Category: RHEL

Converged multimedia repository with restricted codecs and binaries

slaanesh 2 Comments

As most of you have noticed, the HandBrake repository has been integrating more and more multimedia packages that are not related to HandBrake itself or to its supporting programs. The latest additions to it are the CUDA/FFMpeg enabled Blender package and some additional encoding options for FFMPeg.

This definitely puts a nail in the coffin of the “CUDA programs” repository that was previously treated as a separate repository. I’m not able to provide separate repositories for them as either you have a full blown multimedia collection with each component strictly tied to each other (Blender requires FFMPeg and Nvidia drivers, FFMpeg requires restricted multimedia libraries and Nvidia drivers, HandBrake requires the same restricted multimedia libraries of FFMPeg, etc.) or you just have the plain Fedora repositories with no license/patent encumbered options.

None of these packages can be distributed inside the main Fedora/RPMFusion repositories as they are presented here with current build options; mainly due to patent and licensing issues or simply because they are coupled with non open source software resulting in dubious licensed binaries.

Some of the packages might have hard dependencies on Nvidia components or libraries, while some other have a weak dependency on them. Whether you can enable support for those it’s usually just a matter of adding or not the Nvidia repository and the multimedia (HandBrake) repository at the same time.

Not all distributions are on par regarding features and packages, let’s say most of the development goes on to the latest Fedora release due to it being my daily desktop.

To install the CUDA enabled Blender, HandBrake, MakeMKV or the fully fledge FFMpeg binary just go to the appropriate page and follow the instructions.

I will probably also rename the repository into something more generic compared to what is currently called now; so suggestions are welcome!

Screenshot from 2015-12-11 19-20-27

Updated packages and new Samsung repository

slaanesh 5 Comments

As some of you may have noticed, a lot of updates and new stuff has been pushed.

Highlights from the updates

  • The Nvidia driver version 358.16 has been promoted as “Short Lived” for Fedora, and it has support for X.org Video ABI 20. So it is now the default for Fedora 21, 22 and 23.
  • Driver version 352.63 is the new “Long Lived” driver for RedHat/CentOS.
  • Both drivers have a fallback mechanism for the SELinux regression introduced in 358.09, so you don’t need anymore to disable SELinux for GDM refresh problems.
  • The legacy driver has been updated to 340.96, and this as well has been enabled for Fedora 23 as it also supports X.org 1.18
  • CDRtools after years of an alpha 3.01 has finally updated to… an alpha 3.02 😀
  • HandBrake has been updated to the very latest snapshot and is relying only on separate source tarballs that are not statically linked. Unfortunately some are of dubious licenses as usual. Please note that there are some issues with subtitle tracks embedded in Matroska files not being correctly interpreted.
  • The Nvidia NVML library and CUDA packages have seen some small update.
  • Steam has been updated to version 1.0.0.51 and has updated UDev rules for the Steam Controller. If you are one of the owners of such controller, you will find support out of the box. The same changes have also been pushed to the RPMFusion package.

New repository

There’s a new repository for Samsung printers, multifunction printers and scanners that carries the “Samsung Unified Linux Driver” for both the scanning and printing functions. Just by installing it and enabling the ports in the firewall should be enough to get every device running in no time. Refer to the appropriate page for details.

Fully fledged FFMpeg binaries

Also, due to popular request, there is now a custom built FFMpeg package that drops in as a replacement for RPMFusion ones and that enables linking and support for all the codecs/encoders/decoders that would result in an unredistributable binary. This is now available the HandBrake repository. The following codecs/encoders/decoders/transports have been enabled:

  • VP8 and VP9 de/encoding
  • WebP encoding
  • AAC (Fraunhofer, LibVO and other variants) de/encoding
  • OpenAL 1.1 capture support
  • BluRay reading
  • AMR-WB de/encoding
  • AMR-NB de/encoding
  • RTMP[E] support
  • H.264 encoding (OpenH264, Cisco variant)
  • OpenGL rendering
  • SSH transport
  • Fontconfig/fribidi text support

This sobstitutes the ffmpeg binary that was provided as part of the CUDA enabled programs, as it is now tied to all the other multimedia libraries available in this repository. The support for Nvidia H.264/H.265 hardware encoding/decoding is enabled here as well and the required packages are now installed through the use of RPM weak dependencies.

