nvidia-installer(1)

NAME
nvidia-installer - install, upgrade, or uninstall the NVIDIA Accelerated Graphics Driver Set

SYNOPSIS
nvidia-installer [ options ]

DESCRIPTION

nvidia-installer is a tool for installing, updating, and uninstalling the NVIDIA Linux Graphics Driver. When the driver is installed by running, for example:

sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-173.14.38-pkg1.run

The .run file unpacks itself and invokes the contained nvidia-installer utility. nvidia-installer then walks you through the installation process. As part of installation, nvidia-installer is installed on the system for later use, such as for uninstalling the currently installed driver or updating to newer drivers.

In the default 'install' mode of operation, nvidia-installer probes your system to determine which driver files should be installed and where. nvidia-installer then determines which files already present on your system will conflict with driver installation; those files are noted and will be later backed up. At this point, nothing will have been changed on the file system, though a "command list" will have been generated. If running in expert mode (requested with the --expert commandline option), this command list will be presented so that you can review all operations that nvidia-installer intends to perform. Finally, nvidia-installer executes the commandlist, backing up conflicting files already present on the file system, installing the new driver files on the file system, creating symlinks, and running system utilities like depmod(8) and ldconfig(8).

To later uninstall the NVIDIA Linux graphics driver, you can run nvidia-installer --uninstall. In the 'uninstall' mode of operation, all driver files that were installed on the system are deleted, and all files that were backed up during installation are restored to their original locations. The uninstall process should restore your filesystem to its state prior to installation. If you install one NVIDIA Linux graphics driver while another is already installed, this uninstall step is automatically performed on the old driver at the beginning of installation of the new driver.

You can also use nvidia-installer to automatically update to newer drivers.

You can query the latest driver available on NVIDIA's website with the --latest option, or request that the latest driver, if newer than your current driver, be automatically downloaded and installed by specifying the --update commandline option.

nvidia-installer's backend is separate from its user interface; the installer will use an ncurses-based user interface if it can find the correct ncurses library, otherwise, it will fall back to a simple commandline user interface. To disable use of the ncurses user interface, use the option --ui=none. Additional user interfaces, utilizing GTK+ or QT, for example, could be provided in the future.

The source code to nvidia-installer is released under the GPL and available here:

Patches are welcome.

OPTIONS

-a, --accept-license
    Bypass the display and prompting for acceptance of the NVIDIA Software License Agreement. By passing this option to nvidia-installer, you indicate that you have read and accept the License Agreement contained in the file 'LICENSE' (in the top level directory of the driver package).

--update
    Connect to the NVIDIA FTP server ' ftp://download.nvidia.com ' and determine the latest available driver version. If there is a more recent driver available, automatically download and install it. Any other options given on the commandline will be passed on to the downloaded driver package when installing it.

-v, --version
    Print the nvidia-installer version and exit.

-h, --help
    Print usage information for the common commandline options and exit.

-A, --advanced-options
    Print usage information for the common commandline options as well as the advanced options, and then exit.

ADVANCED OPTIONS

-i, --driver-info
    Print information about the currently installed NVIDIA driver version.

--uninstall
    Uninstall the currently installed NVIDIA driver.

--sanity
    Perform basic sanity tests on an existing NVIDIA driver installation.

-e, --expert
    Enable 'expert' installation mode; more detailed questions will be asked, and more verbose output will be printed; intended for expert users. The questions may be suppressed with the '--no-questions' commandline option.

-q, --no-questions
    Do not ask any questions; the default (normally 'yes') is assumed for all yes/no questions, and the default string is assumed in any situation where the user is prompted for string input. The one question that is not bypassed by this option is license acceptance; the license may be accepted with the commandline option '--accept-license'.

-s, --silent
    Run silently; no questions are asked and no output is printed, except for error messages to stderr. This option implies '--ui=none --no-questions --accept-license'.

--x-prefix=X-PREFIX
    The prefix under which the X components of the NVIDIA driver will be installed; the default is '/usr/X11R6' unless nvidia-installer detects that X.Org >= 7.0 is installed, in which case the default is '/usr'. Only under rare circumstances should this option be used.

