Guest Additions build not finding kernel headers on slackware 14.1

[JeToJedno]

The Guest Additions iso for 4.3.8 does not find normally installed kernel headers on Slackware 14.1 and will only install if the full source has been downloaded and installed.

It's looking for the sources in /usr/src/linux/include and the headers are in /usr/include

Host os openSUSE 12.3 if that's relevant.

[Michael Thayer]

I'm not familiar with Slackware, but are you sure that is wrong behaviour? Most Linux distributions include a set of generic headers in /usr/include which do not exactly match the headers for the current kernel but are close enough for user space applications. These headers are not suitable for building kernel modules, as these must match the running kernel exactly, and need to be rebuilt if a different kernel is used, even if the versions are very close.

[Frank Mehnert]

Exactly, and the headers which are relevant for building kernel modules are actually located in

/lib/modules/`uname -r`/build

. Does this directory exist in your guest?

[galitsyn]

Additionally, could you please attach build log. Please also make sure:

• When you use default kernel - make sure kernel-headers package is installed.
• When you use custom kernel - make sure you installed kernel headers properly (simple copying files will not work):

mkdir -p /tmp/kernel-headers/usr
make INSTALL_HDR_PATH=/tmp/kernel-headers/usr headers_install
cd /tmp/kernel-headers
makepkg ../kernel-headers-version.txz
installpkg ../kernel-headers-version.txz

OR just

make headers_install

[aeichner]

Please reopen if still relevant with a recent VirtualBox release.