nvidia-installer

This component installs NVIDIA kernel modules on Garden Linux nodes at runtime via the NVIDIA GPU Operator. Pre-compiled kernel modules are baked into the image at build time.

Deploying NVIDIA GPU Operator with Helm

helm upgrade --install -n gpu-operator gpu-operator nvidia/gpu-operator \
  --values https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gardenlinux/gardenlinux-nvidia-installer/refs/tags/1.6.0/helm/gpu-operator-values.yaml

Built images are published at:

ghcr.io/gardenlinux/gardenlinux-nvidia-installer/<release>/driver:<driver_major>-<kernel_version>-gardenlinux0

For example: ghcr.io/gardenlinux/gardenlinux-nvidia-installer/1.6.0/driver:590-6.12.72-cloud-amd64-gardenlinux0

If you have built the images yourself, override the registry and image name:

helm upgrade --install -n gpu-operator gpu-operator nvidia/gpu-operator \
  --values https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gardenlinux/gardenlinux-nvidia-installer/refs/tags/1.6.0/helm/gpu-operator-values.yaml \
  --set driver.repository=$REGISTRY/$FOLDER \
  --set driver.image=$IMAGE

Kernel module type selection at runtime

The KERNEL_MODULE_TYPE environment variable controls which pre-compiled tarball the container downloads:

Value	Behaviour
auto (default)	Detects the correct type at runtime (see below)
open	Always use open kernel modules
proprietary	Always use proprietary kernel modules

In auto mode the container picks the module type based on two checks:

1. Driver version — driver branches older than 560 ship proprietary modules only.
2. GPU architecture — NVIDIA open kernel modules require Turing (2018) or newer. GPUs from the Maxwell (e.g. M40), Pascal (e.g. P100), or Volta (e.g. V100) architectures are only supported by the proprietary modules. The container detects this at runtime by reading PCI device IDs from the host.

Set KERNEL_MODULE_TYPE explicitly as a container environment variable when deploying via the GPU Operator to override the auto-detection.

Important note: with Garden Linux versions 1592.14 and earlier, only proprietary kernel modules will work. This is handled by the "auto" logic only in releases 1.2.1 and later.

Supported versions

python3 list_versions.py

Example output:

Supported OS ↔ Driver Versions
---------------------------------------------
OS 1592.14: 590.48.01, 580.126.20, 570.211.01, 570.195.03, 565.57.01, 550.163.01
OS 1592.15: 590.48.01, 580.126.20, 580.126.09, 580.105.08, 570.211.01, 570.195.03
OS 1592.16: 590.48.01, 580.126.20, 580.126.16, 580.126.09, 570.211.01
OS 1592.17: 590.48.01, 580.126.20, 570.211.01
OS 1592.18: 590.48.01, 580.126.20, 570.211.01
OS 1877.10: 590.48.01, 580.126.20, 580.126.09, 570.211.01
OS 1877.11: 590.48.01, 580.126.20, 580.126.16, 570.211.01
OS 1877.12: 590.48.01, 580.126.20, 570.211.01
OS 1877.13: 590.48.01, 580.126.20, 570.211.01
OS 1877.9: 590.48.01, 580.126.20, 580.126.09, 580.105.08, 570.211.01, 570.195.03
OS 2150.0.0: 590.48.01, 580.126.20, 570.211.01


Lifecycle for Driver and supported GL version depends on Garden Linux Release and Driver Release

Refer below links for Garden Linux and driver releases

Garden Linux Release: https://github.com/gardenlinux/gardenlinux/releases

Driver Release: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/ --> Select Data Center/Tesla

Driver lifecycle

This project tracks the three most recent NVIDIA driver major versions. Minor driver releases and Garden Linux version updates are applied automatically via CI; major driver version bumps are handled manually.

• Garden Linux versions are tracked from https://github.com/gardenlinux/gardenlinux/releases
• NVIDIA driver versions are tracked from https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/

Background

Garden Linux ships without build tools and without accessible kernel sources on the running node. This project solves that by compiling kernel modules at image-build time inside the Garden Linux kmodbuild developer container (which contains the correct kernel headers and compiler toolchain). The compiled modules are packaged into tarballs, published to GitHub Releases, and downloaded by the installer container at runtime immediately before installation.

Development

For instructions on building the driver tarballs and container images locally and working with the build system, see README-developers.md.

Disclaimer

Drivers built with this project are only supported on Garden Linux. Only data center (non-consumer) graphics cards are supported.