[Fixed] Error building the graphics driver module in RHEL 7.6 (#18093)

[snickersnack]

I think what you're trying to tell me, since at the time of this writing version 5.2.22 is the latest stable version of Virtualbox, and is the version that I am currently running, is that I will need to upgrade to an unstable version of Virtualbox, and then apply an unstable version of Virtualbox Guest Additions. I think I'll just live with not having mouse support until the code is a little more stable.

[socratis]

@snickersnack
You didn't even go to the Testbuilds page, did you? And if you did go, you didn't actually read what's writing in there, right? The test builds are not unstable. They're the next release, intermediates. Stable code enough that tickets against a test build are accepted. Not so with the Development Snapshots.

But it's up to you if you want to use them or not.

[mcc85]

I would like to chime in and say that the test build fixed my issue.

I was going absolutely crazy until I came across this thread. I had things running smoothly with the previous version of CentOS but the 1810 update came out and I downloaded that. Installed to do some testing with kolab and spent almost a full day trying to resolve this issue where vbox additions would stall out and have a couple of issues in the log file.

Once I used the test build... I was finally looking at a full screen version of the guest. So yeah...

I'm sure that growing pains like this happen with any software, but it was so frustrating I had to walk away from my desk about a half dozen times ...

but this got it resolved.

[socratis]

I'm sure that growing pains like this happen with any software

Slight correction; with any new version/update. Newer OS versions come along and they require tweaking. VirtualBox has to take corrective action, which isn't immediate or in a release. If you want my advice, don't be the first to update your guest, or if you want to do it, try it on a new throwaway VM, or a clone of your main guest.

[Larry Menard]

I have installed VBoxGuestAdditions_5.2.23-126769.iso from the test builds link. VBox Guest Additions now builds and installs successfully, but after restarting the VM, X11 still crashes/hangs after a couple of minutes. I can still ssh in and do some work from a terminal but I need X11 to work.

I am still running the currently-released VirtualBox Manager "5.2.22r126460 (Qt5.6.2)". Do I need to also update that to the test build?

Host is Windows 10 "Version 1803 (OS Build 17134.407)".

Guest is "Linux centos7-64bit-1 3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.x86_64 #1 SMP Thu Nov 29 14:49:43 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux".

Thanks.

[jnpapado]

@Larry Menard
You may be experiencing what is being discussed here: Mouse only usable within single application after mouse click on RHEL 7.6 (#18124)

[Larry Menard]

First of all, you're right that it is not X11 that is crashing... keyboard input is still working in the Desktop, only the mouse clicks stop working.

I looked at the link you posted and I'm not sure if it is the case for me (it says a workaround is to right-click on something and bring up the context menu, but I cannot right-click on anything), but I tried to install the patch linked there anyway. That did not go so well either...

Problem 1:

Code: Select all

Cannot add package https://people.centos.org/toracat/kernel/7/plus/bug15570/kernel-plus-3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.centos.plus.ay1.src.rpm to transaction. Not a compatible architecture: src

So I removed that from my "yum install" command.

Problem 2:

Code: Select all

--> Processing Conflict: kernel-plus-tools-libs-3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.centos.plus.ay1.x86_64 conflicts kernel-tools-libs < 3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.centos.plus.ay1
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * base: mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca
 * epel: mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca
 * extras: mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca
 * rpmfusion-free-updates: mirror.math.princeton.edu
 * rpmfusion-nonfree-updates: mirror.math.princeton.edu
 * updates: mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca
No package matched to upgrade: kernel-plus-tools-libs
--> Processing Conflict: kernel-plus-headers-3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.centos.plus.ay1.x86_64 conflicts kernel-headers < 3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.centos.plus.ay1
No package matched to upgrade: kernel-plus-headers
--> Processing Conflict: kernel-plus-tools-3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.centos.plus.ay1.x86_64 conflicts kernel-tools < 3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.centos.plus.ay1
No package matched to upgrade: kernel-plus-tools

So I added "--skip-broken" to my "yum install" command.

Problem 3:

Code: Select all

Error:  Multilib version problems found. This often means that the root
       cause is something else and multilib version checking is just
       pointing out that there is a problem. Eg.:

         1. You have an upgrade for kernel-plus-abi-whitelists which is missing some
            dependency that another package requires. Yum is trying to
            solve this by installing an older version of kernel-plus-abi-whitelists of the
            different architecture. If you exclude the bad architecture
            yum will tell you what the root cause is (which package
            requires what). You can try redoing the upgrade with
            --exclude kernel-plus-abi-whitelists.otherarch ... this should give you an error
            message showing the root cause of the problem.

