pnutzh4x0rAug 30, 2023

Linux 6.6 To Better Protect Against The Illicit Behavior Of NVIDIA's Proprietary Driver

https://lemmy.ndlug.org/post/135674

Linux 6.6 To Better Protect Against The Illicit Behavior Of NVIDIA's Proprietary Driver - NDLUG

> Luis Chamberlain sent out the modules changes today for the Linux 6.6 merge window. Most notable with the modules update is a change that better builds up the defenses against NVIDIA’s proprietary kernel driver from using GPL-only symbols. Or in other words, bits that only true open-source drivers should be utilizing and not proprietary kernel drivers like NVIDIA’s default Linux driver in respecting the original kernel code author’s intent. > Back in 2020 when the original defense was added, NVIDIA recommended avoiding the Linux 5.9 for the time being. They ended up having a supported driver several weeks later. It will be interesting to see this time how long Linux 6.6+ thwarts their kernel driver.

Show thread𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏Aug 30, 2023

Oh wow the comments on this one are bonkers.

From what I understand (because it wasn’t clear from either of the TLDRs posted here) Nvidia’s proprietary graphics driver has been calling parts of the kernel that they shouldn’t be, because their driver is closed source.

These seem to be parts of the kernel that another company may own patents to, but has only licensed it to the kernel for free use with GPL open source code only, i.e. closed source/proprietary code is not allowed to use it.

Nvidia seems to have open sourced a tiny communication shim to try and bypass this restriction, so their closed source driver talks to the shim, and the shim talks to the restricted code in the kernel, that Nvidia does not have a license to use. This is a DMCA violation, hence why the Kernel devs are putting in preventions to block the shim, as far as I can see.

I don’t understand the small minority of commenters there defending a la soulless corp Nvidia, who is blatantly in the wrong here. Some commenters have gone as far as to call the Linux kernel maintainers “zealots”, would not be surprised if they are alts for Nvidia devs…

Show threadTetsuoAug 30, 2023

Just a perspective on why people would support NVIDIA here:

  • They don’t believe in copyright law so they don’t mind whoever infringe on them. Especially since here it would make the proprietary driver work better.

  • They do care about copyright law but think having a working driver outweighs respecting them.

Not my opinion here just saying that for some people usability trumps any other aspects.

Show threadBaconIsAVegAug 30, 2023

Also, some of us are using Nvidia because we rely on software that doesn’t work on AMD. I really enjoy using Linux, but if it’s going to make my life difficult I’ll go back to using Windows with WSL.

I agree Nvidia should resolve the licensing issues, but man GPL zealots get a such a raging hard-on for anything Nvidia related it’s funny to watch.

Show threadSkyeStarfall

Or maybe we should keep companies, which rake in billions of dollars, to a much higher standard??

Nvidia could be better at open-sourcing their stuff. But they don’t. Blame them, not GPL.

Aug 30, 2023 at 7:37pmWeb
Show threadgammasforAug 31, 2023
I mean we do, but blaming them doesn’t make Linux more viable for high end GPU applications.
Show threadSkyeStarfallAug 31, 2023
Linux is the gold standard in many high end GPU applications, like AI, though?
Show threadCaptainAnikiAug 31, 2023
Linux is bigger than Nvidia.