Inaccurate and outdated info on main site

[LewisR]

Hi, all...

Not sure if the is the appropriate venue, but after spending a half hour searching the Oracle site for the proper place to send web feedback (geez, at Novell, every page has a page-specific feedback link), and a chat session with customer service (who told me that he would have to research the appropriate team), I figured I'd post here, as well.

The bottom of https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads indicates that DKMS (incorrectly referenced in lowercase on the site) is not available for SUSE Linux, although it has been for years (at the Packman repo):

Repository: Packman Repository
Name: dkms
Version: 2.2.0.3-15.1
Arch: noarch
Vendor: http://packman.links2linux.de
Installed: No
Status: not installed
Installed Size: 210.9 KiB
Summary: Dynamic Kernel Module Support Framework
Description:
This package contains the framework for the Dynamic
Kernel Module Support (DKMS) method for installing
module RPMS as originally developed by Dell.

The related issue is that the Contact link at the bottom of each page simply goes to the main Oracle VBox product page, and not anywhere near "contact" for any VBox-related team.

Not to knock Oracle (hey, I'm a business partner, consultant, and reseller!), but for a company with a web feedback platform (Oracle RightNow Feedback Cloud Service), it is nearly impossible to find their own feedback system.

[frank]

While DKMS might be available in a 3rd-party repository it is not part of the regular openSUSE repository. We had very bad experiences with DKMS packages from 3rd-parties, therefore we do not recommend installing such packages.

The next major update will remove the DKMS support entirely. We have a couple of tickets open from user complaining that their installation is broken. In most cases it turns out that the DKMS package they used is from a 3rd-party repository.

[frank]

Oh, and I still think that 'dkms' is correct when referring to the package name of the respective Linux distribution in contrast to DKMS when talking about the 'Dynamic Kernel Module Support' framework.

[LewisR]

Thanks for following up, Frank. Please understan that my intent is not to be argumentative or to nitpick.

While DKMS might be available in a 3rd-party repository it is not part of the regular openSUSE repository. We had very bad experiences with DKMS packages from 3rd-parties, therefore we do not recommend installing such packages.

With all due respect, the text on the page says:

Users of Fedora/Mandriva might want to install the dkms package (not available on openSUSE)

The package is available on openSUSE, albeit from a well-known, respected, third-party repo (Packman). Another statement pertaining to concerns over installing packages from third parties (like Oracle? - LOL) would be a different matter, and perhaps is in order.

If support for DKMS is planned to be discontinued, that's a separate note. Personally, I've not had any issues, but as we know, systems differ. Again, my intent is not to nitpick. We all have more important things to do.

Oh, and I still think that 'dkms' is correct when referring to the package name of the respective Linux distribution in contrast to DKMS when talking about the 'Dynamic Kernel Module Support' framework.

I can cede that point; fair enough (zypper in dkms seems to work just fine).

Cheers

[loukingjr]

FWIW, the Packman repo is not present in a standard install of OpenSUSE so "(not available on openSUSE)" is correct.

[LewisR]

FWIW, the Packman repo is not present in a standard install of OpenSUSE so "(not available on openSUSE)" is correct.

I do not agree at all. The preposition is wrong, in that case: not available in openSUSE would imply not available in the distribution at the time of install. Not available on openSUSE is akin to not available for openSUSE, which is incorrect, as it certainly is available for running on openSUSE as it has been built for openSUSE (though not in openSUSE as distributed by the Project).

The wording should be changed, in any case. The package is available for installation on openSUSE as well as other platforms, though it may be bundled with the others at the time of install and/or made available through their official repositories, whereas the openSUSE wiki provides guidance for adding the Packman repo for additional software. The point is that openSUSE is not somehow deficient, and it can be just as convenient to install and upgrade VirtualBox on openSUSE as on any other mainline Linux distro.

[loukingjr]

If that were the case then for every distro one would have to say anything may be available if you look.

we can agree to disagree.

[LewisR]

Fair enough, Lou!

Cheers

[loukingjr]

Cheers.

FWIW, if they just deleted the phrase, "(not available on OpenSUSE)", then we would have lots of users asking "Where the heck is dkms? It's not in the repos!"

Have a good one.