What to do when GLX stops working with Nvidia

[dbbolton]

Note: this applies to the Nvidia installer method. If you used the Debian method, you should not have this problem.

I've had this happen several times, and like a dope, I usually just re-install the nvidia driver. But after actually reading the log files, I found an easier solution.

In my case, the problem always happens when the xserver-xorg-core package is updated. This package includes the file:

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/usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so

However, Nvidia uses this name as a symbolic link to

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/usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so.XXX.YY

where XXX and YY are given by the current driver version. So, when the package is updated, it overwrites the symbolic link with an actual file, and GLX applications will try to use that file instead of Nvidia's.

My solution is simply to move the "bad" file and recreate the symbolic link:

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su root

mv /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so.orig
ln -s /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so.XXX.YY /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so

exit

After re-establishing the link, you will need to restart X to get GLX working again.

[canci]

Good work. But doesn't this only happen when installing nvidia manually? IIRC the Debian drivers should do this automatically. Or not?
The problem is nvidia's own implementation of libgl which conflicts.

[dbbolton]

Good work. But doesn't this only happen when installing nvidia manually? IIRC the Debian drivers should do this automatically. Or not?
The problem is nvidia's own implementation of libgl which conflicts.

Yes, this only applies to those who use the Nvidia installer. I forgot to mention that.

[lbm]

Nice, thanks. Will give this a try when it happens for me again!

Nice, confirmed as working

[secipolla]

Yep, this happens all the time and we don't notice anything until we need GLX. Good to know.

[dbbolton]

I got sick of typing the version number by hand, so I wrote a script that fixes the symbolic link (it chooses the latest version of all available Nvidia GLX plugin files in this directory)

https://github.com/dbbolton/scripts/blo ... ia_glx_fix

[EddieB]

Thanks ... this solved it ...

Gotta look into the 'Debian Way ' for persistence though ... DRY ...

[secipolla]

Although I wrote 'good to know' above, I kept reinstalling the driver after an xserver-xorg-core update Must remember next time.
Another tip is when updating libgl1-mesa-glx. It also breaks GLX for the NVIDIA driver and has an even easier solution:

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# rm /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1*

[snowape]

Thanks for posting this.

[stevepusser]

You may also try the alternatives system:

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su -c 'update-alternatives --config libGL.so'
su -c 'update-alternatives --config libglx.so'

The diverted libraries are the open MESA versions, so you want to undo the diversions (symlinks)
so the symlinks point back to the Nvidia OpenGL libraries.

I get warnings when compiling programs against the diverted libs (MESA) on my Intel system,
but they don't seem to affect anything when others use my packages.

[gwc]

Thanks for this useful post, this resolved my GLX issue.