Arch Linux User Repository

There is no version dependency on this package on purpose! You could read comments back from 2011 to understand why.

When I install virtualbox-ext-oracle, then I get a strange error message:

$ LANG=C su -c "pacman -S virtualbox-ext-oracle"
Password: 
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (1) virtualbox-ext-oracle-7.2.2-1

Total Installed Size:  2.68 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y
:: Retrieving packages...
 virtualbox-ext-oracle-7.2.2-1-any is up to date
(1/1) checking keys in keyring                                                                                                 [############################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking package integrity                                                                                               [############################################################################] 100%
(1/1) loading package files                                                                                                    [############################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking for file conflicts                                                                                              [############################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking available disk space                                                                                            [############################################################################] 100%
:: Processing package changes...
(1/1) installing virtualbox-ext-oracle                                                                                         [############################################################################] 100%
VBoxManage: error: Manifest mismatch: 'linux.amd64/VBoxNvmeR0.r0' not found in the 2nd manifest
VBoxManage: error: Details: code NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005), component ExtPackFileWrap, interface IExtPackFile, callee nsISupports
VBoxManage: error: Context: "Install(fReplace, __null, ptrProgress.asOutParam())" at line 2116 of file VBoxManageMisc.cpp
error: command failed to execute correctly
Optional dependencies for virtualbox-ext-oracle
    rdesktop: client to connect vm via RDP [installed]
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/1) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...

According to pacman, the package got installed. Currently I have following virtualbox packages installed:

$ pacman -Q | grep virtualbox
virtualbox 7.2.2-1
virtualbox-ext-oracle 7.2.2-1
virtualbox-guest-iso 7.2.2-1
virtualbox-host-dkms 7.2.2-1

seblu this is the most optimal answer. However if you check the pkgbuild there is one set

depends=("virtualbox=${pkgver}")

This line should be changed to

depends=("virtualbox>=${pkgver}")

or even ideally just

depends=("virtualbox")

or even be removed altogether because it blocks pacman from upgrading completely when a new version of virtualbox is released. This one line causes pacman to require that this package be removed first before the upgrade to virtualbox (or indeed, the entire system) is allowed.

You say that the package has no version dependency, but this line causes one. If you do not want package dependency then you should comment this line out or remove it.

Hello,

As others started, the package should be changed.

The issue is the "${pkgver}" part in the line depends=("virtualbox=${pkgver}") inside the PKGBUILD file. That part is pinning this package to require a VirtualBox package with the same version number that this package has.

Rewriting that line to look like depends=(virtualbox) would fix the issue where this package requires a specific version of VirtualBox. That line just means a version of VirtualBox would need to be installed, but not which version.

Can someone please make this change so this package no longer requires a specific VirtualBox version to be installed?

Regards, Raansu

Please change the line depends=("virtualbox=${pkgver}") so it also supports newer versions of virtualbox.

The newer versions of virtualbox will still honor the older version of the extension. All this line does is causes virtualbox to not be able to upgrade for people unless the package is manually removed which is annoying.

Did this package break vboxusb? I feel like I'm losing my mind.

If someone wants to take over maintenance of this package, one could mark it as orphaned and petition to a transfer of ownership.

I genuinely don't understand why seblu is just straight up ignoring any and all solutions to fix the fact that this package does indeed have a hard version limit despite what the pinned comment says, and that because of that there is an unnecessary step to upgrading Arch that's a pain in the ass to do every single time VirtualBox gets an update.

The pinned comment says there is no version dependency, but there is a version dependency. I'm confused. Does there need to be a version dependency? I thought Virtualbox worked fine even if the extension was out of date just that it would eventually need updating?

For those wondering about how to upgrade despite the dependency conflicts between virtualbox and virtualbox-ext-oracle, I think this is the most straightforward solution: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/virtualbox-ext-oracle?O=10#comment-911127

Paraphrase: Force-install virtualbox first, ignoring dependency checks:

pacman -Sd virtualbox

Then, install virtualbox-ext-oracle with your favorite package manager.

Maybe instead of pinning a comment about searching through comments in 2011, we could pin an actual solution that most people will be looking for??? 🤔

Can you please move the dependency on virtualbox=${pkgver} to the package() function? As described here https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PKGBUILD#depends in the first paragraph, only dependencies that are needed to build and run should be defined globally and dependencies that are only needed to run should be defined in the package() function. This way we can build the package without having to remove the old Virtualbox package.