I have been doing my updates simply by running : sudo dnf update , on my system every once in a while. I am wondering whether it is better to use the Gnome Software functionality to automatically download updates and update my system using the “offline” installation method.
They use a(utomatic)kmod which are being built automatically after each kernel update. After installing a new kernel, you need to wait a few minutes for the kmod to be compiled. Do not reboot right after kernel update.
One would have to do that every time the kernel is updated as well right?
In that case, when Software does the “offline update” reboot to install the updates, will it also wait for the module to get built before it reboots into the updated system?
This question would also apply to using the dnf “offline update” method when one reboots after that.
Nvidia driver installs often encounter problems, so you need to think about how you will deal with them. There can be delays between the time a new kernel is released and the appearance of corresponding Nvidia versions, and if your hardware isn’t widely used, you may be first to discover a problem specific to your hardware. The problems can be a failure to build the driver or a runtime failure. If your system has both an iGPU and dGPU, you can boot using the iGPU and attempt to repair problems with the Nvidia driver. If your only GPU is Nvidia, you need to practice booting with an older kernel so you know what to do when booting a new kernel goes to a blank screen and the fallback to nouveau fails (maybe the system finds an Nvidia module that fails to run properly).
I have stopped buying Nvidia hardware, but still use Fedora on an old iMac system (discarded by my wife) that only has Nvidia. I have tried Gnome Software a couple times with kernel updates and it installed the other packages, then rebooted and installed the akmod Nvidia package, but I don’t know what happens if the build fails because I normally run the system with nouveau and only switch to Nvidia when working on some issue reported by an Nvidia user (there is a section on switching between nouveau and Nvidia in the rpmfusion Nvidia Howto).
Hope this will help you choose an appropriate update procedure for your use case.
The delay is required with installing the drivers, updating the driver version, upgrading the kernel, etc. Each of these situations requires that the driver be compiled to match the kernel before the kernel module can be loaded
I find that the offline and automatic updates that require a reboot (both gui and dnf) are problematic in that respect since they do not delay the reboot while waiting for the drivers to be compiled.
I have developed the habit of only doing manual updates and ensuring that I always wait 5 or more minutes after any update completes before I even consider a reboot.
The same situation applies when using other software such as VirtualBox, the broadcom drivers, etc. Each of which has their own kernel modules which must match the driver version and the kernel and each of which require a recompile in those same circumstances.
The problem is not limited to nvidia, but I can easily name at least 4 commonly used software packages that are affected the same way (2 were named in the paragraph above)
In that case I will continue using the dnf update method, which actually has been working nicely for me. Just thought it would be nice to use the automatic feature provided by Gnome, but now I understand that these issues have not necessarily been addressed.
I do have an iGPU. I guess now I have some info not to panic in case something stops working.
Nouveau was always giving errors on startup and that is why I installed the nvidia drivers without thinking.
