How to install BlackMagic driver for 4.2.0 Linux kernel

I was trying to install BlackMagic driver on newest Ubuntu 15.10 (64bit) but was stuck with error messages:

Setting up desktopvideo (10.5a17) ... Preparing new blackmagic driver for 4.2.0-16-generic kernel... Adding to DKMS Building (failed) Preparing new blackmagic-io driver for 4.2.0-16-generic kernel... Adding to DKMS Building (failed) Loading modules... Enabling systemd services... DesktopVideoHelper Starting systemd services... DesktopVideoHelper ********* Failed to build driver(s) Possible causes: 1. Driver is incompatible with your kernel version 2. Kernel headers/gcc/make/etc. is not installed 3. Kernel header version does not match the running kernel (4.2.0-16-generic) Error messages: dkms build -m blackmagic -v 10.5a17 --- Kernel preparation unnecessary for this kernel. Skipping... Building module: cleaning build area.... make KERNELRELEASE=4.2.0-16-generic KERNELRELEASE=4.2.0-16-generic.....(bad exit status: 2) Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 4.2.0-16-generic (x86_64) Consult /var/lib/dkms/blackmagic/10.5a17/build/make.log for more information. dkms build -m blackmagic-io -v 10.5a17 --- Kernel preparation unnecessary for this kernel. Skipping... Building module: cleaning build area.... make KERNELRELEASE=4.2.0-16-generic KERNELRELEASE=4.2.0-16-generic....(bad exit status: 2) ERROR: Cannot create report: [Errno 17] File exists: '/var/crash/desktopvideo.0.crash' Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 4.2.0-16-generic (x86_64) Consult /var/lib/dkms/blackmagic-io/10.5a17/build/make.log for more information. 

Is there some way to install on newer Linux kernel?

1 Answer

Here a short procedure for patching the BlackMagic 10.5 drivers to work on 64-bit Debian systems with 4.2.x kernels:

1. Download and unpack the drivers. (Blackmagic_Desktop_Video_Linux_10.5.tar.gz)
2. sudo apt-get install git if it isn't there already.
3. cd Blackmagic_Desktop_Video_Linux_10.5/deb/amd64
4. Patch the deb using fakeroot and driver code from Github:

 fakeroot sh -c ' mkdir tmp; dpkg-deb -R desktopvideo_10.5a17_amd64.deb tmp; cd tmp/usr/src; git clone rm -rf blackmagic-10.5a17/ && mv blackmagic blackmagic-10.5a17/; git clone rm -rf blackmagic-io-10.5a17/ && mv blackmagic-io blackmagic-io-10.5a17/; cd ../../../; dpkg-deb -b tmp desktopvideo_10.5a17_amd64-patched.deb; ' 

5. sudo dpkg -i desktopvideo_10.5a17_amd64-patched.deb
6. Continue with the rest of the installation as normal.

Credit @iperry for the driver patch.