nvidia driver and linux kernel compatibility

English Hardware
1

The official nvidia 384.111 works with Linux 4.14.12;
I know about the tumbleweed nvidia driver:
I don’t use it because of tearing with OpenBox / Chromium.

I’m wondering if 384.111 will work with 4.14.13,
or more specifically if there is a way of knowing
if they will be compatible before a zypper dup.

What is it about kernel updates that breaks compatibility?

2

I found:

“From time to time, a new kernel release changes the internal ABI for drivers, which means all drivers that use those ABIs must be changed accordingly.”

3

Here is seemingly a quicker way to check for (or follow) new driver releases:

https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/533434/linux/current-graphics-driver-releases/

4

From Nvidia support: “Yes, 384.111 will work with linux kernel 4.14.13”

5

Kernel change logs:

https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/
https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/ChangeLog-4.14.13

https://kernelnewbies.org/LinuxVersions

6

Note that it’s actually 4.14.14 now.
https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-factory/2018-01/msg00429.html

I just completed a zypper dup and confirm 384.111 works with 4.14.14

However, directly after zypper dup and reboot,
I did experience the problem stated here:
https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/529179-after-update-GUI-login-won-t-load-and-CLI-login-flickers-constantly

This was solved by pressing ‘e’ at grub and adding ‘3’ after ‘nomodset’ (apparently unrelated) as suggested.