GA Kernel Modules Rebuilding at Every Boot / Removed at Reboot, Shutdown

Discussions about using Linux guests in VirtualBox.
chrisretusn
Posts: 17
Joined: 4. May 2020, 17:07

Re: GA Kernel Modules Rebuilding at Every Boot / Removed at Reboot, Shutdown

Post by chrisretusn »

fth0 wrote:The vboxadd shell script contains an internal function named "info()", which is used "all over the place" to generate the messages you've already screenshotted and marked yellow. I just tried to use layman terms when writing "info statements".
Takes a look... ah I found it... might be useful to add additional clues to see were I am in the script.
I'm curious what you'll find out, please let us know. :)
I will. I was truly hoping there would be something already. Oh well, guess I'll be learning how this works.
fth0
Volunteer
Posts: 5668
Joined: 14. Feb 2019, 03:06
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Linux, Windows 10, ...
Location: Germany

Re: GA Kernel Modules Rebuilding at Every Boot / Removed at Reboot, Shutdown

Post by fth0 »

chrisretusn wrote:Oh well, guess I'll be learning how this works.
I can perhaps help you with interpreting the results, if you tell me what's happening in vboxadd in your guest.

FWIW, in my Linux Mint guests the GA kernel modules are not removed when shutting down, and I haven't read similar complaints from other users. But since Slackware is not that common any more, it's possible that more/all Slackware users are affected.
chrisretusn
Posts: 17
Joined: 4. May 2020, 17:07

Re: GA Kernel Modules Rebuilding at Every Boot / Removed at Reboot, Shutdown

Post by chrisretusn »

fth0 wrote:I can perhaps help you with interpreting the results, if you tell me what's happening in vboxadd in your guest.

FWIW, in my Linux Mint guests the GA kernel modules are not removed when shutting down, and I haven't read similar complaints from other users. But since Slackware is not that common any more, it's possible that more/all Slackware users are affected.
Thanks.

What is weird, now when I exit the guest it no longer (at least the last few uses) removes the drivers.

As for other Slackware users, I posted about this problem before on the Slackware forum, no one is having this issue, even those who use the blob installer like me.

I am trying to think the best way to troubleshoot this. I am thinking of disabling the scripts in init.d so they do not start at boot up then do it manually and step it though.
chrisretusn
Posts: 17
Joined: 4. May 2020, 17:07

Re: GA Kernel Modules Rebuilding at Every Boot / Removed at Reboot, Shutdown

Post by chrisretusn »

I have not abandon this. I just have not had time to trouble shoot this effectively. One thing for certain is the issue is in the vboxadd script in /etc/init.d.
buddman014
Posts: 1
Joined: 18. Aug 2022, 16:49

Re: GA Kernel Modules Rebuilding at Every Boot / Removed at Reboot, Shutdown

Post by buddman014 »

I am seeing this same issue with my Slackware 14.2 32 bit guest. Have you made any progress?
chrisretusn
Posts: 17
Joined: 4. May 2020, 17:07

Re: GA Kernel Modules Rebuilding at Every Boot / Removed at Reboot, Shutdown

Post by chrisretusn »

No. Unfortunately troubleshoot this take a bit of time. It's on my to do list.

I am glad I am not alone on this problem. I posted about it on the Slackware Forum (linuxquestions.org), no one else seem to be having this issue. It could be many are not using the Guest Additions. I have three Slackware virtual machines installed; Slackware64-current, Slackware64-15.0 and a Slackware64-current with Guest Additions installed.
kleinmeister
Posts: 1
Joined: 22. Mar 2023, 11:34

Re: GA Kernel Modules Rebuilding at Every Boot / Removed at Reboot, Shutdown

Post by kleinmeister »

Quick update from my end including a workaround. I faced the same issue on different Linux guests since quiet some time, so I started diggin into this more closely. It happens on Linux if no GUI gets installed (Server style setups). Even with this issue the guest works, but you face higher needless load during startup of your guest.

In the vboxadd script you have the following content to gather the installed version of the GA:
(/opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-7.0.7/init/vboxadd)
...
# Attempt to detect VirtualBox Guest Additions version and revision information.
VBOXCLIENT="${INSTALL_DIR}/bin/VBoxClient"
VBOX_VERSION="`"$VBOXCLIENT" --version | cut -d r -f1`"
[ -n "$VBOX_VERSION" ] || VBOX_VERSION='unknown'
VBOX_REVISION="r`"$VBOXCLIENT" --version | cut -d r -f2`"
[ "$VBOX_REVISION" != "r" ] || VBOX_REVISION='unknown'
...

Manual executed, the output is (Oracle Linux 9.1):
/opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-7.0.7/bin/VBoxClient --version
/opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-7.0.7/bin/VBoxClient: error while loading shared libraries: libX11.so.6: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
So instead of the version you get an error.

Since every VBox command has the version parameter I easily changed it to one which works without the requirement of an graphical User interface:
/opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-7.0.7/bin/VBoxControl --version
7.0.7r156262

To avoid the boot utilization problem you only need to adjust the vboxadd script to:
VBOXCLIENT="${INSTALL_DIR}/bin/VBoxControl"

Now your issue should be solved, at least it works on my end (till I install updated GAs, then I need to repeat this activity)

I hope this helps also others.
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