NVIDIA is gradually supporting open-source GPU driver development through community projects like Nouveau and the new Rust-based Nova, with increasing involvement from NVIDIA engineers signaling a cautious but promising shift. While proprietary drivers still dominate, this collaboration suggests NVIDIA may eventually adopt open-source drivers as a primary solution for future GPUs over the next decade.
The relationship between open source and NVIDIA has historically been strained, but recent developments show promising progress. While NVIDIA’s proprietary drivers still dominate, the open-source GPU kernel modules, though not fully upstream, are now integrated with the proprietary driver and addressing issues like Wayland support, albeit slowly. The long-standing Nouveau project, an open-source driver for NVIDIA GPUs dating back to 2005, remains the primary community-driven effort. Thanks to recent improvements, particularly in handling the GSP firmware, Nouveau has regained viability for newer GPUs post-20 series, overcoming previous limitations that rendered these cards nearly unusable with open-source drivers.
In addition to Nouveau, a newer project called Nova has emerged, announced in March 2024 by Red Hat engineer Danilo Krummrich. Nova is a Rust-based driver targeting support for post-GSP GPUs, aiming to provide a modern, open-source alternative for newer NVIDIA hardware. Although still in very early development and not production-ready, Nova has seen steady progress, with its initial framework code merged into the Linux kernel in version 6.15. The project is primarily driven by Danilo but has recently gained significant momentum with contributions from others, including NVIDIA employees.
A major milestone for Nova occurred when Alexandre Courbot, an NVIDIA engineer with extensive GPU support experience and Rust expertise, was added as co-maintainer. This move signals NVIDIA’s growing involvement and endorsement of the project. Courbot’s active engagement with the community and collaboration with other contributors is helping to shape Nova’s development. His appointment as co-maintainer, publicly acknowledged by the project lead Danilo, highlights a rare but important instance of NVIDIA directly supporting an open-source driver effort from within the company.
This involvement is not isolated; other NVIDIA employees, such as John Hubbard and Ben Skeggs, have also contributed to open-source NVIDIA driver projects like Nouveau. Notably, Ben Skeggs transitioned from being a Nouveau maintainer to an NVIDIA employee while continuing his work on the project. This suggests that NVIDIA is not only tolerating but potentially encouraging its engineers to participate in community-driven open-source driver development. Unlike other companies that restrict employee involvement in third-party projects, NVIDIA appears to be quietly testing the waters by supporting these efforts without fully committing to open-sourcing their entire driver stack.
The overall picture suggests that NVIDIA is cautiously exploring open-source driver development as a long-term strategy. Rather than immediately open-sourcing their proprietary drivers, they seem to be allowing community projects like Nouveau and Nova to mature with some internal support. This approach lets NVIDIA maintain control while benefiting from community innovation and testing. If these projects reach a stable and comprehensive state, NVIDIA might eventually embrace them as the primary driver solution for future GPUs, potentially shifting away from proprietary drivers over the next decade. The video invites viewers to consider whether this is a strategic move by NVIDIA or simply a cautious experiment, highlighting the evolving dynamics between open source and one of the largest GPU manufacturers.