Neither my akmod-nvidia works, nor dkms for VirtualBox

[DennyCrane]

Failed :-/

[robatino]

How, exactly? Were you running the newest kernel or an older one when you updated to VB 2.1.2, and what happens when you boot into a different kernel? What is the output of

dkms status

?

[robatino]

One possibly important thing I forgot to mention is that I disabled graphical boot by removing "rhgb" from my grub.conf file. This allows me to see the lines on bootup where the modules actually get built. If you're using graphical boot, the only way you may be able to tell is with the "dkms status" command.

Edit: Or seeing if VirtualBox prompts you to run the "/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup" command manually, which should never happen if dkms is working properly.

[DennyCrane]

I believe that I updated VirtualBox on the 22nd (it came out on the 21st). At that time, I am pretty sure I had the same kernel version I have now, which is 2.6.27.9.

I tested by booting into the oldest kernel I have. I did see the line about it failing (because my akmod-nvidia doesn't work either, remember? )

There is no output for dkms status

[robatino]

Oh well. Anyway, does the manual "/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup" command work?

[DennyCrane]

I assume so. That command has always worked for me manually.

I think my computer is just cursed. I'm planning to build a new one sometime over the next few months.

[Evil_Bert]

Evening Gents,

IMHO, you shouldn't have to re-install VirtualBox (or dkms for that matter) to get this working.

I have VirtualBox 2.1.2 (x86_64 rpm for fc9) on my x86_64 F10 system. I installed dkms from the Fedora repo *after* VirtualBox and had only blank output from "dkms status". However, this is to be expected, since I hadn't yet told dkms to manage those modules.

When VirtualBox was installed, as well as the usual array of binaries, libraries, docs and configuration files, it also loaded source code for the vboxdrv and vboxnetflt kernel modules and a dkms.conf file for each (in case the user chooses to use dkms) - specifically (assuming the default locations):

/usr/share/virtualbox/src/vboxdrv/dkms.conf (with symlink in /usr/src/vboxdrv-2.1.2/ )
/usr/share/virtualbox/src/vboxnetflt/dkms.conf (with symlink in /usr/src/vboxnetflt-2.1.2/ )

These files tell dkms what to do for the respective module, if invoked.

But, you have to tell dkms to manage those modules, which is achieved through the "dkms add ..." command, e.g. to build single modules for the currently running kernel (on F10, all files, or their symlinks, appear to be in the default locations, so no other parameters are needed):

su -
dkms add -m vboxdrv -v 2.1.2
dkms add -m vboxnetflt -v 2.1.2

Optionally, you could run the corresponding "dkms build ..." step, but there's no need. On the next reboot, dkms will attempt to do the "build" and "install" steps for the current kernel - it will build correctly but will error out at the "install" step since you already have correct versions installed (it should actually tell you that a "newer" version already exists for each module) - this is correct in this situation.

You can test that the "install" step works as well (if you really want) by booting into an earlier kernel - you should see dkms build and install the vboxdrv and vboxnetflt modules correctly ... but, when you reboot back into your current kernel, you'll still get the same error messages, so that's rather pointless, IMHO.

For the least amount of worry, just ignore the error messages and wait until the next kernel update to watch dkms work its magic.

For more, see file /usr/share/doc/dkms-<version>/README.dkms, and, of course:

man dkms

BTW, you need compiler/make programs installed as well:

yum install gcc make automake

My results ....

After running "dkms add ..." for my modules, I get:

[username@localhost ~]# dkms status
vboxdrv, 2.1.2: added 
vboxnetflt, 2.1.2: added

After the next reboot I get:

[username@localhost ~]$ dkms status
vboxdrv, 2.1.2, 2.6.27.12-170.2.5.fc10.x86_64, x86_64: built 
vboxnetflt, 2.1.2, 2.6.27.12-170.2.5.fc10.x86_64, x86_64: built

I do get the expected error messages during boot about "newer" modules already being installed.

I've checked that VirtualBox still runs my VMs after all the above (with both earlier and current kernels) and all is well.

HTH

[DennyCrane]

[post deleted]

[Evil_Bert]

If a dkms-aware RPM is installed, and it includes all the source files and a valid dkms.conf for each module, and dkms was installed before the .rpm file, and you have the compiler packages installed, and there are no errors in the dkms calls made by the .rpm file during installation, and everything is in its default locations (or switches are included for other locations) and nothing else is wrong, then, yes, there should be no configuration required.

Otherwise, using "dkms add ..." should fix it.

[robatino]

Originally Posted by iamvoyager

Gnarly. I'll try that ... though I've already been told by several people that no configuration was necessary. Oh well.

I didn't know any better, since the tiny bit I know about dkms was learned by trial and error on my own system. I happened to have the Software Development group of packages installed, which includes gcc, make, and automake. Upon running "rpm -q --requires dkms", I see that those aren't dependencies for dkms, so I was just lucky in that regard. The fact that everything in F10 is in the default locations helped too, since I didn't know about that either. Sorry about that.

Evil_Bert: If the gcc, make, automake, and dkms packages are all installed in F10 _before_ VirtualBox, does this eliminate the need for any further configuration? I probably won't be using dkms to manage any other modules in the near future and until then, it'll be easier for me to just remember to install VirtualBox after everything else. But thanks anyway for the comprehensive info.

Edit: Never mind, it looks like you already answered my question in the affirmative.