Leftover NVIDIA libraries?

[Zeikcied]

I upgraded to Kubuntu Lucid using the updater (not a CD), and things were mostly smooth. A few bumps here and there. But I've run into a bit of an issue. I'm posting it here as I don't know if it's directly related to the Lucid upgrade. I had previously installed the 195.x.x series of drivers from the NVIDIA website a couple months ago in Karmic to help solve a memory issue with Plasma and Xorg, but these libraries are even older than that.

Right now, I have the nvidia-current package which was installed automatically with the upgrade to Lucid. So my current NVIDIA libraries (version 195.36.15) are in /usr/lib/nvidia-current. But I have other files in the base /usr/lib, such as:

libGL.so.1 (points to libGL.so.185.18.36)
libGLcore.so.1 (points to libGLcore.so.185.18.36)

My problem is that Kubuntu Lucid seems to be looking at the /usr/lib/libGL.so.1 file instead of the one in nvidia-current, as I'm getting errors such as "/usr/lib/libGL.so.1: unidentified symbol: _nv000023gl" when trying to access various portions of my System Settings. I kept getting a similar message when Kubuntu tried to start ksmserver, until I renamed the file libGL.so.1~, but it apparently recreated itself.

Given that the libGL.so and libGLcore.so files appear to be old NVIDIA files that shouldn't be there, is it safe to remove them? Will it make Kubuntu explode? I want to make sure before I do anything so I don't destroy my system.

[mfabry]

Re: Leftover NVIDIA libraries?

I had similar problem. Apparently I had not cleaned up old drivers properly and I got the same errors like you. I moved faulty files to another directory. Then I purged anything nvidia related from my system and installed drivers again. Are you sure you properly uninstalled those old drivers before switching to distro version? Nvidia installer comes with uninstaller I believe.

[Zeikcied]

Re: Leftover NVIDIA libraries?

I didn't think about it until after the update and I got the first error about the ksmserver.

I ran the uninstaller after the ksmserver error, and it said that a newer driver was installed, and it would still try to remove the files. I did that, then purged the nvidia-current package, then ran the uninstaller script again, and then installed nvidia-current again.

But the install script I have is from the 195.x.x series, and the leftovers are from the 185.x.x series. I did install a 185.x.x series driver from NVIDIA's site and didn't run the uninstaller (I didn't think it existed) I think back in Intrepid. Then I installed the driver package in Karmic, which was another software upgrade like this one.

The old 185 files didn't cause any troubles in Karmic. Just now in Lucid are they causing problems.

So it is okay to remove the files?

[mfabry]

Re: Leftover NVIDIA libraries?

Remove those files and reinstall distro drivers. Hopefully it will solve the problem. And you are right - I had no trouble in Karmic either, only after upgrade to Lucid. I have no idea how long I had used those old libraries (mine were ancient 100 series!!). Still, I've found more trash in /usr/lib32/. I wonder when it will backfire on me (if ever).