Intel Updates Its Linux Graphics Driver Installer

Intel has updated their "Linux Graphics Driver Installer" for making it easier to upgrade the Linux graphics stack on supported distributions.

Intel Open-Source Technology Center developers introduced the Intel Linux Graphics Driver Installer earlier in the year as a way of upgrading the Linux graphics driver for those not comfortable with pulling code from Git, building it out, etc.

Updating one component can mean needing to update the other components due to API/ABI breakage, new internal dependencies, or not being able to have full hardware support / functionality without updating all pieces of the puzzle. When upgrading the entire Linux kernel, that can also be a big issue since it affects all areas of the system for potential breakage or regression and just not the graphics driver.

As I wrote about this installer when it was first introduced, "The components hosted within the Intel driver repository is a new kernel or i915 DKMS module, Mesa, xf86-video-intel, libva, vaapi-driver, cairo, llvm-libs, libwayland, and libdrm. So unfortunately this installer isn't anything original to fundamentally improve the open-source Linux graphics driver stack by making it easier to update/install the open-source Intel Linux GPU driver. Already for distributions like Fedora and Ubuntu there are commonly independent third party repositories (or Ubuntu Personal Package Archives) for fetching these updated graphics components post-release. What Intel has now provided is just a convenient installer for setting up those repositories and then updating to the new components in a distribution-specific manner. If you're not on a Fedora or Ubuntu based operating system, you're out of luck with this installer or if you're on a derivative using a different kernel release where the DKMS module would be unsupported or break."

Intel Linux Graphics Installer 1.0.2 is the new release from yesterday and it targets the 32-bit and 64-bit releases of Ubuntu 13.04 and Fedora 19. That's it in the way of official support.

The Intel Linux Graphics Installer 1.0.2 ships the Intel "2013Q2" stack, which is the Linux 3.9.5 kernel, Mesa 9.1.3, xf86-video-intel 2.21.9, libdrm 2.4.45, libva 1.2.1, VAAPI-driver-intel 1.2.0, Cairo 1.12.14, and X.Org Server 1.14.0.

An alternative method to this Intel-only installer for Ubuntu Linux desktop users is for any open-source Linux graphics driver user being able to use Oibaf's updated/optimized driver PPA. Additionally there's xorg-edgers. Having this 2013Q2 graphics stack for Fedora 19 is also a bit nonsensical when it ships with the more bleeding edge Mesa 9.2-devel.

Those wishing to download the Intel Linux Graphics Driver Installer or to learn additional information can visit their 01.org site.