         2. You have multiple architectures of kernel-plus-abi-whitelists installed, but
            yum can only see an upgrade for one of those architectures.
            If you don't want/need both architectures anymore then you
            can remove the one with the missing update and everything
            will work.

         3. You have duplicate versions of kernel-plus-abi-whitelists installed already.
            You can use "yum check" to get yum show these errors.

       ...you can also use --setopt=protected_multilib=false to remove
       this checking, however this is almost never the correct thing to
       do as something else is very likely to go wrong (often causing
       much more problems).

       Protected multilib versions: kernel-plus-abi-whitelists-3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.centos.plus.ay1.noarch != kernel-plus-abi-whitelists-3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.centos.plus.noarch

So the two "whitelist" packages in the patch don't seem to like each other. I wasn't sure which of them to remove from my "yum install" command, but I selected to remove the "ay1" package.

After all that, the original problem still exists: keyboard input is still working, but mouse input stops working after a few clicks. Mouse support seems to die as soon as I try resizing a window.

Unfortunately I don't have any more time to dedicate to this. I'll just revert to my pre-update snapshot and wait for the next official release of VBox.

Thanks.

[socratis]

I'll just revert to my pre-update snapshot and wait for the next official release of VBox.

Or CentOS, because that's where the problem is actually, not in VirtualBox...

[toracat]

CentOS is a rebuild of RHEL. Unless the bug is fixed in the RHEL kernel, CentOS kernel will not be fixed. This is where the centosplus kernel comes in handy. It is a custom kernel offered by CentOS (I happen to be the maintainer ). It can accommodate bug fixes and added features. In any event, it is important that the patch added to the test version of the centosplus kernel be tested by multiple people to convince RH kernel engineers.

@Larry Menard

You picked up a wrong package. It is a source rpm (.src.rpm). Please install the binary:

kernel-plus-3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.centos.plus.ay1.x86_64.rpm

Edit:  Additional note: Just download the above rpm and then install it by running : yum localinstall kernel-plus-3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.centos.plus.ay1.x86_64.rpm

[Larry Menard]

My misunderstanding, I thought that *all* files in that directory were part of the patch.

I have now downloaded and installed kernel-plus-3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.centos.plus.ay1.x86_64.rpm ontop of VBoxGuestAdditions_5.2.23-126769.iso, but still as soon as I move or resize a window I lose mouse support.

Thanks.

[Larry Menard]

I noticed therre is now a newer test release of Guest Additions (VBoxGuestAdditions_5.2.23-127309.iso) so I installed it. Same thing... as soon as I move a window mouse clicks go bye-bye.

[toracat]

I assume the mouse worked fine before you moved the window. Is this the case? This is important because that is the proof for the fix by the patch.

Functionality of the GuestAdditions is another story. This involves building the vbox kernel modules (specifically vboxvideo) for the plus kernel. I will look into it.

[Larry Menard]

That's correct, immediately after restarting the Guest the mouse clicks were behaving fine.

[toracat]

Great. Thanks for the testing.

I also confirm that vboxvideo does not build under the plus kernel. Will see if I can figure out what is causing the issue.

[toracat]

Good news!

I now have a new set of the centosplus kernel that does not have the vboxvideo build problem.

https://people.centos.org/toracat/kernel/7/plus/bug15570new/

Download the two rpm packages there and install them (yum localinstall ... ):

kernel-3.10.0-957.1.3.bug15570.plus.el7.x86_64.rpm
kernel-devel-3.10.0-957.1.3.bug15570.plus.el7.x86_64.rpm
(You don't need kernel-header)

Reboot to this kernel. And everything should work now including the mouse and window resizing.

Detailed explanation: In VirtuslBox's Makefile for vboxvideo, RHEL 7 kernels were picked up by looking for "el7.x86_64" in the name. The original plus kernel was named ".el7.centos.plus.xxx.x86_64" . As a result, this kernel was not regarded as a "RHEL 7 kernel". So in the new version I built the same kernel using "xxxx.plus.el7.x86_64" as the package name. Now Makefile sees this as a RHEL kernel and builds the vboxvideo module.