Porteus-v5.01 bug reports

[swissluxtom]

Default name of VBoxGuestAdditions is VBoxGuestAdditions_7.2.14.iso if look at the https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/7.2.14/

Blaze - sure I knew about the versioned download.

BTW I just recalled the original way of getting the ISO, it is with the VBox manager app (on host),
where you can simply click 'Insert Guest Additions CD image...'
and it gets automounted in Porteus (guest VM) surprisingly as a named drive 'VBox_GAs_7.2.14' (how is name built?).

Maybe you can add code to detect at launch of VBox Builder if the CD already has been attached? (thus, a third case besides 'Browse' or download-latest).
Also because I think the VirtualBox documentation has this method listed first, thus novice users may start this way usually.
Thanks!

[swissluxtom]

Blaze, the special variant with console output writes this text:

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root@porteus:/tmp# python3 FOupdate-vbox-live.py
[vbox-builder] extract rc=0: sh /tmp/vbox-stage-a67j2fs6/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run --quiet --accept --noexec --keep --noprogress --nox11 --nochown --nodiskspace --target /tmp/vbox-stage-a67j2fs6/src
[vbox-builder] tarballs found: ['VBoxGuestAdditions-x86.tar.bz2', 'VBoxGuestAdditions-amd64.tar.bz2']
[vbox-builder] make failed for /tmp/vbox-stage-a67j2fs6/src/ex_VBoxGuestAdditions-x86.tar.bz2/src/vboxguest-7.2.14
  last rc=2
  stdout tail: make: Entering directory '/usr/src/linux-6.18.43'
make[1]: Entering directory '/tmp/vbox-stage-a67j2fs6/src/ex_VBoxGuestAdditions-x86.tar.bz2/src/vboxguest-7.2.14'
  CC [M]  vboxguest/VBoxGuest-linux.o
make[1]: Leaving directory '/tmp/vbox-stage-a67j2fs6/src/ex_VBoxGuestAdditions-x86.tar.bz2/src/vboxguest-7.2.14'
make: Leaving directory '/usr/src/linux-6.18.43'

  stderr tail: /bin/sh: line 1: /usr/src/linux-6.18.43/scripts/basic/fixdep: cannot execute binary file: Exec format error
make[4]: *** [/usr/src/linux-6.18.43/scripts/Makefile.build:287: vboxguest/VBoxGuest-linux.o] Error 126
make[4]: *** Deleting file 'vboxguest/VBoxGuest-linux.o'
make[3]: *** [/usr/src/linux-6.18.43/scripts/Makefile.build:544: vboxguest] Error 2
make[2]: *** [/usr/src/linux-6.18.43/Makefile:2050: .] Error 2
make[1]: *** [/usr/src/linux-6.18.43/Makefile:248: __sub-make] Error 2
make: *** [Makefile:248: __sub-make] Error 2

[Blaze]

Maybe you can add code to detect at launch of VBox Builder if the CD already has been attached? (thus, a third case besides 'Browse' or download-latest).

Added but not tested.

The same story with the architecture mismatch of the utilities in the scripts directory
fixdep: cannot execute binary file: Exec format error means: the kernel source tree /usr/src/linux-6.18.43 contains pre-built host utilities (scripts/basic/fixdep, etc.) built for a different architecture (x86_64), and the current machine is 32-bit.
Kernel building requires host tools for the current architecture.

I added

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    def _elf_class(self, path):
        try:
            with open(path, 'rb') as f: data = f.read(5)
            if data[:4] == b'\x7fELF': return data[4]   # 1=32bit, 2=64bit
        except: pass
        return None

    def _prepare_kern(self):
        ksrc = '/usr/src/linux'
        fixdep = os.path.join(ksrc, 'scripts', 'basic', 'fixdep')
        want = 2 if self.arch == 'x86_64' else 1
        if self._elf_class(fixdep) == want: return
        print(f'[vbox-builder] kernel host tools arch mismatch/missing; rebuilding for {self.arch}')
        cmd(['make', '-C', ksrc, 'scripts'], t=900)
        cmd(['make', '-C', ksrc, 'prepare'], t=900)

[swissluxtom]

Blaze - Thanks I will test the new script later;
Note about this new 'Additions' detection, it is not just a 'mnt' mount name, but the ISO media label, aka 'Volume Identifier'.
I used Google AI Prompt

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 topic is PC computer with Linux (here Porteus Distro). How to retrieve ISO label of a cdrom disc media, with "python" 3 ? the mounting name is typically 'sr0', but the file manager shows the 'friendly' label.