--xfree86-prefix=XFREE86-PREFIX
    This is a deprecated synonym for --x-prefix.

--x-module-path=X-MODULE-PATH
    The path under which the NVIDIA X server modules will be installed. If this option is not specified, nvidia-installer uses the following search order and selects the first valid directory it finds: 1) `X -showDefaultModulePath`, 2) `pkg-config --variable=moduledir xorg-server`, or 3) the X library path (see the '--x-library-path' option) plus either 'modules' (for X servers older than X.Org 7.0) or 'xorg/modules' (for X.Org 7.0 or later).

--x-library-path=X-LIBRARY-PATH
    The path under which the NVIDIA X libraries will be installed. If this option is not specified, nvidia-installer uses the following search order and selects the first valid directory it finds: 1) `X -showDefaultLibPath`, 2) `pkg-config --variable=libdir xorg-server`, or 3) the X prefix (see the '--x-prefix' option) plus 'lib' on 32bit systems, and either 'lib64' or 'lib' on 64bit systems, depending on the installed Linux distribution.

--opengl-prefix=OPENGL-PREFIX
    The prefix under which the OpenGL components of the NVIDIA driver will be installed; the default is: '/usr'. Only under rare circumstances should this option be used. The Linux OpenGL ABI (http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ogl-sample/ABI/) mandates this default value.

--opengl-libdir=OPENGL-LIBDIR
    The path relative to the OpenGL library installation prefix under which the NVIDIA OpenGL components will be installed. The default is 'lib' on 32bit systems, and 'lib64' or 'lib' on 64bit systems, depending on the installed Linux distribution. Only under very rare circumstances should this option be used.

--installer-prefix=INSTALLER-PREFIX
    The prefix under which the installer binary will be installed; the default is: '/usr'. Note: please use the '--utility-prefix' option instead.

--utility-prefix=UTILITY-PREFIX
    The prefix under which the NVIDIA utilities (nvidia-installer, nvidia-settings, nvidia-xconfig, nvidia-bug-report.sh) and the NVIDIA utility libraries will be installed; the default is: '/usr'.

--utility-libdir=UTILITY-LIBDIR
    The path relative to the utility installation prefix under which the NVIDIA utility libraries will be installed. The default is 'lib' on 32bit systems, and 'lib64' or 'lib' on 64bit systems, depending on the installed Linux distribution.

--documentation-prefix=DOCUMENTATION-PREFIX
    The prefix under which the documentation files for the NVIDIA driver will be installed. The default is: '/usr'.

--kernel-include-path=KERNEL-INCLUDE-PATH
    The directory containing the kernel include files that should be used when compiling the NVIDIA kernel module. This option is deprecated; please use '--kernel-source-path' instead.

--kernel-source-path=KERNEL-SOURCE-PATH
    The directory containing the kernel source files that should be used when compiling the NVIDIA kernel module. When not specified, the installer will use '/lib/modules/`uname -r`/build', if that directory exists. Otherwise, it will use '/usr/src/linux'.

--kernel-output-path=KERNEL-OUTPUT-PATH
    The directory containing any KBUILD output files if either one of the 'KBUILD_OUTPUT' or 'O' parameters were passed to KBUILD when building the kernel image/modules. When not specified, the installer will assume that no separate output directory was used.

--kernel-install-path=KERNEL-INSTALL-PATH
    The directory in which the NVIDIA kernel module should be installed. The default value is either '/lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/video' (if '/lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel' exists) or '/lib/modules/`uname -r`/video'.

--proc-mount-point=PROC-MOUNT-POINT
    The mount point for the proc file system; if not specified, then this value defaults to '/proc' (which is normally correct). The mount point of the proc filesystem is needed because the contents of '<proc filesystem>/version' is used when identifying if a precompiled kernel interface is available for the currently running kernel. This option should only be needed in very rare circumstances.

--log-file-name=LOG-FILE-NAME
    File name of the installation log file (the default is: '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log').

--tmpdir=TMPDIR
    Use the specified directory as a temporary directory when downloading files from the NVIDIA ftp site; if not given, then the following list will be searched, and the first one that exists will be used: $TMPDIR, /tmp, ., $HOME.

