Editing Nvidia (section)

== Open-source software support ==
{{See also|Free and open-source graphics device driver|Mesa 3D|OpenPOWER Foundation}}
Until September 23, 2013, Nvidia had not published any documentation for its advanced hardware,<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 23, 2013 |title=Nvidia Offers to Release Public Documentation on Certain Aspects of Their GPUs |url=http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/nouveau/2013-September/014480.html |access-date=September 24, 2013 |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112013329/https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/nouveau/2013-September/014480.html |url-status=live}}</ref> meaning that programmers could not write [[free and open-source]] [[device driver]] for its products without resorting to [[reverse engineering]].

Instead, Nvidia provides its own binary GeForce graphics drivers for [[X.Org Server|X.Org]] and an open-source library that interfaces with the [[Linux kernel|Linux]], [[FreeBSD]] or [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]] kernels and the proprietary graphics software. Nvidia also provided but stopped supporting an obfuscated open-source driver that only supports two-dimensional hardware acceleration and ships with the X.Org distribution.<ref>{{Cite web |title=nv |url=http://www.x.org/wiki/nv |access-date=August 6, 2015 |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112021514/https://www.x.org/wiki/nv/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

The proprietary nature of Nvidia's drivers has generated dissatisfaction within [[Free software community|free-software communities]]. In a 2012 talk, [[Linus Torvalds]], in criticism of Nvidia's approach towards Linux, raised his middle finger and stated "Nvidia, fuck you."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Paul |first=Ryan |date=June 19, 2012 |title=Linus Torvalds says "f--k you" to NVIDIA |url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/06/linus-torvalds-says-f-k-you-to-nvidia/ |access-date=March 2, 2024 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-us |archive-date=February 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215023959/https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/06/linus-torvalds-says-f-k-you-to-nvidia/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=June 17, 2012 |title=Linus Torvalds: 'fuck you, Nvidia' for not supporting Linux |url=https://www.theverge.com/2012/6/17/3092829/linus-torvalds-fuck-you-nvidia |access-date=July 9, 2013 |website=The Verge |archive-date=December 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204164428/https://www.theverge.com/2012/6/17/3092829/linus-torvalds-fuck-you-nvidia |url-status=live}}</ref> Some Linux and BSD users insist on using only open-source drivers and regard Nvidia's insistence on providing nothing more than a binary-only driver as inadequate, given that competing manufacturers such as [[Intel]] offer support and documentation for [[open-source model|open-source]] developers and that others (like [[Advanced Micro Devices|AMD]]) release partial documentation and provide some active development.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 14, 2006 |title=X.org, distributors, and proprietary modules |url=https://lwn.net/Articles/195351/ |access-date=November 3, 2008 |first=Jonathon |last=Corbet |website=[[LWN.net]] |archive-date=September 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190921165358/https://lwn.net/Articles/195351/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ubuntugamer">[https://web.archive.org/web/20110113115606/http://www.ubuntugamer.com/2011/01/ubuntu-graphics-driver-overview/ An overview of graphic card manufacturers and how well they work with Ubuntu] Ubuntu Gamer, January 10, 2011 (Article by Luke Benstead)</ref>

Nvidia only provides x86/x64 and ARMv7-A versions of their proprietary driver; as a result, features like [[CUDA]] are unavailable on other platforms.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Unix Drivers |url=https://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html |access-date=August 6, 2015 |archive-date=December 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201217085947/https://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Some users claim that Nvidia's Linux drivers impose artificial restrictions, like limiting the number of monitors that can be used at the same time, but the company has not commented on these accusations.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kevin Parrish |title=Nvidia Removed Linux Driver Feature Due to Windows |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-linux-basemosaic-ubuntu-parity,24519.html |access-date=August 6, 2015 |website=Tom's Hardware |date=October 3, 2013 |archive-date=May 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230521115822/https://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-linux-basemosaic-ubuntu-parity,24519.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2014, with Maxwell GPUs, Nvidia started to require firmware by them to unlock all features of its graphics cards.<ref>[https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/09/27/1254219/nvidia-begins-requiring-signed-gpu-firmware-images NVIDIA Begins Requiring Signed GPU Firmware Images] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111151021/https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/09/27/1254219/nvidia-begins-requiring-signed-gpu-firmware-images |date=November 11, 2020 }}, slashdot, September 27, 2014.</ref><ref>[https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-Firmware-Turing-C-Firm Linux-Firmware Adds Signed NVIDIA Firmware Binaries For Turing's Type-C Controller] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107030340/https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item |date=January 7, 2021 }}, phoronix, February 13, 2019.</ref><ref>[https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Nouveau-Just-Fixes-Linux-5.3 The Open-Source NVIDIA "Nouveau" Driver Gets A Batch Of Fixes For Linux 5.3] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107030340/https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item |date=January 7, 2021 }}, phoronix, July 19, 2019.</ref>

On May 12, 2022, Nvidia announced that they are opensourcing their GPU kernel modules.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://developer.nvidia.com/blog/nvidia-releases-open-source-gpu-kernel-modules/ |title=NVIDIA Releases Open-Source GPU Kernel Modules |date=May 11, 2022 | access-date=May 12, 2022 | archive-date=May 12, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512172814/https://developer.nvidia.com/blog/nvidia-releases-open-source-gpu-kernel-modules/ | url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia-open-kernel&num=1 |title=NVIDIA Transitioning to Official, Open-Source Linux GPU Kernel Driver | access-date=May 12, 2022 | archive-date=May 12, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512173050/https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia-open-kernel&num=1 | url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://github.com/NVIDIA/open-gpu-kernel-modules |title=NVIDIA Linux Open GPU Kernel Module Source |website=[[GitHub]] |date=May 17, 2022 | access-date=May 12, 2022 | archive-date=May 12, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512172722/https://github.com/NVIDIA/open-gpu-kernel-modules | url-status=live}}</ref> Support for Nvidia's firmware was implemented in nouveau in 2023, which allows proper power management and GPU reclocking for Turing and newer graphics card generations.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nouveau NVIDIA GSP Firmware Support Merged For Linux 6.7 |url=https://www.phoronix.com/news/Nouveau-GSP-Merged-Linux-6.7 |access-date=March 2, 2024 |website=Phoronix |language=en |archive-date=March 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240302012216/https://www.phoronix.com/news/Nouveau-GSP-Merged-Linux-6.7 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=A Nouveau graphics driver update |first=Jonathon |last=Corbet |url=https://lwn.net/Articles/953144/ |access-date=March 2, 2024 |website=LWN.net |archive-date=March 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240302012216/https://lwn.net/Articles/953144/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

===List of Nvidia open-source projects===
* [[nouveau (software)|Nouveau]]
* [[NVDLA]]

* [[PhysX]]
* [[VDPAU]]
* [[Vibrante]]
* GROOT<ref>https://www.hackster.io/news/nvidia-isaac-groot-n1-is-an-open-source-foundation-model-for-accelerated-humanoid-robot-development-effa04c90231</ref>