Bug#988200: xserver-xorg-video-nvidia: user-specified xorg configuration can't find nvidia driver

[Ian Eure]

Just want to pipe in that I’m also affected by this bug, which 
seems very severe.  I don’t see how this package is usable /at 
all/, in any configuration, in its current state.

I’m on a ThinkStation P360, which has both Intel and nVidia GPUs 
-- but I only use the nVidia GPU.  Spread through a few files in 
/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d, I have this configuration:

Section "Device"
    Identifier "nVidia T400 4gb"
    # BusID "pci:1:0:0"
	Driver "nvidia"
    Option "Monitor-DP-4" "Lenovo ThinkVision P32p-20"
    Option "ForceFullCompositionPipeline" "On"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Lenovo ThinkVision P32p-20"
    VendorName "Lenovo"
    ModelName "ThinkVision P32p-20"
    Option "Primary" "true"
    Option "LeftOf" "Lenovo ThinkVision LT1913p"
    EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Lenovo ThinkVision LT1913p"
    VendorName "Lenovo"
    ModelName "ThinkVision LT1913p"
    Option "Primary" "false"
    Option "RightOf" "Lenovo ThinkVision P32p-20"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Primary"
    Device "nVidia T400 4gb"
    Monitor "Lenovo ThinkVision LT1913p"
    DefaultDepth 24
    Option "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-4"
    # Option "metamodes" "nvidia-auto-select +0+0 
    {ForceCompositionPipeline=On, 
    ForceFullCompositionPipeline=On}"
EndSection


With this configuration, the X server fails to start, with:

[   200.858] (II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
[   200.858] (WW) Warning, couldn't open module nvidia

This is because the server’s default ModulePath is 
/usr/lib/xorg/modules -- which can be seen in the server log:

[   286.124] (==) ModulePath set to "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"

But this package installs it into 
/usr/lib/nvidia/current/nvidia_drv.so -- so the X server can’t 
load it, and fails to start.

This package either needs to either:

1. Install the driver into /usr/lib/xorg/drivers
2. Create a symlink there pointing to 
/usr/lib/nvidia/current/nvidia_drv.so
3. Include an xorg configuration file in 
/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d which adds /usr/lib/nvidia/current/ to 
the ModulePath.

I’ve been working around this with option 2, but have found that 
various package updates tend to remove the link for some reason, 
which then breaks my setup.

I’m on an up-to-date Debian bookworm, xserver-xorg-video-nvidia 
version 525.147.05-4~deb12u1.

Please let me know if I’m doing something wrong here -- I don’t 
believe I am, but this also seems like a ridiculously severe bug 
to have gotten no response whatsoever for over a year, and I find 
it difficult to believe it could be this broken for that long. 
But I also don’t see any way it could work without manual effort.

Thanks,

  — Ian