GDM crashes after systemd update 239.0 with Nvidia

Posted by: Robert 5 years, 9 months ago

After upgrading systemd to version 239.0 Gnomes display manager gdm crashes and thus no graphical output is available for everyone using the proprietary Nvidia graphics drivers.

Since Arch Linux has already shipped the systemd update the bug has been noted there and was reported upstream as well.

A workaround is to disable wayland in /etc/gdm/custom.conf.

/etc/gdm/custom.conf:
    WaylandEnable=false

Before this bug it was possible use Wayland with the Nvidia driver by forcing kernel mode setting on the kernel command line and adding nvidia modules to initramfs. An example on how to do this on EFI systems is shown below.

/boot/loader/entries/arch.conf
    options nvidia-drm.modeset=1