This directory contains the source code and header files for the part of the NVIDIA Linux graphics driver that interfaces with the Linux kernel.
Since the Linux kernel does not support a binary driver interface for use by kernel modules, NVIDIA maintains a thin interface layer that can be built against supported Linux kernels and linked with a closed source, kernel independent component into a loadable NVIDIA Linux kernel module.
Typically, the NVIDIA Linux software installer will build and install an NVIDIA kernel module as part of the driver installation. If you wish to manually build and optionally install an NVIDIA kernel module from the source in this directory, please follow the instructions below.
Building and installing the NVIDIA kernel module::
$ make module
This command will build an NVIDIA kernel module for the running Linux kernel. If you are using a Linux 2.4 kernel, this module will be named 'nvidia.o', else 'nvidia.ko'. To install this kernel module in the default module installation path, use::
$ make install
If you wish to build an NVIDIA kernel module for a different Linux kernel, you can use LINUXDIR to specify the location of the source tree to build against, for example::
$ make LINUXDIR=/path/to/linux-2.x.y module
Please note that you need to have a properly configured kernel source tree installed for each kernel you wish to build an NVIDIA kernel module for. Most Linux distributors provide these as 'kernel-source', 'kernel-headers' or 'kernel-devel' packages for the Linux kernels shipped with their distribution. If you build your own kernel, please make sure it remains configured (do not run make mrproper).