[Fixed] VirtualBox on Ubuntu 14.04 kernel 4.4.0-143 (#18315)

[Cippux]

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ModEdit; related ticket: #18315: Kernel modules do not build with linux kernel 4.4.169 -> fixed after 6.0.4/5.2.26 and in test builds

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Hi everybody,
after upgrading my linux kernel to 4.4.0-143 (Ubuntu 14.04.2) virtualbox is not working anymore. With the previous kernel 4.4.0-142 (Ubuntu 14.04.1) no problem.
The error concerns the building of the virtualbox module: it fails suggesting to run "sudo /sbin/vboxconfig", but again the build fails.
The content of /var/log/vbox-setup.log does not help:
"Building the main VirtualBox module.
Error building the module:"
Does anyone experienced the same problem?
Thanks.

[socratis]

That's it? That's all the output? Or selective portions of it?

[enno87]

I have the same problem.

Before the message to lookup in the log the following message appears:

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egrep: »)« or »\)« without opening bracket

Thats all i have.

I tried with virtualbox 5.2 and 6.0

[socratis]

I tried with virtualbox 5.2 and 6.0

What exactly did you try? Because that's not an error I'm familiar with.

[enno87]

I tried to run vms with the newest virtualbox version. Both told me that i have to run the command:

Code: Select all

~:# sudo /sbin/vboxconfig

But with both version i get exact same error as said above.

[andyp73]

The file /sbin/vboxconfig is a symbolic link to /usr/lib/virtualbox/postinst-common.sh which then calls a number of other shell script files (.sh) in the same directory. The error that you are seeing is from (e)grep trying to parse some output. I don't have an Ubuntu 14.04 guest installed so can't check whether it is a version specific thing or some strange version of (e)grep.

On my Debian and Fedora Linux installations egrep is just a shell script that calls the regular GNU grep with a -E option. I think you need to do some digging and look at the grep and egrep versions being called on your system.

-Andy.

[socratis]

Where did you get VirtualBox from? You need to completely remove/uninstall/delete/purge what you have now and install the official version from the Linux Downloads section of VirtualBox.

You can even add VirtualBox as a repository, so you could use your traditional install/upgrade/uninstall tools.

[enno87]

I installed it via repository. I had it installed before via download but after a kernel update i was totaly unable to use virtualbox because of this error.

[enno87]

I found the file and lines where the error gets thrown. Its in the vboxdrv.sh in line 133 till 135;

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    133     echo "${1}" | egrep -v \
    134         "^test -e include/generated/autoconf.h|^echo >&2|^/bin/false)$" \
    135         >> "${LOG}"

after editing the line 134 to

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"^test -e include/generated/autoconf.h|^echo >&2|^/bin/false\)$" \

the error log gets filled. Result:

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/tmp/vbox.0/r0drv/linux/memobj-r0drv-linux.c: In function ‘rtR0MemObjNativeLockUser’:
/tmp/vbox.0/r0drv/linux/memobj-r0drv-linux.c:1126:33: warning: passing argument 6 of ‘get_user_pages’ makes pointer from integer without a cast [enabled by default]
                                 papVMAs);               /* vmas */
                                 ^
In file included from /tmp/vbox.0/r0drv/linux/the-linux-kernel.h:101:0,
                 from /tmp/vbox.0/r0drv/linux/memobj-r0drv-linux.c:31:
include/linux/mm.h:1222:6: note: expected ‘struct page **’ but argument is of type ‘int’
 long get_user_pages(struct task_struct *tsk, struct mm_struct *mm,
      ^
/tmp/vbox.0/r0drv/linux/memobj-r0drv-linux.c:1126:33: warning: passing argument 7 of ‘get_user_pages’ from incompatible pointer type [enabled by default]
                                 papVMAs);               /* vmas */
                                 ^
In file included from /tmp/vbox.0/r0drv/linux/the-linux-kernel.h:101:0,
                 from /tmp/vbox.0/r0drv/linux/memobj-r0drv-linux.c:31:
include/linux/mm.h:1222:6: note: expected ‘struct vm_area_struct **’ but argument is of type ‘struct page **’
 long get_user_pages(struct task_struct *tsk, struct mm_struct *mm,
      ^
/tmp/vbox.0/r0drv/linux/memobj-r0drv-linux.c:1126:33: error: too many arguments to function ‘get_user_pages’
                                 papVMAs);               /* vmas */
                                 ^
In file included from /tmp/vbox.0/r0drv/linux/the-linux-kernel.h:101:0,
                 from /tmp/vbox.0/r0drv/linux/memobj-r0drv-linux.c:31:
include/linux/mm.h:1222:6: note: declared here
 long get_user_pages(struct task_struct *tsk, struct mm_struct *mm,
      ^
make[2]: *** [/tmp/vbox.0/r0drv/linux/memobj-r0drv-linux.o] Fehler 1

[socratis]

Ah, the "get_user_pages" one!

See Kernel modules do not build with linux kernel 4.4.169 -> fixed after 6.0.4/5.2.26 and in test builds. That's what threw me off! We've only seen reports of this issue with 4.4.168 and later, and you're running 4.4.0-143!!!

