/var/lib/nvidia

[briansladecek]

Howdy,

I'm picky and a little retentive when it comes to what is installed and where. I run a (non-distribution) scratch Linux system, and I like to keep track of *everything* installed on my system. Every so often, I may get a weird response on my squeaky, clean system...and, I like to know what may have been the cause. With that said, (for the sake of information's sake)

1. What are the 100...114 files in `/var/lib/nvidia'? I think there is a `log' file in that path as well.

2. Since the driver install is automated, if the installer needs to compile the kernel module, like it does for mine, what path does the installer use? Apparently, when I search my partition for any "nvidia" files, the installer must have used some temporary directory and then deleted all those files after it was installed. Right? If not, where is that path so I can delete it myself....

With my "self-motivated" install-tracking system, when something goes wrong, I can easily fix it myself or figure out the problem if I know what it is, where and why. The self installer kind of limits me in gleaning that same information. At the expense of me blaming gremlins inside my computer chewing on IDE cables, I would appreciate that information.

* By the way, I am not having any problems with the NVIDIA drivers...this is just an FYI post...

thanks,

Brian Sladecek

[Soul-Crusher]

You may wish to run the installer with the --extract only option and take a look at Makefile. I believe this may answer all your questions.

Speaking of the Makefile, I just noticed it deletes all the old conflicting files before compiling the new ones. I think it might be a good idea to compile the new modules first, store them in a temporary location, and remove / replace the old ones after all the new modules are successfully built.

[briansladecek]

Originally posted by Soul-Crusher
You may wish to run the installer with the --extract only option and take a look at Makefile. I believe this may answer all your questions.

Speaking of the Makefile, I just noticed it deletes all the old conflicting files before compiling the new ones. I think it might be a good idea to compile the new modules first, store them in a temporary location, and remove / replace the old ones after all the new modules are successfully built.

Yeah, I've used the "--extract-only" option before to custom compile the driver. However, are you certain the self-installer script uses the same process as outlined in the `Makefile'? The result may be the same, but when you extract the files and compile yourself, the build is put in that same path. Since the self-installer doesn't give any output, it has to do the same chore, and I would like to know where it's doing it's work...

thanks,

Brian Sladecek

[briansladecek]

Originally posted by Soul-Crusher
You may wish to run the installer with the --extract only option and take a look at Makefile. I believe this may answer all your questions.

Speaking of the Makefile, I just noticed it deletes all the old conflicting files before compiling the new ones. I think it might be a good idea to compile the new modules first, store them in a temporary location, and remove / replace the old ones after all the new modules are successfully built.

oops...by the way, I forgot to mention in my prior response, that I had parsed the Makefiles and the entire sub-directories of the extracted files, did a grep for "var" and found no instance of why the /var/lib/nvidia stuff shows up. So, I can only assume it's from the self-install, unless I missed someting with my grep.

thanks for your help.

[Soul-Crusher]

My fault, I assumed the installer used the same makefile. Interesting how it doesn't...

[briansladecek]

Originally posted by Soul-Crusher
My fault, I assumed the installer used the same makefile. Interesting how it doesn't...

By the way, I like your signature about "catering to the clueless only attracts them...". You notice how I keep responding to your posts...

[Soul-Crusher]

Eheh, that's just a funny little saying my co-workers had at Los Alamos Nat'l Lab when I was an intern there. These guys are l33t beyond measurement, I'm one of the clueless.