when dkms is installed, installing either host or guest additions for kernel >= 3.5.0 removes /usr/src/kernels/*/System.map file for corresponding kernel-devel package

[Andre Robatino]

The summary line should be pretty self-explanatory. I noticed the problem due to the fact that the missing System.map file prevents the deltarpm from the old to new kernel-devel package from being used, so the full package must be downloaded. Comparing rpm -V output with dkms installed vs. not installed, the only difference is one line indicating the missing System.map file when dkms is installed. There is a huge amount of output like

.......T. /usr/src/kernels/3.5.2-1.fc17.x86_64/Kconfig .......T. /usr/src/kernels/3.5.2-1.fc17.x86_64/arch/Kconfig .......T. /usr/src/kernels/3.5.2-1.fc17.x86_64/arch/alpha/Kconfig .......T. /usr/src/kernels/3.5.2-1.fc17.x86_64/arch/alpha/Kconfig.debug .......T. /usr/src/kernels/3.5.2-1.fc17.x86_64/arch/alpha/Makefile .......T. /usr/src/kernels/3.5.2-1.fc17.x86_64/arch/alpha/boot/Makefile .......T. /usr/src/kernels/3.5.2-1.fc17.x86_64/arch/alpha/kernel/Makefile

etc. where only the mtime differs. This output exists even after a reinstall of kernel-devel, so appears to have nothing to do with VirtualBox. I don't know if that's normal. In any case, it obviously makes it hard to notice things like missing files.

[Andre Robatino]

Note that the mtime output for rpm -V kernel-devel happens even on older kernels. The only thing that seems to have changed with >= 3.5.0 is the missing System.map file.

[Andre Robatino]

The mtime changes are a known Fedora issue - see ​https://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/devel/2012-August/170977.html and ​https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=826707 .

[sergiomb]

VirtualBox 4.1.18 compiles fine with kernels 3.5

You may install VirtualBox-guest-4.1.18-1.fc17.x86_64 from rpmfusion and if you find any problem, you should report it on ​https://bugzilla.rpmfusion.org/

Please help us on rpmfusion and test our package.

[Andre Robatino]

It appears that kernel-devel's System.map is identical to the corresponding file in /boot, which is owned by kernel (for example, /boot/System.map-3.5.2-1.fc17.x86_64 and /usr/src/kernels/3.5.2-1.fc17.x86_64/System.map are identical, except for name and an mtime difference) so copying over the version in /boot is an easy workaround (easier than reinstalling kernel-devel which is what I've been doing).

[Frank Mehnert]

Sorry, but I don't think this bug is related to VirtualBox.

[Andre Robatino]

I filed ​https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=860529 against dkms in Fedora.