Custom drivers and patch support!

[Stalkkaaja]

I really hope we can get a way to add our own drivers and maybe even patches to Unraid without having to build our own kernels OR maybe get a easy to use tool for building a custom kernel using Unraid GUI. This should be like a plugin system so community could add new drivers and rate them.

 

Right now I’m running the latest stable build BUT with custom kernel(someone here in forums shared this lovely build) with patches for navi reset bug and ryzen usb patch in order to passthrough my usb chipset to Win10 VM(This was broken after I upgraded from 1700X to 3900X).

 

But now that I finally have a working build for daily Workstation use, I can’t add any extra drivers for passing through Nvidia drivers for Plex docker(HW transcode) or DVB drivers for Plex live TV either.
 

Maybe there is something I’m missing but in order to add those drivers, my only option is to learn how to build my own kernel? This is so old school that having a better way should be a priority I think...

[testdasi]

Setting up a Linux VM with remote access isn't too hard so you can build Unraid in the VM instead.

Building in Unraid is unlikely to be implemented any time soon officially due to the need to keep Unraid as light as possible, which runs contrary to the number of additional packages required to support building within Unraid.

 

[Stalkkaaja]

Sure, building that kernel is possible in Linux VM but having a simple plugin for building that same kernel would be even better. Sadly, I have no experience on compiling in Linux... Just like I can manually do the same thing as VFIO-PCI plugin but using that plugin is simply faster, easier and much more noob friendly. 

 

What is the main reason for Unraid having to be as light as possible? I doubt anyone is running out of space on their USB sticks... But if so, having two different versions of Unraid could help as well. The normal... And the other one with tons of extra drivers.

[itimpi]

36 minutes ago, Stalkkaaja said:

Sure, building that kernel is possible in Linux VM but having a simple plugin for building that same kernel would be even better. Sadly, I have no experience on compiling in Linux... Just like I can manually do the same thing as VFIO-PCI plugin but using that plugin is simply faster, easier and much more noob friendly. 

 

What is the main reason for Unraid having to be as light as possible? I doubt anyone is running out of space on their USB sticks... But if so, having two different versions of Unraid could help as well. The normal... And the other one with tons of extra drivers.

Unraid runs from RAM so including all the development tools required to support compiling drivers would significantly increase the footprint.

[Stalkkaaja]

Ah, ok... I thought the needed drivers could be just loaded during boot and therefore ram usage wouldn't change that much. Thanks for clarifying!

[itimpi]

26 minutes ago, Stalkkaaja said:

Ah, ok... I thought the needed drivers could be just loaded during boot and therefore ram usage wouldn't change that much. Thanks for clarifying!

It is not the loading the drivers that is an issue, but generating them in the first place

 

A secondary issue is that Unraid tends to be on the latest Linux kernels, and Limetech have frequently mentioned that they have trouble getting drivers to even build against the latest kernels.    The hardware manufacturers tend to concentrate on their Windows drivers and so the Linux drivers are second-rate citizens in terms of getting updates for new kernels.

[bonienl]

You have to see Unraid as an all-in-one solution, or appliance which comes with all the necessary tools.

 

Limetech makes sure that drivers included in the package, do run with the given Linux kernel version.

 

When a particular driver isn't included, it is always possible to make a request to get it included (provided it exists and compiles with the kernel)