The package has a different Epoch so it is not overwritten by normal updates. The idea is to have all the possible codecs supported out of the box, so also expect HEVC kvazaar (H.265), Intel Quick Sync Video (H.265) hardware support through libmfx/mfx_dispatch, CIFS transport, and other stuff, as soon as I have more time.

The same repository will be used to host the CUDA and FFMpeg enabled Blender, as it makes no sense to have a separate repository for it. Either you have a full blown multimedia collection with each component strictly tied to each other, or you just have the plain Fedora repositories with no license/patent encumbered options.

Enjoy!

NVIDIA repository improvements

slaanesh 14 Comments

I’ve just pushed a big update to the Nvidia repository. The list of changes is quite big, so if you are a user of the repository please take your time to read through it.

CUDA

CUDA has been replaced with version 7 for all supported RHEL/CentOS/Fedora releases, with the main difference being no more support for 32 bit systems. From now on, there will be no compatibility packages for the i686 architecture. So, after upgrading, make sure to remove all the i686 pacakges (that is, yum/dnf remove cuda\*.i686).

Apart from this, CUDA 7 packages introduce new stuff, improves on the packaging and can now run correctly on all Fedora systems, including Fedora 22, which was not supported by CUDA 6.5. As announced previously, the only “regression” is when enabling C+11 on GCC 5.1 (i.e. Fedora 22).

The new packages take into consideration the Nvidia provided ones, and replace them accordingly; so if you have their packages installed it should upgrade them where appropriate leaving no traces of the former. Local changes include the pkg-config files for development packages (not included in their self installer and in my 6.5 packages) and the segregation of static libraries in their own subpackage, thus reducing installed size greatly. The next step is to proceed like for the open components of the Nvidia driver: replacing all the pre-built binaries with source compiled stuff. At the moment, this includes cuda-gdb, for which sources do exist.

NVIDIA driver

The Nvidia driver has seen a repackaging of the main components, where the biggest change is the library layout.

All the unique libraries are now in standard locations, leaving only the duplicate ones under /usr/lib{,64}/nvidia. Also, X configuration files that the user should avoid touching, have been moved under /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d. Library dependencies have been reduced, so you can now compile a program against the NVML library (libnvidia-ml.so.1) or CUDA without needing to install the full driver or using the Nvidia provided stubs.

This makes for a simpler package with a simpler filter for conflicting libraries and is also propedeutic work to enable hardware accelerated encoding with Steam In-Home streaming and Nvidia drivers. Hardware decoding in Steam has been put in place, so now it’s time for the (only) supported hardware encoding.

NVIDIA beta driver (355.xx)

The biggest change comes with the 355.06 driver in Fedora 23, which introduces partial support for the GL Vendor-Neutral Dispatch library (libglvnd), a new kernel module building system (in preparation for their modeset driver after the 355.x series) and dropped support for Nvidia instanciated modules.

The new beta driver requires the GL Vendor Neutral Dispatch library in place for proper operation, and being this a separate open source project (only a prototype in Mesa, at the moment) it has been built from source. So there is now a required libglvnd package that only contains the libraries required by the driver for running. The more they are integrated with the driver, the more I will enable in the package. This is a transitional package only, as sooner or later Mesa and the X server will introduce the same mechanism, making the transitional package obsolete and just using distribution provided packages.

This with could eventually lead to system running different OpenGL implementations at the same time, solving the Optimus and multiple cards from multiple vendors combination issues.