-m, --ftp-mirror=FTP-MIRROR
    Use the specified FTP mirror rather than the default ' ftp://download.nvidia.com ' when downloading driver updates.

-l, --latest
    Connect to the NVIDIA FTP server ' ftp://download.nvidia.com ' (or use the ftp mirror specified with the '--ftp-mirror' option) and query the most recent Linux-x86 driver version number.

-f, --force-update
    Forces an update to proceed, even if the installer thinks the latest driver is already installed; this option implies '--update'.

--ui=UI
    Specify what user interface to use, if available. Valid values for UI are 'ncurses' (the default) or 'none'. If the ncurses interface fails to initialize, or 'none' is specified, then a simple printf/scanf interface will be used.

-c, --no-ncurses-color
    Disable use of color in the ncurses user interface.

--no-opengl-headers
    Normally, installation will install NVIDIA's OpenGL header files. This option disables installation of the NVIDIA OpenGL header files.

--force-tls=FORCE-TLS
    NVIDIA's OpenGL libraries are compiled with one of two different thread local storage (TLS) mechanisms: 'classic tls' which is used on systems with glibc 2.2 or older, and 'new tls' which is used on systems with tls-enabled glibc 2.3 or newer. nvidia-installer will select the OpenGL libraries appropriate for your system; however, you may use this option to force the installer to install one library type or another. Valid values for FORCE-TLS are 'new' and 'classic'.

-k, --kernel-name=KERNEL-NAME
    Build and install the NVIDIA kernel module for the non-running kernel specified by KERNEL-NAME ( KERNEL-NAME should be the output of `uname -r` when the target kernel is actually running). This option implies '--no-precompiled-interface'. If the options '--kernel-install-path' and '--kernel-source-path' are not given, then they will be inferred from KERNEL-NAME ; eg: '/lib/modules/ KERNEL-NAME /kernel/drivers/video/' and '/lib/modules/ KERNEL-NAME /build/', respectively.

-n, --no-precompiled-interface
    Disable use of precompiled kernel interfaces.

--no-runlevel-check
    Normally, the installer checks the current runlevel and warns users if they are in runlevel 1: in runlevel 1, some services that are normally active are disabled (such as devfs), making it difficult for the installer to properly setup the kernel module configuration files. This option disables the runlevel check.

--no-abi-note
    The NVIDIA OpenGL libraries contain an OS ABI note tag, which identifies the minimum kernel version needed to use the library. This option causes the installer to remove this note from the OpenGL libraries during installation.

--no-rpms
    Normally, the installer will check for several rpms that conflict with the driver (specifically: NVIDIA_GLX and NVIDIA_kernel), and remove them if present. This option disables this check.

-b, --no-backup
    During driver installation, conflicting files are backed up, so that they can be restored when the driver is uninstalled. This option causes the installer to simply delete conflicting files, rather than back them up.

-N, --no-network
    This option instructs the installer to not attempt to connect to the NVIDIA ftp site (for updated precompiled kernel interfaces, for example).

--no-recursion
    Normally, nvidia-installer will recursively search for potentially conflicting libraries under the default OpenGL and X server installation locations. With this option set, the installer will only search in the top-level directories.

-K, --kernel-module-only
    Install a kernel module only, and do not uninstall the existing driver. This is intended to be used to install kernel modules for additional kernels (in cases where you might boot between several different kernels). To use this option, you must already have a driver installed, and the version of the installed driver must match the version of this kernel module.

--no-kernel-module
    Install everything but the kernel module, and do not remove any existing, possibly conflicting kernel modules. This can be useful in some DEBUG environments. If you use this option, you must be careful to ensure that a NVIDIA kernel module matching this driver version is installed seperately.

--no-x-check
    Do not abort the installation if nvidia-installer detects that an X server is running. Only under very rare circumstances should this option be used.

--precompiled-kernel-interfaces-path=PRECOMPILED-KERNEL-INTERFACES-PATH
    Before searching for a precompiled kernel interface in the .run file, search in the specified directory.

