Software Packages and the Update Mechanism

NVIDIA provides additional NVIDIA® Jetson™ Linux software components and updates in APT (Debian) repositories, accessible through the apt utility.

Installing Additional Packages

NVIDIA maintains the following APT repositories:

  • For NVIDIA® Jetson AGX Xavier™ series

  • For NVIDIA® Jetson Xavier™ NX series

  • For NVIDIA® Jetson AGX Orin™

The package nvidia-l4t-apt-source is preinstalled in the Jetson Linux root file system. It identifies the platform it is running on and adds the appropriate repositories to the software source list.

The packages in the APT repositories are signed with GPG keys. The corresponding public key is preinstalled in the Jetson Linux root file system. Once the repositories are added to the source list, apt can download and install packages.

Note

The APT repositories described here are also used to upgrade existing packages and install packages that NVIDIA adds to the set initially installed with Jetson Linux. For more information, see Updating a Jetson Device.

Repackaging Debian Packages

You can use the script nvdebrepack.sh to repackage the existing Jetson Linux Debian packages. The script can be found in the directory Linux_for_Tegra/tools/Debian/. See Linux_for_Tegra/tools/Debian/nvdebrepack.txt for usage and examples.

Building Kernel Debian Packages Yourself

You can customize the Jetson Linux kernel by getting the kernel source packages, making your changes, and building the Debian packages.

This section describes the package dependencies and scripts that NVIDIA uses to build the kernel packages. You may use it as a reference to create your own Debian packages.

Working with the Packages

The kernel packages are all open source. Three of the four kernel packages are in public_sources.tbz2. You can download the archive from the NVIDIA Developer Center.

This archive contains another archive named kernel_src.tbz2, which in turn contains three directories of header files:

  • nvidia-l4t-kernel/

  • nvidia-l4t-kernel-dtbs/

  • nvidia-l4t-kernel-headers/

The debian.org Guide for Debian Maintainers gives guidelines for modifying the open source files and creating new Debian packages from them.

The fourth kernel package, nvidia-l4t-jetson-io, is discussed in nvidia-l4t-jetson-io, below.

Package Dependencies

Most Jetson Linux Debian packages pre-depend on nvidia-l4t-core. This package prevents package installation on an incompatible Jetson platform, e.g., installing a Jetson software package on a non-Jetson device. nvidia-l4t-core does not perform the installation if it detects an incompatible platform.

nvidia-l4t-core also prevents a partial upgrade, in which one Jetson Linux package upgrades to a new major release, but other Jetson Linux packages that depend on it are not upgraded as well. Partial upgrades can cause compatibility issues between firmware, programs, and libraries that have been upgraded and ones that have not.

nvidia-l4t-kernel

nvidia-l4t-kernel contains files for the Jetson Linux kernel itself.

Pre-Dependencies and Dependencies

This package’s pre-dependencies are:

  • nvidia-l4t-core (must match this package’s major release)

This package’s dependencies are:

  • nvidia-l4t-tools

  • nvidia-l4t-init

Package Scripts

This package has a post-installation script which you can get by extracting the .deb file. It performs these actions:

  1. Executes depmod -a.

  2. Creates a dpkg trigger file named /usr/lib/linux/triggers/<release>. The trigger invokes actions defined in /etc/kernel/postinst.d to update initramfs/grub configs/… when the kernel is updated. This conforms to the standard Ubuntu kernel update procedure.

nvidia-l4t-kernel-dtbs

nvidia-l4t-kernel-dtbs contains files for Jetson Linux’s device tree blobs (DTBs).

The package installs all of the .dtb files in /boot/. When you flash a board, it installs the .dtb file used by that board in /boot/dtb/ by checking the board specification against the DTBs’ compatibility information.

Pre-Dependencies and Dependencies

This package’s pre-dependencies are:

  • nvidia-l4t-core (must match this package’s major release)

This package’s dependencies are:

  • device-tree-compiler

  • nvidia-l4t-kernel

Package Scripts

This package has a post-installation script, which you can get by extracting the .deb file.

The post-installation script performs these actions:

  1. Decompiles the .dtb file used by the board in /boot/dtb/ and gets the bootargs property in the /chosen node.

  2. Decompiles the corresponding .dtb file in /boot/ and substitutes the bootargs property from step 1 in the resulting .dts file.

  3. Recompiles the .dts file to a .dtb file and puts it in /boot/dtb/.

nvidia-l4t-kernel-headers

nvidia-l4t-kernel-headers contains Jetson Linux kernel header files.

