Is 590.44.01 beta?

[lahwaacz]

A question related to #982: the list of releases on GitHub indicates that 590.44.01 is a normal/stable release, but the page for closed-source driver has a BETA label. So what is the state of the open GPU kernel module release?

[Binary-Eater]

590.44.01 is a beta release.

[lahwaacz]

So CUDA 13.1, which requires >=590.44.01, is a beta release too?

[Binary-Eater]

CUDA and graphics tend to be somewhat disjoint on their releases. I cannot answer with certainty but my suspicion is that for CUDA 13.1 related applications, the CUDA team has qualified that driver for release usage. However, for graphics and display, we consider this driver a beta release.

[lahwaacz]

However, for graphics and display, we consider this driver a beta release.

As the driver is a single software package, it can be classified as stable/beta only as a whole.

Historically for at least a few years back, every major and minor CUDA release has required a beta driver as of the release date. This situation is not ideal, because it prevents to deploy new CUDA in environments that require only stable software and depending on a beta driver brings doubts about the whole CUDA toolkit. Technically, we can't use one driver for CUDA and another driver for graphics and display in the same environment/system.

Please work on clarifying the stability status of the CUDA toolkit and potentially improving the release coordination between the CUDA and driver teams.