Reverting rmmod->modprobe change in bumblebee/3.2.1-8 (was: Re: Bumblebee functionality broken by the last update made by Vincent Cheng on 26-July-2015 - please react as fast as possible)

Fri Aug 7 08:07:50 UTC 2015

Hi Luca,

(cc-ing upstream and original bug reporter)

It seems that your fix for #793389 (the rmmod->modprobe patch you
committed as [1]), which I recently backported to the bumblebee PPA
[2] (source at [3]) to keep the PPA packages in sync with the packages
in Debian/Ubuntu, is likely the source of a regression for Ubuntu
users using that PPA (see conversation below, and [4]), i.e. the
nvidia kernel module isn't being automatically unloaded using modprobe
for some reason (but apparently worked with rmmod previously). I'm not
sure why this happens; I suspect it has something to do with Ubuntu's
nvidia packages not including an alias even though they rename the
module like Debian's packages. Since it does cause a regression in
Ubuntu, and just by skimming #793389 I don't quite understand whether
this fixes anything in Debian (isn't the fix for #793386 enough to fix
module unloading?), would you be ok with me reverting [1]? Upstream is
also suggesting that the patch be reverted.

Regards,
Vincent

[1] http://anonscm.debian.org/cgit/pkg-nvidia/bumblebee.git/commit/?id=61813829f0d1b2b6134cd7b6d30a2dd071cae5ad
[2] https://launchpad.net/~bumblebee/+archive/ubuntu/stable
[3] https://github.com/Bumblebee-Project/bumblebee-ppa
[4] https://github.com/Bumblebee-Project/bumblebee-ppa/commit/2d3983e3d70db409c930ae5af2b3d538877854cf#commitcomment-12562494

