====== Building nVidia 173xx legacy kernel with Debian module assistant ======

I have an ageing nVidia GeForce FX 5600XT. Support for this was recently dropped from the mainstream nVidia driver package, and relegated to ''legacy 173xx''.

This caused one minor problem. I build my own nVidia kernel module using ''module-assistant'', (''m-a''). Right now this doesn't have an entry in its module list for the 173xx legacy module.

I added one in by adding ''nvidia-kernel-legacy-173xx-source'' to ''/usr/share/modass/compliant.list''. The package description in the ''m-a'' selection list doesn't say legacy, but the package name does.

Today (28/4/09) I hit a problem. I couldn't rebuild the kernel module using ''m-a''. I hit the problem described in [[http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=523024|Debian bug 523024]]. Bafflingly, though, that bug was marked fixed, and I had the source package with the fix.

I eventually found that, although ''m-a'' said it was unpacking the new archive, the source being build at ''/usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel-legacy-173xx/'' remained the old source. I ''rm -r /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel-legacy-173xx'' and tried ''m-a'' again. This time the kernel package built properly. Phew!