Dec 28, 2025
3 min read
The main Nvidia Arch Linux driver packages now use open kernel modules
With Arch Linux packages for official NVIDIA graphics drivers moving to the now stable NVIDIA 590 driver series, dropping support for GeForce GTX 900 and GTX 1000 series GPUs, Arch Linux users with older Maxwell and Pascal graphics cards will be transitioned to using legacy NVIDIA driver packages from the Arch Linux AUR.Meanwhile, those on Turing and newer with the NVIDIA 590 driver enjoy the open source kernel module used by default.
It's been three and a half years since NVIDIA began releasing official open source kernel module sources.They are not in the tree but are updated incrementally with each new driver version.These open source kernel modules evolve alongside the default packaged NVIDIA Linux drivers, with Blackwell GPUs being the only choice for their official kernel drivers as the previous closed source kernel drivers are no longer extended.The modern open source NVIDIA kernel driver used by the official driver stack only supports RTX 20 "Turing" GPUs and higher, depending on the NVIDIA GPU System Processor (GSP).
Given that Pascal and older support is now discontinued for the legacy driver branch in NVIDIA R590, and the latter only for Turing and newer GPUs, it can be assumed that the open-source kernel module is supported everywhere by the R590+ drivers.So Arch Linux with the NVIDIA driver package and the R590 driver series uses the open-source kernel module code by default.
The Arch Linux project announced today that they have switched to using Open Kernel Modules for their main NVIDIA driver packages.
Arch Linux users can use the Nouveau kernel driver with the NVK Mesa driver, but performance and compatibility vary.
It's been three and a half years since NVIDIA first published the source code for their official kernel module.They are not yet out of the tree but are updated in step with each new driver release.These open source kernel models have become standard with the NVIDIA Linux driver package and for Blackwell GPUs it is the only option for an official kernel driver because their previous kernel driver is not extended.NVIDIA's open source kernel driver is not the latest version that their working driver collection uses but it supports RTX 20 "Turing" GPUs and the new ones are based on NVIDIA GPU System Processors (GSP).
Pascal and legacy support now moving to older driver branches and NVIDIA R590 and later only for Turing and newer GPUs, open source kernel modules can be assumed to be supported everywhere by R590+ drivers.Thus Arch Linux uses open source kernel module code with its NVIDIA driver packaging in the default R590 driver series.
Today, the Arch Linux project announced the move to use open kernel modules for the NVIDIA core driver package.
"With the update to driver version 590, the NVIDIA driver no longer supports Pascal (GTX 10xx) GPUs or older. We will replace the `nvidia` package with `nvidia-open`, `nvidia-dkms` with `nvidia-open-dkms`, and `nvidia` open-dkms`. `-lvidia`.
**IMPACT:** On computers with Pascal, Maxwell, or older cards, updating Nvidia packages will not load the driver, leading to a broken graphics environment.
**Intervention Required for Pascal/Legacy Users:** Users with GTX 10xx series and older cards need to switch to the deprecated proprietary branch to maintain support:
* Remove official `nvidia`, `nvidia-lts`, `nvidia-dkms` pob loss.
* Install `nvidia-580kk-dkms` from AUR
Users with Turing (20xx series and GTX 1650) and newer GPUs will automatically switch to open kernel modules in the update and require no manual intervention.”
Arch Linux users can also use the upstream Nouveau kernel driver with the NVK Mesa driver, although performance and compatibility vary.