Pre-Dependencies and Dependencies

This package’s pre-dependencies are:

  • nvidia-l4t-core (must match this package’s major release)

This package’s dependencies are:

  • nvidia-l4t-kernel

  • libc6

  • libssl1.1

Package Scripts

This package has no package scripts.

nvidia-l4t-jetson-io

nvidia-l4t-jetson-io contains Python scripts concerned with Jetson I/O functions.

Pre-Dependencies and Dependencies

This package’s pre-dependencies are:

  • nvidia-l4t-core (must match this package’s major release)

This package’s dependencies are:

  • mount

  • python3

  • util-linux

  • nvidia-l4t-kernel

  • device-tree-compiler

You can also get the dependencies by extracting the Debian file.

Package Scripts

This package has no package scripts.

Over-the-Air Update

Over-the-Air (OTA) Update enables you to update NVIDIA Jetson devices and host computers for Jetson development.

Jetson Linux supports two forms of OTA, which are used for different purposes. Debian package management-based OTA can update Jetson devices running Jetson Linux or Jetson components on a host computer. Image-based OTA lets you create OTA payload packages, and can update the full image running on a Jetson device, partition by partition. The following sections describe both forms of OTA.

Updating from the NVIDIA APT Server

The first form of OTA update uses Debian packages obtained from an NVIDIA APT server. You can use this form of OTA update to update a Jetson device running Jetson Linux or to update NVIDIA JetPack™ components installed on a host computer running Ubuntu. The APT server maintains respective groups of Debian packages for each purpose.

This section describes the tools and packages that provide basic support for Jetson Linux.

Note

You cannot use OTA update to update a Jetson device on which JetPack is installed.

To update JetPack and Jetson Linux components to a new JetPack release on a system where both are installed, see the instructions in the JetPack documentation.

NVIDIA does not recommend installing OTA Debian packages on a Jetson Linux release earlier than release 32.3.1, or on a system that is based on Ubuntu without the customization of Jetson Linux.

Updating a Jetson Device

Use the appropriate procedure below to update your system:

To update to a new point release
  1. Enter the command:

    $ sudo apt update
    

    apt reads a list of packages from the remote APT repository and identifies new and upgradable packages.

  2. Enter the command:

    $ apt list --upgradable
    

    apt displays a list of new and upgradable packages.

  3. To install the basic packages for Jetson Linux, enter the command:

    $ sudo apt upgrade
    
  4. Reboot your Jetson device when the upgrade is finished.

To update to a new minor release
  1. Open the apt source configuration file in a text editor, for example:

    $ sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nvidia-l4t-apt-source.list
    
  2. Change the repository name and download URL in the deb commands.

    The original commands are:

    deb https://repo.download.nvidia.com/jetson/common <release> main
    deb https://repo.download.nvidia.com/jetson/<platform> <release> main
    

    Where:

    • <release> is the release number of the minor release you want to update to. For example, to update to minor release 34.1, replace <release> with r34.1. OTA updates to the latest point release of the specified minor release.

    • <platform> identifies the platform’s processor:

      • t234 for NVIDIA® Jetson AGX Orin™

      • t194 for Jetson Xavier NX series or Jetson AGX Xavier series

    For example, if the current release is release 34.1 and your platform is Jetson AGX Orin series, the commands are:

    deb https://repo.download.nvidia.com/jetson/common r34.1 main
    deb https://repo.download.nvidia.com/jetson/t234 r34.1 main
    
  3. Save and close the source configuration file.

  4. Enter the commands:

    $ sudo apt update
    $ sudo apt dist-upgrade
    

    If apt prompts you to choose an option to fix local modified configuration file, reply Y for yes (to use the NVIDIA updated version of the file).

  5. When the upgrade is finished, reboot the Jetson device.

Note

  • Upgrade from 34.0.0 to 34.1.0 on Jetson Xavier NX series or Jetson AGX Xavier series is not supported

  • The do-release-upgrade command is disabled because Jetson Linux does not officially support Ubuntu release 22.04 at this time.

Updating a Host

NVIDIA provides a group of Debian packages that add or update Jetson Linux support components on the host computer.

To prepare the host computer to install Jetson Linux support components
  1. Enter this command to install the public key of the x86_64 repository of the public APT server:

    $ sudo apt-key adv --fetch-key https://repo.download.nvidia.com/jetson/jetson-ota-public.asc
    
  2. Add the following x86_64 repository to the host system’s source list.

    • For an Ubuntu 18.04 host:

      deb http://repo.download.nvidia.com/jetson/x86_64/bionic <relno> main
      
    • For an Ubuntu 20.04 host:

      deb http://repo.download.nvidia.com/jetson/x86_64/focal <relno> main
      

    Where <relno> is the current release’s full release number as specified in the Release Notes.

