The Ubuntu package is mostly just a drop-in of the official Nvidia packages for Linux:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html So yes, this is actually an Nvidia upstream problem. I suspect that there is some sort of race condition in the provided build scripts written by Nvidia, and they are only showing up intermittently or under particular system configurations/states, so package reinstallation tends to work fine the second time. Related: I see this comment in Nvidia's Makefile regarding the "new" build system in Linux >= 2.6: # The new approach currently has its own share of problems, some of which # are architectural difficulties with KBUILD, others minor annoyances. For # this reason, an improved version of the NVIDIA Makefile is available to # those experiencing difficulties. So it sounds like they admit to having architectural difficulties here. I wonder where this "improved version" of the Makefile can be obtained... -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to nvidia-graphics-drivers-331 in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1268257 Title: nvidia-331-updates 331.38-0ubuntu3: nvidia-331-updates kernel module failed to build, with only error: "objdump: '... .tmp_nv.o': No such file" Status in nvidia-graphics-drivers-331 package in Ubuntu: Triaged Status in nvidia-graphics-drivers-331-updates package in Ubuntu: Triaged Bug description: Nvidia kernel module failed to build on kernel 3.13.0-2 Yesterday when the new kernel was pushed, the dkms process failed. ProblemType: Package DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04 Package: nvidia-331-updates 331.20-0ubuntu9 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.12.0-7.15-generic 3.12.4 Uname: Linux 3.12.0-7-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.13.1-0ubuntu1 Architecture: amd64 DKMSKernelVersion: 3.13.0-2-generic Date: Sun Jan 12 01:28:35 2014 InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-11-03 (69 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Release amd64 (20131016.1) PackageVersion: 331.20-0ubuntu9 SourcePackage: nvidia-graphics-drivers-331-updates Title: nvidia-331-updates 331.20-0ubuntu9: nvidia-331-updates kernel module failed to build UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2013-12-29 (13 days ago) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nvidia-graphics-drivers-331/+bug/1268257/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
