Recent Updates#

Compute-only HPC Node#

Starting in CUDA 12.8, the cuda meta-package now installs the Compute only part driver. By default, if nothing is specified on the command line, the installation will prefer the Open GPU kernel modules.

This is achieved by having the final dependency of cuda-runtime-X-Y on nvidia-driver-cuda/nvidia-compute-G06/libnvidia-compute, depending on the distribution.

Driver Helper Script#

A new script is available to detect and install the best NVIDIA driver packages for the user’s system. This piece of software is meant to help users decide on which NVIDIA graphics driver to install, based on the detected system’s hardware.

To install the driver helper script, install the nvidia-driver-assistant package using apt/dnf/tdnf/zypper. Please refer to the various specific operating system sections on how to enable the repository containing the Driver Assistant package.

The following table explains the different flags for the driver helper script:

Table 3 Driver helper script flags#

Flags Used

Description

--install

Install the recommended driver.

--branch [BRANCH]

Specify an NVIDIA Driver branch.

--list-supported-distros

Print out the list of the supported Linux distributions.

--supported-gpus [SUPPORTED_GPUS]

Use a different supported-gpus.json file.

--sys-path [SYS_PATH]

Use a different /sys path. Useful for testing.

--os-release-path [OS_RELEASE_PATH]

Use a different path for the os-release file. Useful for testing.

--distro [DISTRO]

Specify a Linux distro using the DISTRO:VERSION or DISTRO pattern. Useful for testing.

--module-flavor [MODULE_FLAVOR]

Specify a kernel module flavor; open and closed are accepted values. Useful for testing.

--verbose

[OPTIONAL] Verbose output.

The following are example command outputs:

Table 4 Command outputs#

Command

Example Output

$ nvidia-driver-assistant
Detected GPUs:

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 - (pci_id 0x2484)

Detected system:

Ubuntu 24.04

Please copy and paste the following command to install the open kernel module flavour:

sudo apt install -y nvidia-open

$ nvidia-driver-assistant --install
Detected GPUs:

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 - (pci_id 0x2484)

Detected system:

Ubuntu 24.04

Using the NVIDIA driver implies acceptance of the NVIDIA Software License Agreement, contained in the "LICENSE" file in the "/usr/share/nvidia-driver-assistant/driver_eula" directory

Installing the following package for the open kernel module flavour:

sudo apt install -y nvidia-open

$ nvidia-driver-assistant --install --module-flavor closed
Detected GPUs:

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 - (pci_id 0x2484)

Detected system:

Ubuntu 24.04

Using the NVIDIA driver implies acceptance of the NVIDIA Software License Agreement, contained in the "LICENSE" file in the "/usr/share/nvidia-driver-assistant/driver_eula" directory

Installing the following package for the legacy kernel module flavour:

sudo apt install -y cuda-drivers

Auto Hardware Selection#

Starting in 560, the standalone NVIDIA driver runfile will use hardware detection to auto-select between installation of Open GPU or proprietary kernel modules based on the detected SKUs.

The CUDA runfile bundles an intact NVIDIA driver runfile and passes the --silent flag if the driver is selected (default) via ncurses or the CLI.

Therefore, by default the user will install the auto-detected flavor of the kernel modules using the CUDA runfile. Additionally, we expose overrides to select the open GPU or proprietary kernel modules in the ncurses UI advanced options, or via --kernel-module-type=open and --kernel-module-type=proprietary flags.