  3. Enter the command:

    $ sudo apt update
    
  4. Use apt to download and install the required packages.

    • For an Ubuntu 18.04 host:

      $ sudo apt-get install cuda-toolkit-11-4 cuda-cross-aarch64-11-4 \
            libnvvpi2 vpi2-dev vpi2-cross-aarch64-l4t python3-vpi2 \
            python3.9-vpi2 vpi2-samples nsight-systems-2021.5.4 \
            nsight-graphics-for-embeddedlinux-2021.5.1
      
    • For an Ubuntu 20.04 host:

      $ sudo apt-get install cuda-toolkit-11-4 cuda-cross-aarch64-11-4 \
            libnvvpi2 vpi2-dev vpi2-cross-aarch64-l4t python3-vpi2 \
            python3.9-vpi2 vpi2-samples nsight-systems-2021.5.4 \
            nsight-graphics-for-embeddedlinux-2021.5.1
      

Debian Packages on the NVIDIA APT Server

This section lists the Debian packages maintained on the NVIDIA APT server for a Jetson device or a host.

Update Packages for Jetson Devices

Following is a list of OTA update packages for BSP on Jetson devices as of Jetson Linux release 34.1.

For a list of other OTA packages and instructions for applying them, see “List of JetPack OTA Packages” in JetPack SDK.

Component group

Packages

BSP

  • jetson-gpio-common

  • nvidia-l4t-3d-core

  • nvidia-l4t-apt-source

  • nvidia-l4t-bootloader

  • nvidia-l4t-camera

  • nvidia-l4t-configs

  • nvidia-l4t-core

  • nvidia-l4t-cuda

  • nvidia-l4t-display-kernel

  • nvidia-l4t-firmware

  • nvidia-l4t-gputools

  • nvidia-l4t-graphics-demos

  • nvidia-l4t-gstreamer

  • nvidia-l4t-init

  • nvidia-l4t-initrd

  • nvidia-l4t-jetson-io

  • nvidia-l4t-jetson-multimedia-api

  • nvidia-l4t-jetsonpower-gui-tools

  • nvidia-l4t-kernel

  • nvidia-l4t-kernel-dtbs

  • nvidia-l4t-kernel-headers

  • nvidia-l4t-libvulkan

  • nvidia-l4t-multimedia

  • nvidia-l4t-multimedia-utils

  • nvidia-l4t-nvfancontrol

  • nvidia-l4t-nvpmodel

  • nvidia-l4t-nvpmodel-gui-tools

  • nvidia-l4t-nvsci

  • nvidia-l4t-oem-config

  • nvidia-l4t-optee

  • nvidia-l4t-pva

  • nvidia-l4t-tools

  • nvidia-l4t-wayland

  • nvidia-l4t-weston

  • nvidia-l4t-x11

  • nvidia-l4t-xusb-firmware

  • python-jetson-gpio

  • python3-jetson-gpio

Update Packages for Hosts

The following table lists Jetson Linux support components that you can install with apt on a host, and the packages that contain them.

