quick questions: experimental- 304 but game B requires nvidia- experimental- 305? I assume they both install and the alternatives point at 305.
* You say that a user will be reverted to stable drivers upon upgrade. What if that would involve downgrading the major version? (i.e. in a year, some cool new game for 12.04 requires experimental-500 but 12.10 only has 408) And what if they still have that game they installed in 12.04 that needs that newer version?
* Let's say a user installs a new game that requires an experimental driver. But the driver doesn't work for whatever reason. How easy is it to revert for the user? It will involve more than just uninstalling the game. (This is a general driver problem, but I'm curious here, because the user may not fully understand that when they are installing a new game, it will also involve a driver update. i.e. users that just click ok to advance)
* What if game A requires nvidia-
* I notice that the version in quantal now (304.48) is only slightly higher than the non-experimental version (304.43). But it sounds like this setup is largely for newer major number bumps. Is the quantal version basically being used as staging for the SRU?