Latest revision as of 11:32, 19 June 2024

Nvidia Driver Installation with Secure Boot Support

This is a proposed Change for Fedora Linux.
This document represents a proposed Change. As part of the Changes process, proposals are publicly announced in order to receive community feedback. This proposal will only be implemented if approved by the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee.

Summary

Nvidia Drivers have been removed from GNOME Software because it didn't support Secure Boot which is increasingly often enabled. This change brings the option back for Fedora Workstation users with Secure Boot supported.

Owner

Name: Jiří Eischmann
Name: Milan Crha

Email: eischmann@redhat.com
Email: mcrha@redhat.com

Current status

Targeted release: Fedora Linux 41
Last updated: 2024-06-19
Announced
Discussion Thread
FESCo issue:
Tracker bug:
Release notes tracker: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>

Detailed Description

The goal of this change is to provide an easy way to install Nvidia drivers in Fedora Workstation. It was removed from GNOME Software because the original mechanism didn't support Secure Boot. When users installed the drivers with Secure Boot enabled, they could not boot the OS. What we're doing this time is using mokutil to create a key for the user to self-sign the drivers. When installing the drivers, the user is asked to provide a password for the key. On the next reboot the user is presented with the mokutil interface to enroll the key.

See the upstream merge request for more details and screenshots.

Feedback

Benefit to Fedora

The Nvidia drivers are necessary not only for gaming, but especially for CUDA and AI/LLM workloads. The Nvidia drivers can't be part of Fedora because of their license, but Fedora should offer an easy installation of them to stay relevant in the respective fields.

Scope

Proposal Owners: The feature will be implemented in GNOME Software 47 and will be shipped in the gnome-software package in Fedora Linux 41.

Other Developers: No work required from other Fedora developers. The only requirement outside of the scope of the proposal owners is to reintroduce AppStream metadata into the Nvidia driver repo on RPMFusion.org.

Release Engineering:

Policies and Guidelines:

Trademark approval:

Alignment with Community Initiatives:

Upgrade/compatibility impact

No impact is expected.

How To Test

1. Open GNOME Software.
2. Search for "nvidia".
3. Choose the Nvidia driver, click Install and follow the prompts.
4. Reboot and enroll the self-signing key in the mokutil tool following <<the documentation will be added>>
5. The OS should boot up with the Nvidia driver enabled.

User Experience

This change aims to improve user experience of installing the proprietary Nvidia driver.

Contingency Plan

If the feature is not implemented on time for Fedora Linux 41, we can simply remove AppStream metadata from the Nvidia driver repo and the driver will not show up in GNOME Software like in Fedora Linux 40.

Documentation

The GNOME Software part is intuitive and doesn't require documentation. The mokutil part is less intuitive and will be documented in the Fedora Workstation section on docs.fedoraproject.org. The docs are available in the Quick Docs: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/mok-enrollment/