Component group

Packages

CUDA

  • cuda-11-4

  • cuda-cccl-11-4

  • cuda-command-line-tools-11-4

  • cuda-compat-11-4

  • cuda-compiler-11-4

  • cuda-cudart-11-4

  • cuda-cudart-dev-11-4

  • cuda-cuobjdump-11-4

  • cuda-cupti-11-4

  • cuda-cupti-dev-11-4

  • cuda-cuxxfilt-11-4

  • cuda-demo-suite-11-4

  • cuda-documentation-11-4

  • cuda-driver-dev-11-4

  • cuda-drivers-470

  • cuda-drivers-fabricmanager-470

  • cuda-drivers-fabricmanager

  • cuda-drivers

  • cuda-gdb-11-4

  • cuda-gdb-src-11-4

  • cuda-libraries-11-4

  • cuda-libraries-dev-11-4

  • cuda-minimal-build-11-4

  • cuda-nsight-11-4

  • cuda-nsight-compute-11-4

  • cuda-nsight-systems-11-4

  • cuda-nvcc-11-4

  • cuda-nvdisasm-11-4

  • cuda-nvml-dev-11-4

  • cuda-nvprof-11-4

  • cuda-nvprune-11-4

  • cuda-nvrtc-11-4

  • cuda-nvrtc-dev-11-4

  • cuda-nvtx-11-4

  • cuda-nvvp-11-4

  • cuda-runtime-11-4

  • cuda-samples-11-4

  • cuda-sanitizer-11-4

  • cuda-toolkit-11-4-config-common

  • cuda-toolkit-11-4

  • cuda-toolkit-11-config-common

  • cuda-toolkit-config-common

  • cuda-tools-11-4

  • cuda-visual-tools-11-4

  • cuda

  • libcublas-11-4

  • libcublas-dev-11-4

  • libcufft-11-4

  • libcufft-dev-11-4

  • libcurand-11-4

  • libcurand-dev-11-4

  • libcusolver-11-4

  • libcusolver-dev-11-4

  • libcusparse-11-4

  • libcusparse-dev-11-4

  • libnpp-11-4

  • libnpp-dev-11-4

  • libnvidia-cfg1-430

  • libnvidia-cfg1-470

  • libnvidia-common-430

  • libnvidia-common-470

  • libnvidia-compute-430

  • libnvidia-compute-470

  • libnvidia-decode-430

  • libnvidia-decode-470

  • libnvidia-encode-430

  • libnvidia-encode-470

  • libnvidia-extra-470

  • libnvidia-fbc1-430

  • libnvidia-fbc1-470

  • libnvidia-gl-430

  • libnvidia-gl-470

  • libnvidia-ifr1-430

  • libnvidia-ifr1-470

  • libnvidia-nscq-470

  • libnvjpeg-11-4

  • libnvjpeg-dev-11-4

  • libxnvctrl-dev

  • libxnvctrl0

  • nsight-compute-2021.2.4

  • nsight-systems-2021.5.2

  • nvidia-compute-utils-430

  • nvidia-compute-utils-470

  • nvidia-dkms-430

  • nvidia-dkms-470

  • nvidia-driver-430

  • nvidia-driver-470

  • nvidia-fabricmanager-470

  • nvidia-fabricmanager-dev-470

  • nvidia-gds

  • nvidia-headless-430

  • nvidia-headless-470

  • nvidia-headless-no-dkms-430

  • nvidia-headless-no-dkms-470

  • nvidia-kernel-common-430

  • nvidia-kernel-common-470

  • nvidia-kernel-source-430

  • nvidia-modprobe

  • nvidia-utils-430

CUDA cross-compile

  • cuda-cccl-cross-aarch64-11-4

  • cuda-cross-aarch64-11-4

  • cuda-cross-aarch64

  • cuda-cudart-cross-aarch64-11-4

  • cuda-cupti-cross-aarch64-11-4

  • cuda-driver-cross-aarch64-11-4

  • cuda-nsight-compute-addon-l4t-11-4

  • cuda-nvcc-cross-aarch64-11-4

  • cuda-nvml-cross-aarch64-11-4

  • cuda-nvprof-cross-aarch64-11-4

  • cuda-nvrtc-cross-aarch64-11-4

  • cuda-nvtx-cross-aarch64-11-4

  • libcublas-cross-aarch64-11-4

  • libcudla-cross-aarch64-11-4

  • libcufft-cross-aarch64-11-4

  • libcurand-cross-aarch64-11-4

  • libcusolver-cross-aarch64-11-4

  • libcusparse-cross-aarch64-11-4

  • libnpp-cross-aarch64-11-4

  • nsight-compute-addon-l4t-2021.2.4

Computer Vision

  • libnvvpi2

  • vpi2-dev

  • vpi2-cross-aarch64-l4t

  • python3-vpi2

  • python3.9-vpi2

  • vpi2-samples

Developer Tools

  • nsight-graphics-for-embeddedlinux-2021.5.1

  • nsight-systems-2021.5.4

Customizing Debian Packages

You can customize Debian packages to help you implement your solution, for example, by adding support for your carrier board. For more information, see Repackaging Debian Packages and Building Kernel Debian Packages Yourself.

Downloading Debian Packages for Later Use

As an alternative to installing Debian packages on a Jetson device or host from the APT server, you can download packages and store them, and later install them manually.

To download packages, open the NVIDIA Jetson repository in a web browser. This page displays a list of Debian packages for each JetPack release and processor. Each package name is a hyperlink; to download a package, click its link.

Updating Jetson Linux with Image-Based Over-the-Air Update

Image-Based Over-the-Air Update is a failsafe way to update BSP on a Jetson device by writing pre-generated images to the partitions. It can update many old BSP versions to newer ones. This feature will be supported in next public release.