By Darryl Linington
Publication Date: 2026-02-18 13:32:00
Nvidia has posted a new recommended (production branch) Linux display driver: 580.126.18. On Nvidia’s Unix driver page, 580.126.18 is now listed as the latest Production Branch release, alongside newer feature and beta tracks.
In other words, this isn’t a feature-heavy milestone driver. It’s a maintenance-style update aimed at keeping Nvidia’s proprietary Linux stack building and installing cleanly as the kernel evolves.
What’s new in 580.126.18
As per third-party coverage citing Nvidia’s release notes, 580.126.18 is essentially a one-line change: it fixes a kernel module build issue with Linux kernel v6.19.
That matters because Nvidia’s driver relies on kernel modules that must compile (either during installation from Nvidia’s .run installer, or via your distro’s DKMS workflow). When the kernel changes an internal interface, out-of-tree modules like Nvidia’s can fail to build until the vendor patches compatibility.
Who does this affect most?
If you’re on a rolling-release distro or bleeding-edge kernel
Users on distributions that ship kernels quickly (or people manually jumping to newer kernels) are the most likely to hit module build breakage first. If you’ve moved to kernel 6.19 and your Nvidia driver install/update suddenly fails while compiling modules, 580.126.18 is the targeted fix.
If you rely on DKMS rebuilds during kernel updates
Many distros rebuild the Nvidia kernel module automatically when a new kernel lands. If a DKMS rebuild…
