virtualbox.org

i was reading that kernel 4.16 will have native support for virtualbox guest additions.

does that mean we will no longer need to install the guest additions cd in the guest os anymore?

that would be nice. i was running some live linux distros as a guest OS and couldn't use the guest additions cd since the live iso was already mounted.

am i thinking about this right?

I doubt you are thinking about it right. The announcement will be referring to the Ubuntu fork of VirtualBox, not VirtualBox itself - and I don't see what's so attractive about binding version dependent code from an application into a kernel, it seems to defy my understanding of the term "kernel".

Ubuntu definitely does it's own thing and integrates some VirtualBox guest drivers.

But it seems there are also VirtualBox kernel drivers in the works?
http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kern ... 07213.html

I'm not commenting on rational, or which should or should not be used.

Personally, I just use the official VirtualBox guest stuff.

There was a lot of traffic to integrate and keep up to date the GAs in the kernel, you are correct. And if you search the VirtualBox developer's mailing list archives, you'll see the back and forth discussion, in the middle to late of 2017, up until (I'd say) the middle to end of Jan/2018.

Then the Spectre/Meltdown hit the fan. After that, I strongly believe that the priorities shifted a bit...

so then what does that mean in practical purposes when using Virtualbox with kernel 4.16? what will the benefits be?

I don't have the slightest idea! Try it!
And if you do, let us know if you noticed any differences...