The Nvidia control panel can be optionally linked to NVML, so I’ve tried to enable it in the beta drivers. I don’t see any changes so far, but probably this is due to the fact that I don’t have new enough cards to be compatible with NVML.

The beta driver has been pushed to the Fedora 23 branch only, as explained in the Nvidia repository page.

As always, feedback is welcome.

Nvidia driver modeset kernel module

slaanesh 4 Comments

As part of the latest Nvidia driver update at version 352.09, there is now code supporting a new nvidia-modeset kernel module that should be running on a system and that interfaces with the usual nvidia kernel module.

Evidence of this is in the kernel module sources and in the nvidia-modprobe command code that is hosted in Github.

From the nv-modeset-interface.h header in the kernel module “sources”:

/*
 * This file defines the interface between the nvidia.ko and
 * nvidia-modeset.ko Linux kernel modules.
 *
 * A minor device file from nvidia.ko's pool is dedicated to
 * nvidia-modeset.ko.  nvidia-modeset.ko registers with nvidia.ko by
 * calling nvidia_register_module() and providing its file operation
 * callback functions.
 *
 * Later, nvidia-modeset.ko calls nvidia.ko's nvidia_get_rm_ops()
 * function to get the RMAPI function pointers which it will need.
 */

Let’s hope that modesetting support in the driver is near and we will not have to wait additional years for it. Also, let’s hope that the firmware images required for the latest hardware on Nouveau will be released soon, without further delays.

As soon as it will be delivered, I will implement it in the packages according to the driver table in the repository page.

Steam for CentOS / RHEL 7

slaanesh 13 Comments

The Steam repository now contains the Steam client package plus the S3 texture compression library for Open Source drivers for CentOS and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.

The CentOS/RHEL repository contains also all the SteamOS session files and binaries for running a Steam-only system, like the Fedora ones. As the Fedora packages, the main client is 32 bit only, so when running on 64 bit systems, make sure to load also your 32 bit libraries if you are running on proprietary drivers or the S3 texture compression library if you are running on a 64 bit system. Work on Valve’s X-Box kernel module for CentOS/RHEL is ongoing; as in its current form there are unresolved symbols.

As part of the update, also the Fedora X-Box kernel module has additional fixes on top of Valve’s code.

I will also add the packages to RPMFusion when a CentOS/RHEL 7 branch will eventually be available.

For full details see the repository page.

centos-steam2

centos-steam3

Updated Skype Pidgin plugin

slaanesh 3 Comments

The Skype Pidgin plugin has been updated, it now provides a working copy of the skypeweb plugin. This means you can have your Skype account in Pidgin without having the full Skype client running on your system.

Just disable the D-Bus plugin and enable the HTTP client, providing your Skype credentials.

Screenshot from 2015-05-05 18:09:51

Full details in the Skype and Skype Pidgin plugin page.

CUDA enabled programs

slaanesh 5 Comments

There is a new repository available with CUDA enabled programs in package format. This contains programs that have been linked to CUDA libraries or have CUDA support enabled. At the moment this is available only on Fedora 21, if there is sufficient feedback I will enable it also for other distributions.

The repository is available here.

At the moment of writing, the repository contains the following:

  • Nvidia Encoder (NVENC) enabled FFMpeg
  • CUDA and FFMpeg enabled Blender
  • ccminer (multi cryptocoin miner)

Please keep in mind that these packages update already available packages that are in Fedora and RPMFusion, so you might step into other dependency issues if you have tons of other programs using these libraries on your system.

Also, CUDA 6.5 works only on fairly recent GPUs, so your old models might not be compatible. Follow this Nvidia link to check if your GPU is CUDA capable. Basically, anything with Compute Capability >= 2.0 is ok. Also the Wikipedia article on CUDA has all the Compute Capability information available.

The Blender build looks for libcuda and the Nvidia Unified Video Memory module on the system to enable CUDA support. By installing the Nvidia driver from my repository with CUDA support, you should have a working Blender installation that is able to use your GPU for rendering.

