Chapter 2. Minimum Software Requirements
Prev | Part I. Installation and Configuration Instructions | Next

## Chapter 2. Minimum Software Requirements

Software Element | Supported versions | Check With...
--- | --- | ---
Linux kernel | 2.6.18* and newer | `cat /proc/version`
XFree86** | 4.0.1 and newer | `XFree86 -version`
X.Org** | 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, 1.10, 1.11, 1.12, 1.13, 1.14, 1.15, 1.16, 1.17 | `Xorg -version`
Kernel modutils | 2.1.121 and newer | `insmod --version`
glibc | 2.0 | `ls /lib/libc.so.*` > 6

* The NVIDIA Unified Memory kernel module, which is a required component of the CUDA driver, requires a 2.6.18 or newer kernel. The NVIDIA kernel module supports 2.6.9 and newer kernels, on driver installations which exclude the Unified Memory kernel module.

** It is only required that you have one of XFree86 or X.Org, not both.

Please see “How do I interpret X server version numbers?” for a note about X server version numbers.

If you need to build the NVIDIA kernel module:

Software Element | Min Requirement | Check With...
--- | --- | ---
binutils | 2.9.5 | `size --version`
GNU make | 3.77 | `make --version`
gcc | 2.91.66 | `gcc --version`

All official stable kernel releases from 2.6.9 and up are supported; pre-release versions, such as 2.6.23-rc1, are not supported. The Linux kernel can be downloaded from http://www.kernel.org or one of its mirrors.

binutils and gcc can be retrieved from http://www.gnu.org or one of its mirrors.

If you are using XFree86, but do not have a file `/var/log/XFree86.0.log`, then you probably have a 3.x version of XFree86 and must upgrade.

Sometimes very recent X server versions are not supported immediately following release, but we aim to support all new versions as soon as possible. Support is not added for new X server versions until after the video driver ABI is frozen, which usually happens at the release candidate stage. Prerelease versions that are not release candidates, such as "1.10.99.1", are not supported.

If you are setting up the X Window System for the first time, it is often easier to begin with one of the open source drivers that ships with XFree86 and X.Org (either "vga", "vesa", or "fbdev"). Once your system is operating properly with the open source driver, you may then switch to the NVIDIA driver.

These software packages may also be available through your Linux distributor.

Prev | Up | Next
Chapter 1. Introduction | Home | Chapter 3. Selecting and Downloading the NVIDIA Packages for Your System