/ 
Rex-GPU-0.002
/ Rex::GPU::NVIDIA::Setup::Ubuntu

NAME

Rex::GPU::NVIDIA::Setup::Ubuntu - NVIDIA driver setup for Ubuntu (experimental)

VERSION

version 0.002

DESCRIPTION

Experimental, like Rex::GPU::NVIDIA::Setup. The NVIDIA driver install for Ubuntu: the -server driver packages from Ubuntu's own archive on the apt layer Rex::GPU::NVIDIA::Setup::Apt. On an HGX B200/B300 also Ubuntu's nvidia-fabricmanager-NNN, and nvlsm from NVIDIA's CUDA repository, pinned so that nothing else comes from it ("prepare_nvlink_fabric_source").

kernel_packages

The apt layer's running-kernel headers, plus linux-headers-generic.

sources

Ubuntu's own -server driver packages, in this order; each installs one package, which is also the one verified:

  • ubuntu-server -- the newest nvidia-driver-NNN-server (proprietary kernel module) that apt-cache search finds (-open filtered out).

  • ubuntu-server-open -- the newest nvidia-driver-NNN-server-open (open kernel module).

  • ubuntu-server-580 -- nvidia-driver-580-server, proprietary, branch 580 exactly. Its installation candidate is checked after apt-get update ("resolve_source"); no other branch is substituted.

"plan" in Rex::GPU::NVIDIA::Setup chooses among them without a package index: the first two count as "newest branch, at least 580" -- 580 is in the archive of every supported release -- so they fit a GPU that needs 570 or 580 or newer but never one that stops at 580. Which package that is, and its exact branch, is looked up only after apt-get update ("resolve_source") and checked again; nothing found, or a branch the GPU cannot use, dies before any driver package is installed. There is no hard-coded fallback package, and no other source is tried then.

So a GPU without constraints (Turing to Hopper, no GPU) gets ubuntu-server, Blackwell ubuntu-server-open, Maxwell/Pascal/Volta ubuntu-server-580.

Each names nvidia-fabricmanager-NNN as its Fabric Manager (for a host with NVSwitches, see "nvswitches" in Rex::GPU::NVIDIA::Setup): NNN is the branch found after apt-get update, and it is installed at the upstream version of the installed nvidia-driver-NNN-server(-open).

Never nvidia-smi: on 24.04 it is a virtual package with no installation candidate, and the driver metapackage pulls it in anyway.

The apt layer's (nvlsm, infiniband-diags, libibumad3) plus linux-modules-extra-$kernel of the running kernel, which holds the ib_umad module on Ubuntu -- the running kernel's package only, never a metapackage that pulls a new kernel.

A reason unless the release is 22.04 or 24.04 on amd64: NVIDIA's CUDA repositories ubuntu2204/ubuntu2404 for x86_64 are where nvlsm was verified; Ubuntu's archive has none.

Ubuntu's archive has no nvlsm, so on an HGX B200/B300 -- and only there -- NVIDIA's CUDA repository is added, after the driver and Fabric Manager are installed and verified, so it cannot influence which driver package "resolve_source" finds:

  • the repository's signing key is taken from NVIDIA's cuda-keyring_1.1-1_all.deb (downloaded with curl -f, unpacked with dpkg-deb) into /usr/share/keyrings/cuda-archive-keyring.gpg; the package itself is not installed, because it also installs /etc/apt/preferences.d/cuda-repository-pin-600, which raises every package of that repository to priority 600 -- above Ubuntu's own driver;

  • "nvlsm_pin_file" pins every package of developer.download.nvidia.com to priority -1 (never installed) except nvlsm (500) -- the driver, Fabric Manager and every library stay Ubuntu's, now and on later upgrades; it is written before the source;

  • "nvlsm_source_file" gets the repository line, then apt-get update.

A host that has cuda-keyring installed already has the repository (with NVIDIA's own pin): nothing is added there, only apt-get update. Dies, before anything is added, when the key cannot be fetched; the driver and Fabric Manager stay installed.

nvlsm_pin_file

/etc/apt/preferences.d/rex-gpu-nvlsm.pref.

nvlsm_source_file

/etc/apt/sources.list.d/rex-gpu-nvlsm.list.

resolve_source

Runs after the apt layer's apt-get update ("resolve_plan" in Rex::GPU::NVIDIA::Setup), read-only:

  • a source with a search pattern: apt-cache search for the newest matching package; returns the source with that one package (installed and verified) and the exact branch from its name. Nothing found, or a name without a branch, makes it unavailable -- there is no fallback package: if the refreshed index does not list one, apt-get install could not install it either.

  • a source with check_candidate: apt-cache policy must show an installation candidate for that package, else the source is unavailable. No other package is substituted.

Any other source is returned unchanged. A subclass that picks the package another way overrides this method; the requirement check after it stays.

SEE ALSO

Rex::GPU::NVIDIA::Setup, "install_driver" in Rex::GPU::NVIDIA

SUPPORT

Issues

Please report bugs and feature requests on GitHub at https://github.com/Getty/rex-gpu/issues.

CONTRIBUTING

Contributions are welcome! Please fork the repository and submit a pull request.

AUTHOR

Torsten Raudssus <getty@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2026 by Torsten Raudssus <torsten@raudssus.de> https://raudssus.de/.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.