Safe NVIDIA Driver Installer with Rollback

[mikejmorgan-ai]

Problem (Pain Point #1 - CRITICAL)

NVIDIA driver updates bricking systems is the #1 reason users abandon Linux.

"Nvidia drivers, do I need to say more? 25 years of bullshit... update that will brick your os or driver."

Current Reality:

• Out-of-tree modules require recompilation at install time
• Secure Boot often must be disabled (security compromise)
• No rollback when things break
• Users lose entire systems

Solution

Build a safe NVIDIA driver installer that:

1. Detects GPU model and current driver state
2. Checks compatibility with running kernel
3. Creates snapshot before any changes
4. Validates installation before committing
5. Automatic rollback if validation fails

Example Usage

$ cortex install nvidia drivers safely

🧠 Detected: NVIDIA RTX 4090 (Kernel 6.5.0-generic)
   Current driver: 535.154.05
   Recommended: 545.29.06
   
⚠️  Creating system snapshot...
   Installing nvidia-driver-545...
   Validating: nvidia-smi responding... ✓
   Validating: OpenGL working... ✓
   Validating: No kernel taints... ✓
   
✅ Driver 545.29.06 installed successfully
   Rollback available: cortex rollback nvidia

Acceptance Criteria

• GPU detection (nvidia-smi, lspci parsing)
• Kernel compatibility check
• Pre-install snapshot creation
• Post-install validation suite
• Automatic rollback on failure
• Secure Boot compatibility check
• Unit tests (>80% coverage)
• Documentation with examples

Technical Notes

• Use ubuntu-drivers as reference for compatibility matrix
• Integrate with existing rollback_manager.py
• Consider DKMS state validation

Bounty: $100 (+ $100 bonus after funding)

Paid on merge to main.

---

Based on Linux Pain Points Research 2025-2026

[lu11y0]

Working on this! 🚀

[Bademeischta]

@lu11y0 how is it going so far?

[repairman29]

Hi! I'm interested in helping with this issue.

I have experience with index (repairman29/ai-gm-service) and think I can contribute here. Would love to discuss the approach and see if we can make this happen.

(Connected via Echeo - a platform for matching developers with open source bounties)

[Anshgrover23]

@lu11y0 Could you share the exact hardware you’ll be testing this on (NVIDIA GPU model, kernel version, and whether Secure Boot is enabled)? Also, how do you plan to intentionally simulate a failed driver install to verify that the snapshot and automatic rollback work as expected?

[lu11y0]

@Anshgrover23 I’ll be testing on a system with an NVIDIA RTX 3050 (6GB). Secure Boot is disabled, and the machine is dual-boot (Windows + Linux).
I’ll confirm and share the exact distro and kernel version once I’m on the Linux install and begin testing. I’ll also share implementation and validation details as the work progresses