Can you try the latest test build from https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Testbuilds ?

[enno87]

Yes with the dev build it works again.

[Cippux]

Thanks to all.
Yes, my error log was only 2 lines, the ones I posted.
However, with VB 6.0.5 r129045 the problem is solved.
Thanks again.

[socratis]

Thanks @Cippux, @enno87 for confirming the fix.
I assume that the next VirtualBox release, 6.0.6 will contain the proper fix.
Marking as [Fixed].

[oldunixguy]

My ubuntu system just started throwing this same error when trying to start virtualbox. it does it 100% of the time.
This just began upon the Ubuntu Software Updater installation of the 4.4.0-143 kernel.
4.4.0-143-generic #169~14.04.2-Ubuntu SMP Wed Feb 13 15:00:41 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

virtualbox version installed some time ago: 5.2.26 r128414 (Qt5.6.1)
guest OS is Win 7 Pro

kernel and VB are installed and updated through the normal repos.

virtualbox pops up a dialog that says to manually run /sbin/vboxconfig as root.
doing so reports:

Adding system startup for /etc/init.d/vboxdrv ...
   /etc/rc0.d/K80vboxdrv -> ../init.d/vboxdrv
   /etc/rc1.d/K80vboxdrv -> ../init.d/vboxdrv
   /etc/rc6.d/K80vboxdrv -> ../init.d/vboxdrv
   /etc/rc2.d/S20vboxdrv -> ../init.d/vboxdrv
   /etc/rc3.d/S20vboxdrv -> ../init.d/vboxdrv
   /etc/rc4.d/S20vboxdrv -> ../init.d/vboxdrv
   /etc/rc5.d/S20vboxdrv -> ../init.d/vboxdrv
 Adding system startup for /etc/init.d/vboxballoonctrl-service ...
   /etc/rc0.d/K65vboxballoonctrl-service -> ../init.d/vboxballoonctrl-service
   /etc/rc1.d/K65vboxballoonctrl-service -> ../init.d/vboxballoonctrl-service
   /etc/rc6.d/K65vboxballoonctrl-service -> ../init.d/vboxballoonctrl-service
   /etc/rc2.d/S35vboxballoonctrl-service -> ../init.d/vboxballoonctrl-service
   /etc/rc3.d/S35vboxballoonctrl-service -> ../init.d/vboxballoonctrl-service
   /etc/rc4.d/S35vboxballoonctrl-service -> ../init.d/vboxballoonctrl-service
   /etc/rc5.d/S35vboxballoonctrl-service -> ../init.d/vboxballoonctrl-service
 Adding system startup for /etc/init.d/vboxautostart-service ...
   /etc/rc0.d/K65vboxautostart-service -> ../init.d/vboxautostart-service
   /etc/rc1.d/K65vboxautostart-service -> ../init.d/vboxautostart-service
   /etc/rc6.d/K65vboxautostart-service -> ../init.d/vboxautostart-service
   /etc/rc2.d/S35vboxautostart-service -> ../init.d/vboxautostart-service
   /etc/rc3.d/S35vboxautostart-service -> ../init.d/vboxautostart-service
   /etc/rc4.d/S35vboxautostart-service -> ../init.d/vboxautostart-service
   /etc/rc5.d/S35vboxautostart-service -> ../init.d/vboxautostart-service
 Adding system startup for /etc/init.d/vboxweb-service ...
   /etc/rc0.d/K65vboxweb-service -> ../init.d/vboxweb-service
   /etc/rc1.d/K65vboxweb-service -> ../init.d/vboxweb-service
   /etc/rc6.d/K65vboxweb-service -> ../init.d/vboxweb-service
   /etc/rc2.d/S35vboxweb-service -> ../init.d/vboxweb-service
   /etc/rc3.d/S35vboxweb-service -> ../init.d/vboxweb-service
   /etc/rc4.d/S35vboxweb-service -> ../init.d/vboxweb-service
   /etc/rc5.d/S35vboxweb-service -> ../init.d/vboxweb-service
vboxdrv.sh: Stopping VirtualBox services.
depmod: WARNING: could not open /lib/modules/4.4.0-141-generic/modules.order: No such file or directory
depmod: WARNING: could not open /lib/modules/4.4.0-141-generic/modules.builtin: No such file or directory
vboxdrv.sh: Starting VirtualBox services.
vboxdrv.sh: Building VirtualBox kernel modules.
egrep: Unmatched ) or \)
vboxdrv.sh: failed: Look at /var/log/vbox-setup.log to find out what went wrong.
There were problems setting up VirtualBox.  To re-start the set-up process, run
  /sbin/vboxconfig
as root.

This is 100% repeatable. virtualbox WILL NOT RUN.

How do we get this fixed using the repos (I dont have development env for kernel)???

Edit:  I have reverted to 4.4.0-142 and all is well... ut now I'm stuck.

[Raspero]

I reverted back to kernel 4.4.0.142 and VBox runs fine again. The 143 kernel and VBox do not get along.

Richard