Install org.freedesktop.Platform.GL.nvidia when installing proprietary drivers

[jlnr]

What Happened?

This is in a fresh installation of elementaryos-7.0-daily.20230829.iso.

Web doesn't display anything, but when hovering over parts of the invisible page, I can see that it knows where there are links.

It also has square corners and other bugs, e.g. when opening two windows and closing one, it closes both.

These sound like separate issues, but I assume that something went wrong in packaging if so many things break at once?

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install latest Daily ISO
2. Try to browse

Expected Behavior

3. Web is usable, as in the latest stable ISO

OS Version

7.x (Horus)

Software Version

Latest release (I have run all updates)

Log Output

No response

Hardware Info

I use an Nvidia card with the latest drivers (v535).

[jlnr]

Hmm okay, I'll see if this is a duplicate of elementary/browser#76.

Edit: I have org.freedesktop.Platform.GL:default v23.1.4 from the 22.08 branch and I can't find anything newer using flatpak search, so I guess it's a different issue.

[Marukesu]

I believe you need one of the org.freedesktop.Platform.GL.nvidia-${version} extensions too.

[jlnr]

I installed Firefox from Flathub because Web didn't work, and apparently that pulled in the GL.nvidia flatpak because I have it now and Web also started working. Well, almost. Opening github.com crashes the current tab reliably. Probably an unrelated bug that I may report later.

[jlnr]

I have transferred this to the installer project because the Platform.GL.nvidia flatpak should be installed automatically along with the Nvidia drivers (which actually happens in distinst, see also elementary/os#686).

Otherwise, Web will be broken out of the box, which also makes it hard to install another browser: No way to open flathub. apt install firefox works, but will use snapd.

As the Platform.GL.nvidia flatpak comes from flathub, I guess it would have to be cloned into elementary's flatpak remote first to avoid an install-time dependency on flathub? How would that work? Not sure.

[jlnr]

Ah, I found another issue for AppCenter, which makes sense as it is the other way to install the drivers: elementary/settings-daemon#139

[danirabbit]

We currently have a FlatHub allow list for platforms prefixed with org.freedesktop so it should be available to install already, I think. We just need to actually pull it in. Not sure if that needs to be in distinst or if it can be done here though

[jlnr]

Ah yes, I just found it too: elementary/os#480

One comment on the AppCenter issue says: "I think flatpak installs it automatically on the first update after the driver is installed."

I'll try to test this by uninstalling the GL.nvidia flatpak.

[Marukesu]

it will be, if you have a flathub app installed. flatpak's auto-download feature only works for runtimes in the same repository of the app being installed/updated.

[jlnr]

flatpak uninstall org.freedesktop.Platform.GL.nvidia-535-86-05

-> Web only shows empty tabs, just as in a fresh install.

flatpak update -y then reinstalls the GL.nvidia runtime and Web works again.

I'm not sure if this step belongs in the Installer or distinst.

@Marukesu I have uninstalled my only flathub app, Firefox, and flatpak update still knows to download the GL runtime. However, I do have some other runtimes from flathub, so maybe it's not the same situation as during installation.

[jlnr]

Ah, I just remembered that I skipped the Nvidia driver step during OS installation because of elementary/os#686, and manually installed the driver later.

I'll retry as soon as the distinst PR has been merged and found its way into a Daily ISO. Maybe the flatpak setup during installation will then automagically install the GL.nvidia runtime as well.

[jlnr]

elementary/os#686 has been fixed, but unfortunately Web is still broken when I re-install the system.

flatpak update does not fix the issue out of the box (=before sideloading), as you already predicted @Marukesu. So just adding a flatpak update somewhere will indeed not resolve this issue. :|

And even when I installed the Nvidia GL runtime on my last elementary installation, I was still running into this bug: elementary/browser#118 – so it only makes Web "mostly usable", there seems to be another issue.

[jlnr]

How about adding this to the installation somehow? Works for me, although I haven't yet checked what it does on non-Nvidia machines.

flatpak install org.freedesktop.Platform.GL.`flatpak --gl-drivers | head -n 1`

Regarding some pages like github.com being broken even with the runtime installed, I found this issue and don't know if anyone is trying to maintain WebKit compatibility with proprietary Nvidia drivers.