[Pkg-virtualbox-devel] Bug#798491: Non multiarch friendly Depends

[Adam Goldman]

Package: virtualbox
Version: 4.3.18-dfsg-3+deb8u3

Hi,

virtualbox 4.3.18-dfsg-3+deb8u3 has the following in Depends:
python (>= 2.7), python (<< 2.8), python2.7 . But this means that when 
installing virtualbox:amd64, the package management will also want 
python:amd64. I think Depends should actually have the following:
python:any (>= 2.7.5-5~), python:any (<< 2.8), python2.7:any . That way, 
it's possible to install VirtualBox on a 64-bit machine with 64-bit 
kernel and 32-bit Python interpreter.

The reason for installing the 64-bit version of VirtualBox is because 
the installed virtualbox package apparently has to match the kernel 
architecture. The 32-bit version will install, but starting an actual VM 
won't work on a 64-bit kernel.

The reason for sticking with the 32-bit version of Python is because 
there are other broken packages that don't have the :any in Depends, and 
as a result, switching to a 64-bit Python interpreter would require also 
switching over a whole bunch of other packages.

The reason for bumping the dependency from 2.7 to 2.7.5-5 is that 
2.7.5-5 is the first package version that had "Multi-Arch: allowed". The 
package version in jessie is 2.7.9-1, so I think a dep on >=2.7.5-5 is 
OK.

When I force installation of virtualbox:amd64 with python:i386, 
VirtualBox seems to work well.

-- Adam