Hi,

I am trying to install Virtual Box (3.9.8) on my Linux (MEPIS 8.0 - debian based) desktop.

It looks like DKMS (Dynamic Kernel Module Support) is either a required or recommended package. Unfortunately, it is not in synaptic when I search.

Elsewhere online, I found "dkms-2.0.22.0.tar.gz" version and saved it, but I have no idea how to use / install it. I did find a "man page" online (http://linux.dell.com/dkms/manpage.html) but do not understand it.

A quick LQ search yielded some interesting but irrelevant threads. A quick google search yielded little more than the previously mentioned "man page".

I need to install this package, whether it is from synaptic or elsewhere.

Could someone point me in the right direction? If something is not in synaptic, then I am really a fish out of water.

Any suggestions, resources, etc would be great.

Thanks!

Did you use the "m-a prepare" step detailed on MEPIS WIKI? That step may load the dkms package, amongst others including build-essential.

You may also find some insight at Linux Chronicles.

BTW, VirtualBox has just gone to 3.0.3 so your 3.9.8 looks strange.

Oopps...no it is not 3.9.8 - that was another package I was working.

Yes, it is 3.0.4.

No, I actually never heard of those 2 resources you linked. I will certainly check them out.

Thanks!

Catkin, et al:

I checked those links. However, I still need to learn how to use the

dkms-2.0.22.0.tar.gz

file I downloaded.

Though not required, this file will supposedly rebuild the kernel if I update my host. I am sure months or years down the road, that would be helpful.

Since I could find dkms in synaptic, I searched for the tar.gz version and found it. Unfortunately, I don't know how to "run" files in the "tar.gz" version.

Do you know of any tutorials, etc I could read and learn?

No but here's a typical procedure which may help you find some:Prudent to check the man page to see what those debuild options do.

I will do so. Thank you again for your help.

Update:

Unfortunately, I can not find DKMS in synaptic or apt-get. However, I did find the tar version (dkms-2.0.22.0.tar.gz) and successfully "untared" it to my directory.

Unfortunately, I got stuck at the next step (configure). Here is my terminal input / output:

Virtual@mepis1:~$ cd DOWNLOADED
Virtual@mepis1:~/DOWNLOADED$ cd dkms-2.0.22.0
Virtual@mepis1:~/DOWNLOADED/dkms-2.0.22.0$ ./configure
bash: ./configure: No such file or directory
Virtual@mepis1:~/DOWNLOADED/dkms-2.0.22.0$

I don't understand that message. Could someone explain?

For clarification, I went into the "README" DKMS file and noticed this:

2. Installation via DKMS Tarballs
##################################

DKMS is not limited to installation via RPM only. In fact, DKMS can also
install directly from the following:

a. Generic module source tarballs which contain a dkms.conf file
b. Specially created DKMS tarballs with module source, pre-built module
binaries and a dkms.conf file
c. Specially created DKMS tarballs with pre-built module binaries and a
dkms.conf file
d. Manual placement of module source and dkms.conf file into
/usr/src/<module>-<moduleversion>/ directory

In order to load any tarball into the DKMS tree, you must use the following
command:

dkms ldtarball --archive=/path/to/dkms_enabled.tar.gz

This command will first inspect the tarball to ensure that it contains a
dkms.conf configuration file for that module. If it cannot find this file
anywhere within the archive, then the ldtarball will fail.

From here, it will place the source in the tarball into /usr/src/<module>-
<moduleversion>/. If source already exists in the directory, it will not
overwrite it unless the --force option is specified. If the tarball is of type
"c" above and does not contain source, it will only continue to load the
tarball if existing module source is found in /usr/src/<module>-<moduleversion>/
or if the --force option is specified.

Continuing on, if the tarball is of type "b" or "c" it will then load any
pre-built binaries found within the tarball into the dkms tree, but will stop
short of installing them. Thus, all pre-built binaries will then be of in the
"built" state when checked from the `dkms status` command. You can then use the
`dkms install` command to install any of these binaries.

To create a tarball of type "a" above, you need only to take module source and a
dkms.conf file for that module and create a tarball from them. Tarballs of
type "b" or type "c" are created with the `dkms mktarball` command. To create
a type "c" tarball, you must specify the flag --binaries-only with the
mktarball.

Would any of that be relevant?

Unfortunately, this project very quickly became too technical for me to understand. However, I do now know that I need / want DKMS before doing anything else.

I would appreciate any insight.

Thanks.

dkms is a convenience (although you may not think so right now!) rather than a necessity. It should (TM) not be necessary for the installation and is only used after installation to compile the VBox kernel module when the kernel is changed.

Netsearching did not turn up any dkms build HOWTOs. That suggests that few people do so -- if it's not available as a package for a distro then it's not convenient (!) and people probably just manually build the VBox kernel module.

Page 22 of the VBox User Manual (for version 3) gives an outline procedure.

Regards what you quoted from the README, I don't know what it means. I find that the case with all the DELL technical documentation!

catkin,

Thanks so much for your input!

When I tried doing
sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
it is showing this message
Now when I opened the log file it is showing this error

[Quote]
Uninstalling modules from DKMS
removing old DKMS module vboxhost version 3.2.12

------------------------------
Deleting module version: 3.2.12
completely from the DKMS tree.
------------------------------
Done.
Attempting to install using DKMS

Creating symlink /var/lib/dkms/vboxhost/3.2.12/source ->
/usr/src/vboxhost-3.2.12

DKMS: add Completed.
You can use the --kernelsourcedir option to tell DKMS where it's located.
Failed to install using DKMS, attempting to install without
Makefile:159: *** Error: unable to find the sources of your current Linux kernel. Specify KERN_DIR=<directory> and run Make again. Stop.
Can you tell me how to make this work.I'd grealy appreciate it,thanks [/[QUOTE]
I am completely blank on how to make this work.Can someone recommend me on how to make all this thing work.Thanks in advance.
And also can someone tell me what exactly does "--kernelsourcedir option to tell DKMS where it's located " mean?

Can you make it clear on what exactly do you mean by that statement.I am a newbie in linux and I cant understand Jargons.Can you tell me what do I need to do here.I have the same error and I am quoting my log file which is similar to the guy above facing the same problem.It is

Quote:

Uninstalling modules from DKMS removing old DKMS module vboxhost version 3.2.12 ------------------------------ Deleting module version: 3.2.12 completely from the DKMS tree. ------------------------------ Done. Attempting to install using DKMS Creating symlink /var/lib/dkms/vboxhost/3.2.12/source -> /usr/src/vboxhost-3.2.12 DKMS: add Completed. You can use the --kernelsourcedir option to tell DKMS where it's located. Failed to install using DKMS, attempting to install without Makefile:159: *** Error: unable to find the sources of your current Linux kernel. Specify KERN_DIR=<directory> and run Make again. Stop.

Thanks

cybermeid, please start a new thread and tell us which distro (version of Linux) you are using. Sounds as if you need to install the kernel source.