Bug#1008491: nvidia-kernel-support: depends on nvidia-modprobe which does not exist

[Andreas Beckmann]

On 27/03/2022 16.28, Drew Parsons wrote:
> Package: nvidia-kernel-support
> Version: 510.60.02-1

> nvidia-kernel-support Depends: nvidia-modprobe (>= 510)

yes

> This dependency is still in place for nvidia-kernel-support
> 510.60.02-1 from experimental.

yes, and there is nothing wrong with it

> Previously (510.54-1) there was a nvidia-modprobe package. But it is
> no longer generated for 510.60.02-1, effectively it doesn't exist any
> more.

Where do you get that impression from? src:nvidia-modprobe has been a 
separate source package for ages and there are no dependencies requiring 
the version to be in sync with the driver (beyond the major version 
requirement in nvidia-kernel-support).

> We can workaround it for now by using nvidia-modprobe 510.54-1 from
> unstable, but will that introduce errors with 510.60.02?  And that

Guess why there is 'only' a dependency on (>= 510) in 
nvidia-kernel-support. (Even that is more tight than usually needed, but 
it's automatic and I forgot manual bumping (if actually needed) often 
enough.)
So far, all old legacy and tesla release series work with the latest 
nvidia-modprobe version.

> will become a serious bug anyway once 510.60.02? is uploaded to
> unstable and nvidia-modprobe is no longer available at all.
> 
> Does the nvidia-modprobe package need to be generated for 510.60.02-1,

no, usually only upstream releases that bump the major version bring 
relevant code changes, while minor version bumps usually only update the 
version number (in multiple places)

> or does nvidia-kernel-support need to be updated to stop depending on
> it?

no

Andreas

PS: src:nvidia-graphics-drivers-tesla-510/sid currently requires 
nvidia-modprobe/experimental to be installable (and therefore does not 
migrate to testing), but that wasn't the package of your concern

PPS: currently sid is the staging area for getting the driver stack 
updated from 460 to 470 in bullseye, newer releases will enter sid after 
that has been sorted out