On Mon, Aug 3, 2015 at 2:33 PM, Cristian Moraru <mcrsro at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Peter,
>
> I am coming back with the result of your suggestions:
>
> FACTS:
>
> - I enabled again the  existing ppa:bumblebee/stable launchpad containing
> version 3.2.1-91~trustyppa1
> - I updated the cache and upgraded the proposals
> - I installed nvidia-346 driver (before as I mentioned, I had the nvidia-331
> driver which worked with version 3.2.1-90~trustyppa1)
> - I created nvidia-alias.conf as instructed by you
> - Rebooted the machine and checked the effects.
> - All operations were done under basic kernel 3.16.0-38-generic, to rebuild
> the dkms for all kernels.
>
> I also have to mention I used to install a Mint Cinnamon Applet, named
> "Bumblebee and Nvidia Display", which displays continuously the status of
> Nvidia discrete card and Nvidia GPU Temperature (for details see
> http://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/applets/view/167)
>
> RESULTS:
>
> - The Nvidia card status is ON all the time and doesn't go OFF if I run in a
> CLI optirun %application% in the manner you mentioned
> - If I start Nvidia X Server Settings, I cannot set the PRIME setting to
> select the as GPU Nvidia, I receive a window with "forbidden" sign.
>
> CONCLUSION:
>
> The actual executables from ppa:bumblebee/stable repository mislead an
> Ubuntu user. A least my machine (which is a pretty representative for a
> business work machine) will not work with bumblebee provided by this
> "stable" repository. I suppose that it might work for Debian BUT IS NOT
> SUITABLE for Ubuntu and its derivatives. I advise the users of Mint 17.x and
> Ubuntu NOT TO USE IT.
>
>
> LATER, I restored my machine GIVING UP the actual ppa:bumblebee/stable
> repository, as follows
>
> - Purged all nvidia installation with the command
>     sudo apt-get purge nvidia*
> - Purged bumblebee installation with the command
>     sudo apt-get purge bumblebee
> - Removed the existing executables in cache with
>     sudo apt-get clean
> - Removed the actual ppa:bumblebee/stable repository and refreshed the
> apt-cache
> - Installed bumblebee and basic Nvidia driver in the Ubuntu repositories
>     sudo apt-get install bumblebee-nvidia virtualgl virtualgl-libs-ia32
> primus primus-libs-ia32 nvidia-settings libcuda1-304 nvidia-libopencl1-304
> nvidia-opencl-icd-304
> - After this, I recovered the desired bumblebee status and Nvidia driver
> behavior. However I couldn't setup Nvidia as default card with "Nvidia X
> server Settings" facility
> - Installed sequentially with the Mint facility "Driver Manager" nvidia-331,
> nvidia-331-updates
> - Checked the entire functionality; the only thing which didn't work was to
> set PRIME to select Nvidia discrete card to be standard choice.
> - Installed with the Mint facility "Driver Manager" nvidia-346 and checked
> the entire functionality. The result was FULLY POSITIVE: I could select with
> "Nvidia X server Settings" facility what card to use as prime choice at boot
> time. The change could be also done without booting, but logging out and
> logging in the user account.
>
> - All operations were done under basic kernel 3.16.0-38-generic, to rebuild
> the dkms for all kernels. After that I checked the functionality for all
> other installed kernels.
>
> The final status of bumblebee and Nvidia installed executables are shown in
> the pictures attached to this email.
>
> I also recommend to update the existing information from Bumblebee project
> which is Ubuntu related to avoid damages to actual Mint and Ubuntu machines.
> Please recommend users which access the official Bumblebee Project Web pages
> to install first the version of Bumblebee and Nvidia drivers available on
> the official Ubuntu repositories. The ppa must be used only in case of
> failure with official repositories.
>
> Kind regards
>
> Cristian Moraru
>
>
>
>
>
> On 07/29/2015 09:48 PM, Cristian Moraru wrote:
>>
>> Hi Peter,
>>
>> First of all, thank you for your prompt email!
>>
>> I am not a programmer, but only an advanced Linux user, which appreciate
>> very much the work done by people like you and Vincent for the benefit of
>> Linux users.
>> I am especially devoted to increase the adoption of Linux (I prefer Ubuntu
>> and particularly Mint) by professional engineers (Industry, Oil & Gas)
>> because of acquired stability of the LTS Linux versions. I had already some
>> success and I was surprised how a small change can derail a good and
>> appreciated system.
>>
>> By nature of my work, I was obliged to guide myself to avoid proposing a
>> solution and to put in practice without a comprehensive check. At least I
>> didn't present a solution without warning about the potential of additional
>> problems and how to overcome them under specific conditions.
>>
>> When I update my system I believe that all the updating proposals marked
>> with "3" (believed as being OK but not tested) do not create further bad
>> effects to the poor user (which is not a programmer!). I believe this
>> because I have to trust and appreciate the work of the people working on the
>> respective updates.
>>
>> Bumblebee is a very serious project which I appreciated very much from the
>> beginning. The fact that it worked out of the box allowed me to demonstrate
>> the quality of Linux (particularly Linux Mint since version 16) and to
>> convince the Windows guys to switch to Linux.
>>
>> Now, with this unhappy fact I had to restore the functionality going for a
>> solution which I presented to you.
>> I am convinced that this could be avoided with some precautions. My email
>> wants to convince you, the developers, to implement a philosophy which could
>> bring us (developers and users) a substantial increase of Linux installation
>> base in the professional users field.
>>
>> Coming back to your proposal: I will check your workaround. What I don't
>> understand is why in the version 3.2.1-90~trustyppa1 it was not necessary to
>> do anything to obtain a good bumblebee behavior, even with nvidia-304 and
>> nvidia-346, and after Vincent pushed the update, I have to modify the Linux
>> installation (which is not in the power usual Linux user) as you explained.
>>
>> For the common Linux success, which I believe you and Vincent agree,
>> developers and users must be on the same side when an upgrade is to be
>> promoted.
>>
>> Kind regards
>>
>> Cristian Moraru
>> (a stubborn user of Bumblebee Project)
>>
>>
>> On 07/29/2015 08:00 PM, Peter Wu wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi Cristian,
>>>
>>> Vincent is the Debian maintainer of Bumblebee and has recently indeed
>>> published changes for the benefit of Ubuntu users (and derivatives).
>>>
>>> What you are basically experiencing is the inability to turn off the
>>> graphics card after using optirun. This problem can be caused by a
>>> configuration issue in Ubuntu (which probably does not exist in Debian).
>>>
>>> Workaround for version 3.2.1-91~trustyppa1:
>>>
>>> Determine your nvidia module version (say, nvidia-346) and create
>>> /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-alias.conf containing:
>>>
>>>      alias nvidia nvidia-346
>>>
>>> Besides this, you do not have to restart any services, just trigger
>>> optirun again (optirun true).
>>>
>>> Vincent, what do you think of the proposed patch at
>>>
>>> https://github.com/Bumblebee-Project/Bumblebee/commit/edd81b063ec1bda63ae8a3b10d8051e02eec282b
>>
>>
>
>