Nvidia takes first step toward open source Linux GPU drivers

Nvidia says these drivers "will remain closed source and published with pre-built binaries," so it doesn't sound like there are immediate plans to release open source versions.Nvidia is still behind both Intel and AMD when it comes to open source GPU drivers—both companies maintain open source kernel and user space drivers, along with closed-source firmware. Once those interfaces have been finalized, the driver can be upstreamed into the kernel, and different versions of the firmware, kernel driver, and user space drivers should be able to interoperate.Nvidia says that support for its data center GPUs in the current drivers is "production ready" in this initial release but that support for GeForce, Quadro, and other consumer GPUs is "alpha quality"—this isn't software you'll want to rush to install unless you're wanting to kick its tires on a testbed system or contribute to the code yourself.Hector Martin, one of the developers behind the Asahi Linux distribution, criticized Nvidia for moving many functions into its closed-source firmware, which the open source driver then calls into.