--precompiled-kernel-interfaces-url=PRECOMPILED-KERNEL-INTERFACES-URL
    If no precompiled kernel interfaces are found within the driver package or provided on the file system by the Linux distribution, check the specified URL for updates. NVIDIA does not intend to provide updated precompiled kernel interfaces, but system administrators might use this for distributing precompiled kernel interfaces in a local area network.

-z, --no-nouveau-check
    Normally, nvidia-installer aborts installation if the nouveau kernel driver is in use. Use this option to disable this check.

-X, --run-nvidia-xconfig
    nvidia-installer can optionally invoke the nvidia-xconfig utility. This will update the system X configuration file so that the NVIDIA X driver is used. The pre-existing X configuration file will be backed up. At the end of installation, nvidia-installer will ask the user if they wish to run nvidia-xconfig; the default response is 'no'. Use this option to make the default response 'yes'. This is useful with the '--no-questions' or '--silent' options, which assume the default values for all questions.

--force-selinux=FORCE-SELINUX
    Linux installations using SELinux (Security-Enhanced Linux) require that the security type of all shared libraries be set to 'shlib_t' or 'textrel_shlib_t', depending on the distribution. nvidia-installer will detect when to set the security type, and set it using chcon(1) on the shared libraries it installs. If the execstack(8) system utility is present, nvidia-installer will use it to also clear the executable stack flag of the libraries. Use this option to override nvidia-installer's detection of when to set the security type. Valid values for FORCE-SELINUX are 'yes' (force setting of the security type), 'no' (prevent setting of the security type), and 'default' (let nvidia-installer decide when to set the security type).

--selinux-chcon-type=SELINUX-CHCON-TYPE
    When SELinux support is enabled, nvidia-installer will try to determine which chcon argument to use by first trying 'textrel_shlib_t', then 'texrel_shlib_t', then 'shlib_t'. Use this option to override this detection logic.

--no-sigwinch-workaround
    Normally, nvidia-installer ignores the SIGWINCH signal before it forks to execute commands, e.g. to build the kernel module, and restores the SIGWINCH signal handler after the child process has terminated. This option disables this behavior.

--no-cc-version-check
    The NVIDIA kernel module should be compiled with the same compiler that was used to compile the currently running kernel. The layout of some Linux kernel data structures may be dependent on the version of gcc used to compile it. The Linux 2.6 kernel modules are tagged with information about the compiler and the Linux kernel's module loader performs a strict version match check. nvidia-installer checks for mismatches prior to building the NVIDIA kernel module and aborts the installation in case of failures. Use this option to override this check.

--no-distro-scripts
    Normally, nvidia-installer will run scripts from /usr/lib/nvidia before and after installing or uninstalling the driver. Use this option to disable execution of these scripts.

DISTRIBUTION HOOK SCRIPTS

Because the NVIDIA installer may interact badly with distribution packages that contain the NVIDIA driver, nvidia-installer provides a mechanism for the distribution to handle manual installation of the driver. If they exist, nvidia-installer will run the following scripts:
    • /usr/lib/nvidia/pre-install
    • /usr/lib/nvidia/pre-uninstall
    • /usr/lib/nvidia/post-uninstall
    • /usr/lib/nvidia/post-install
    • /usr/lib/nvidia/failed-install
Note that if installation of a new driver requires uninstallation of a previously installed driver, the pre- and post-uninstall scripts will be called after the pre-install script. If the install fails, the installer will execute /usr/lib/nvidia/failed-install instead of /usr/lib/nvidia/post-install. These scripts should not require user interaction.

Use the --no-distro-scripts option to disable execution of these scripts.

EXAMPLES

nvidia-installer --latest
    Connect to NVIDIA's FTP site, and report the latest driver version and the URL to the latest driver file.

nvidia-installer --update
    Connect to NVIDIA's FTP site. If a newer version of the driver is available, download and install it. Use --force-update to install the most recent driver even if --nvidia-installer detects that it is installed already.

nvidia-installer --uninstall
    Remove the NVIDIA driver and restore files that were overwritten during the install process.

AUTHOR
Aaron Plattner
NVIDIA Corporation

SEE ALSO
nvidia-xconfig(1), nvidia-settings(1), /usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/README.txt

COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2005-2009 NVIDIA Corporation.