So it gives some options, the most promising seems to list all symlinks inside /dev/disk/by-label/
The AI gen search by label code is (UNTESTED)

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import os
from pathlib import Path

def get_vbox_mount():
    by_label = Path("/dev/disk/by-label")
    if not by_label.is_dir():
        return None, None

    # 1. Find the first symlink starting with "VBox_GAs_"
    target_link = next(
        (p for p in by_label.iterdir() if p.is_symlink() and p.name.startswith("VBox_GAs_")), 
        None
    )

    if not target_link:
        return None, None

    label = target_link.name
    device_path = os.path.realpath(target_link)  # Resolves symlink to e.g., /dev/sr0
    mount_point = None

    # 2. Find where the resolved device is mounted
    try:
        with open("/proc/mounts", "r") as f:
            for line in f:
                parts = line.split()
                # parts[0] is the device source, parts[1] is the mount point
                if len(parts) >= 2 and os.path.realpath(parts[0]) == device_path:
                    mount_point = parts[1]
                    break
    except Exception:
        pass

    return label, mount_point

[Blaze]

swissluxtom, a nice catch.

I added findmnt:

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def _unescape_mount_path(s):
    try:
        # Decode octal/hex escapes from /proc/mounts or findmnt -r (e.g. \040 -> space)
        # unicode_escape produces a str where each byte is a char < 256 (latin-1)
        # so we encode to latin-1 to get the original bytes, then decode as utf-8
        s = s.encode('utf-8').decode('unicode_escape')
        return s.encode('latin-1').decode('utf-8')
    except Exception:
        return s

def _mount_point_of(dev):
    r = cmd(['findmnt', '-rn', '-o', 'TARGET', '-S', dev], t=5)
    if r.returncode == 0 and r.stdout.strip():
        mp = r.stdout.strip().split('\n')[0]
        return _unescape_mount_path(mp)
    try:
        with open('/proc/mounts') as f:
            for line in f:
                parts = line.split()
                if len(parts) >= 2 and os.path.realpath(parts[0]) == dev:
                    mp = parts[1]
                    return _unescape_mount_path(mp)
    except Exception:
        pass
    return None

def find_ga_cd():
    # Returns (source, label). source = mount point (dir) if mounted, else block device.
    try:
        by_label = '/dev/disk/by-label'
        if os.path.isdir(by_label):
            for name in sorted(os.listdir(by_label)):
                if not name.startswith('VBox_GAs_'): continue
                dev = os.path.realpath(os.path.join(by_label, name))
                
                # Decode label properly (e.g. \x20 -> space, \303\251 -> cyrillic/utf8)
                try:
                    label = name.encode('utf-8').decode('unicode_escape')
                    label = label.encode('latin-1').decode('utf-8')
                except Exception:
                    label = name.replace('\\x20', ' ')
                    
                mp = _mount_point_of(dev)
                if mp:
                    # If mounted, check if the file exists
                    if os.path.exists(os.path.join(mp, 'VBoxLinuxAdditions.run')):
                        return mp, label
                    # If mounted but file is missing, skip to avoid mounting busy device
                    continue
                
                # If not mounted, return the block device
                if os.path.exists(dev):
                    return dev, label
    except Exception:
        pass

    # Fallback: search mounted directories in /mnt
    try:
        for d in sorted(os.listdir('/mnt')):
            if d.startswith('VBox_GAs_'):
                base = os.path.join('/mnt', d)
                if os.path.exists(os.path.join(base, 'VBoxLinuxAdditions.run')):
                    return base, d
    except Exception:
        pass
        
