NVIDIA Has A New "Long-Lived" Linux Driver

NVIDIA has created a new branch of their proprietary Linux graphics driver. This new driver is for the "long-lived" series. The purpose of this series is to provide just bug-fixes and other minor updates for non-legacy hardware. In other words, like their legacy drivers where they just receive minor updates, but for those just wanting these fixes for newer hardware while not exposing any new functionality.

Aaron Plattner mentioned the new long-lived driver series in this NvNews.net thread and made the following comment:

275.28 released as the current long-lived branch release.

This is a new category of releases, so I think it needs a little explanation. We've started maintaining longer-lived release branches that only take critical or low-risk fixes. These releases are intended for users of non-legacy GPUs who don't necessarily need the latest and greatest features. If you've ever used Ubuntu's LTS releases, these should be a similar idea.