Release Notes

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 = Nvidia Driver Installation with Secure Boot Support =
+{{Change_Proposal_Banner}}
 == Summary ==
-Nvidia Drivers have been removed from GNOME Software because it didn't support Secure Boot which is increasingly often enabled. This change brings the option back with Secure Boot supported.
+Nvidia Drivers have been removed from GNOME Software because it didn't support Secure Boot which is increasingly often enabled. This change brings the option back for Fedora Workstation users with Secure Boot supported.
 == Owner ==
@@ Line 20: / Line 21: @@
 == Current status ==
-[[Category:ChangePageIncomplete]]
+[[Category:ChangeAnnounced]]
 <!-- When your change proposal page is completed and ready for review and announcement -->
 <!-- remove Category:ChangePageIncomplete and change it to Category:ChangeReadyForWrangler -->
@@ Line 26: / Line 27: @@
 <!-- After review, the Wrangler will move your page to Category:ChangeReadyForFesco... if it still needs more work it will move back to Category:ChangePageIncomplete-->
-[[Category:SystemWideChange]]
+[[Category:SelfContainedChange]]
 * Targeted release: [https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/releases/f41/ Fedora Linux 41]
@@ Line 36: / Line 37: @@
 ON_QA -> change is fully code complete
 -->
-* Announced
+* [https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/devel-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/thread/KT65NV5T26TUHOBIPZ3Z6NRXWRY6TDRL/ Announced]
-* Discussion Thread
+* [https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/f41-change-proposal-nvidia-driver-installation-with-secure-boot-support-self-contained/120330 Discussion Thread]
 * FESCo issue:
 * Tracker bug:
@@ Line 44: / Line 45: @@
 == Detailed Description ==
 <!-- Expand on the summary, if appropriate.  A couple sentences suffices to explain the goal, but the more details you can provide the better. -->
-The goal is this change is to provide an easy way to install Nvidia drivers in Fedora Workstation. It was removed from GNOME Software because the original mechanism didn't support Secure Boot. When users installed the drivers with Secure Boot enabled, they could not boot the OS.
+The goal of this change is to provide an easy way to install Nvidia drivers in Fedora Workstation. It was removed from GNOME Software because the original mechanism didn't support Secure Boot. When users installed the drivers with Secure Boot enabled, they could not boot the OS.
 What we're doing this time is using mokutil to create a key for the user to self-sign the drivers. When installing the drivers, the user is asked to provide a password for the key. On the next reboot the user is presented with the mokutil interface to enroll the key.
-=== Related Changes ===
+See the [https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-software/-/merge_requests/2034 upstream merge request] for more details and screenshots.
 == Feedback ==
@@ Line 53: / Line 54: @@
 == Benefit to Fedora ==
+The Nvidia drivers are necessary not only for gaming, but especially for CUDA and AI/LLM workloads. The Nvidia drivers can't be part of Fedora because of their license, but Fedora should offer an easy installation of them to stay relevant in the respective fields.
 == Scope ==
-* Proposal Owners:
+* Proposal Owners: The feature will be implemented in GNOME Software 47 and will be shipped in the gnome-software package in Fedora Linux 41.
-* Other Developers:
+* Other Developers: No work required from other Fedora developers. The only requirement outside of the scope of the proposal owners is to reintroduce AppStream metadata into the Nvidia driver repo on RPMFusion.org.
 * Release Engineering:
@@ Line 67: / Line 68: @@
 * Trademark approval:
 * Alignment with Community Initiatives:
 == Upgrade/compatibility impact ==
@@ Line 74: / Line 75: @@
 == How To Test ==
+. Open GNOME Software.<br>
+. Search for "nvidia".<br>
+. Choose the Nvidia driver, click Install and follow the prompts.<br>
+. Reboot and enroll the self-signing key in the mokutil tool following <<the documentation will be added>><br>
+. The OS should boot up with the Nvidia driver enabled.<br>
 == User Experience ==
-No impact is expected.
+This change aims to improve user experience of installing the proprietary Nvidia driver.
-== Dependencies ==
-<!-- What other packages (RPMs) depend on this package?  Are there changes outside the developers' control on which completion of this change depends?  In other words, completion of another change owned by someone else and might cause you to not be able to finish on time or that you would need to coordinate?  Other upstream projects like the kernel (if this is not a kernel change)? -->
-<!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
 == Contingency Plan ==
+If the feature is not implemented on time for Fedora Linux 41, we can simply remove AppStream metadata from the Nvidia driver repo and the driver will not show up in GNOME Software like in Fedora Linux 40.
-<!-- If you cannot complete your feature by the final development freeze, what is the backup plan?  This might be as simple as "Revert the shipped configuration".  Or it might not (e.g. rebuilding a number of dependent packages).  If you feature is not completed in time we want to assure others that other parts of Fedora will not be in jeopardy.  -->
 == Documentation ==
+The GNOME Software part is intuitive and doesn't require documentation. The mokutil part is less intuitive and will be documented in the Fedora Workstation section on docs.fedoraproject.org. The docs are available in the Quick Docs: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/mok-enrollment/
 == Release Notes ==

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