Screenshot from 2015-04-27 20:03:57

As you can see from the picture, I only have the basic Nvidia driver plus CUDA support installed, there is no need to install the full CUDA stack. The runtime is required only for additional specific libraries (like ccminer that uses some specific CUDA math libraries).

This build of Blender looks for libcuda.so.1; so if you are using the official Blender build from blender.org, you also need to have the full nvidia-driver-devel package installed as it contains also the libcuda.so symlink.

To recap, this is what is required to have a fully working Blender with CUDA and FFMpeg support enabled on Fedora 21:

# yum-config-manager --add-repo=http://negativo17.org/repos/fedora-cuda-programs.repo
# yum-config-manager --add-repo=http://negativo17.org/repos/fedora-nvidia.repo
# yum install kernel-devel akmod-nvidia nvidia-driver nvidia-driver-cuda blender

Then reboot, and make sure the nvidia-uvm.ko module is loaded.

Repositories update

slaanesh 5 Comments

Another batch of changes has reached the repositories in the last weeks. The updates have touched everything:

  • MakeMKV has been updated to version 1.9.2.
  • HandBrake has been updated to the current 0.10.1 for Fedora 20, 21 and 22.
  • libdvdnav and libdvdread are based on 5.0.x releases. Also, all required libraries for MakeMKV and HandBrake have been rebuilt for Fedora 22 until RPMFusion catches up, at which point I will remove them from the repository.
  • The Nvidia driver is now at version 346.59 for all CentOS/RHEL and Fedora variants and at 349.12 (beta) for Fedora 22. According to the release notes, the 319.42 drivers will try to copy the framebuffer console’s contents out of /dev/fb0 making the Plymouth transition even better on UEFI systems.
  • The Nvidia driver is now using libvdpau 1.1 which contains support for decoding H.265/HEVC video streams (VDPAU Feature Set F) on supported GPUs.
  • The GPU Deployment kit (NVML headers and docs) is now at version 346.46. Also, nvidia-healthmon is now 64 bit only.
  • The CDRtools suite has been updated to version 3.01a28.
  • The Flash plugin package has been updated to version 11.2.202.451 and it has also been pushed to RPMFusion in the form of lpf package.
  • Spotify it’s at version 0.9.17.1 for CentOS/RHEL 7 and Fedora 20, 21 and 22. Instead of bundling Ubuntu’s libgcrypt library; now it uses the compat-libgcrypt package from ssaavedra/compat-libcrypt COPR repository. The package is already included where appropriate.
  • Wimms’ ISO tools have been updated to 2.30a.
  • RAR has been updated to version 5.2.1.

As always, any issue just let me know. I’m in the process of moving and starting a new job; so please bear some patience if I don’t reply to you immediately.

Big update to the Nvidia driver repository (346.xx, 340.xx compat, CUDA)

slaanesh 7 Comments

My personal Nvidia repository has seen quite a few updates on versions, CUDA enablements, legacy drivers and Delta RPMS.

Long Lived branch

Version 346.35 is now the new Long Lived branch release, this, plus the fact that is the newest made it to all supported distributions (CentOS/RHEL 6/7, Fedora 20/21/rawhide).

Here is the table that lists the current versions:

Operating systemCentOS / RHELFedorarawhide
Driver branchLong LivedShort Lived
Long Lived		Short Lived
Long Lived
Beta
Video Codec SDKYesYesYes
Architectures:

x86_64		YesYesYes
Basic nvidia driver:

nvidia-driver
nvidia-driver-libs
nvidia-libXNVCtrl
nvidia-kmod-common		YesYesYes
CUDA libraries and tools:

nvidia-driver-cuda
nvidia-driver-cuda-libs
nvidia-driver-NVML
nvidia-persistenced		YesYesYes
OpenGL Framebuffer Capture:

nvidia-driver-NvFBCOpenGL		YesYesYes
Nvidia tools:

nvidia-modprobe
nvidia-settings
nvidia-xconfig
YesYesYes
Binary kernel
modules (kABI):

kmod-nvidia		YesNoNo
DKMS kernel
modules:

dkms-nvidia		YesYesYes
aKMOD kernel
modules:

akmod-nvidia		NoYesYes
32 bit compatibility on x86_64:

nvidia-libXNVCtrl
nvidia-driver-libs
nvidia-driver-cuda-libs
nvidia-driver-NVML		YesYesYes
Development

nvidia-driver-devel
nvenc
nvenc-samples		YesYesYes
GLVND librariesYesYesYes
VDPAU librariesYesYesYes
EGLStream-based Wayland external platformYesYesYes
GBM EGL external platform libraryYesYesYes

CUDA stack

A complete packaged CUDA stack has been added for all supported distributions. This now includes all CUDA libraries and tools at version 6.5.19 (includes NVML / GPU deployment kit). You can easily install CUDA 6.5 on CentOS/RHEL 6/7 and Fedora 20/21/rawhide!

All the packages provide/require/obsolete the relevant driver packages in the RPMFusion repository and all the CUDA packages in the Nvidia repository; so you can enable this repository along with the official Nvidia CUDA one and RPMFusion at the same time. Packages will get upgraded accordingly.

Nvidia is slowly fading out 32 bit support from CUDA, and you can see it reflected in the various packages. The Unified Video Memory kernel module (nvidia-uvm.ko has been removed in version 346.16, CUDA graphical programs are 64 bit only, many libraries and compilers are available in 64 bit only, etc.

Feedback from users has been integrated, where possible.

List of components by distribution:

Operating systemCentOS / RHELFedorarawhide
CUDA cuDNNYesYesYes
GCC compatibility
(if needed)		-cuda-gcccuda-gcc
Basic CUDA libraries/tools:

cuda
cuda-libs
cuda-cuda
cuda-cli-tools
cuda-cublas
cuda-cudart
cuda-cufft
cuda-cupti
cuda-curand
cuda-cusolver
cuda-cusparse
cuda-extra-libs
cuda-libs
cuda-npp
cuda-nvjpeg
cuda-nvrtc
cuda-nvtx
cuda-nvvp
cuda-samples
cuda-sanitizer		YesYesYes
CUDA development:

cuda-cccl-devel
cuda-cudart-devel
cuda-cudnn-devel
cuda-cupti-devel
cuda-cuxxfilt-devel
cuda-devel
cuda-nvml-devel
cuda-nvprof-devel
cuda-nvrtc-devel
cuda-nvtx-devel
cuda-profiler-devel
cuda-sanitizer-devel		YesYesYes
GUI programs:

cuda-nsight
cuda-nvvp
cuda-nsight-compute
cuda-nsight-systems		YesYesYes

Legacy drivers 340.xx

A compatibility repository for drivers on 340.x, the new legacy release for cards up to 9xxx chipsets has been introduced. It’s in the same place, just follow the instructions by appending -340 to the repository file. This repository does not include the CUDA packages, just the enablement on the drivers.

The repository itself it’s not guaranteed to stay online forever; the GTX 9xxx series are from 2008 and I don’t guarantee I will maintain it for long.

Delta RPMS

Delta RPMS have been introduced, to reduce the time and data required for upgrades. Driver packages can reach 90 mb and CUDA packages can span even 650 mb. This would save you a lot of time into upgrading them. For now, delta RPMS have been generated for the new 346.35 drivers, and this reduced nearly 80% the download size on Fedora 21.

We’ll see some real gain when updating the CUDA packages.

Ending words

Along this, there is the usual assortment of packages refinement (syntax, RPMLint, optimizations, etc.). For additional details, please see the Nvidia driver page.

As time permits, new CUDA enabled packages will be added to the repository, namely Blender, ccMiner, NVENC enabled ffmpeg, etc.

As usual, any feedback is much appreciated!