    # Fallback 2: use blkid to find the device if /dev/disk/by-label is missing
    try:
        r = cmd(['blkid'], t=10)
        if r.returncode == 0:
            for line in r.stdout.splitlines():
                if 'LABEL="VBox_GAs_' in line:
                    dev = line.split(':')[0].strip()
                    label_match = re.search(r'LABEL="([^"]+)"', line)
                    label = label_match.group(1) if label_match else 'VBox_GAs'
                    mp = _mount_point_of(dev)
                    if mp:
                        if os.path.exists(os.path.join(mp, 'VBoxLinuxAdditions.run')):
                            return mp, label
                        continue
                    if os.path.exists(dev):
                        return dev, label
    except Exception:
        pass

    return None, None

Download update-vbox-live from 2026-08-09 (mirror)

Thanks

[swissluxtom]

Blaze thanks for the new script 'update-vbox-live from 2026-08-09', here the output

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root@porteus:/tmp# python3 FO9update-vbox-live.py 
[vbox-builder] kernel host tools arch mismatch/missing; rebuilding for i586
[vbox-builder] extract rc=0: sh /tmp/vbox-stage-yjje6mb8/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run --quiet --accept --noexec --keep --noprogress --nox11 --nochown --nodiskspace --target /tmp/vbox-stage-yjje6mb8/src
[vbox-builder] tarballs found: ['VBoxGuestAdditions-x86.tar.bz2', 'VBoxGuestAdditions-amd64.tar.bz2']
[vbox-builder] make failed for /tmp/vbox-stage-yjje6mb8/src/ex_VBoxGuestAdditions-x86.tar.bz2/src/vboxguest-7.2.14
  last rc=2
  stdout tail: make: Entering directory '/usr/src/linux-6.18.43'
make[1]: Entering directory '/tmp/vbox-stage-yjje6mb8/src/ex_VBoxGuestAdditions-x86.tar.bz2/src/vboxguest-7.2.14'
make[1]: Leaving directory '/tmp/vbox-stage-yjje6mb8/src/ex_VBoxGuestAdditions-x86.tar.bz2/src/vboxguest-7.2.14'
make: Leaving directory '/usr/src/linux-6.18.43'

  stderr tail: ***
***  ERROR: Kernel configuration is invalid. The following files are missing:
***    - /usr/src/linux-6.18.43/include/generated/autoconf.h
***    - /usr/src/linux-6.18.43/include/generated/rustc_cfg
***  Run "make oldconfig && make prepare" on kernel source to fix it.
***
make[2]: *** [/usr/src/linux-6.18.43/Makefile:867: /usr/src/linux-6.18.43/include/config/auto.conf] Error 1
make[1]: *** [/usr/src/linux-6.18.43/Makefile:248: __sub-make] Error 2
make: *** [Makefile:248: __sub-make] Error 2

[Blaze]

This is issue of 06-crippled_sources for 32 bit coz it have 64 bit bin files.

At this moment you can try crutch method for the fix this issue

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su
toor
cd /usr/src/linux-6.18.43
make oldconfig && make prepare && make scripts

I removed this compilation logic because this error occurs on the kernel side.
Download update-vbox-live from 2026-08-10

[swissluxtom]

...
Download update-vbox-live from 2026-08-10

Blaze with this hoster (kiwi), when starting the download it shows a wait watch and tells me "The file may have failed to upload. Please check with the person who uploaded"

[Blaze]

Ok. Mirror https://limewire.com/d/9P9WM#KejHzBokhA

[swissluxtom]

Blaze thanks for the update; First I tried your latest PY script from today, so far it failed as before at 'staging'.
Then I tried to 'make' according your "make oldconfig && make prepare && make scripts";
this failed too, then I decided to ask Google AI.
It analized the errors and concluded "make oldconfig .." can't be done with current "crippled_sources" (32-bit);
instead it proposed to simply compile:

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  gcc -Iscripts/include scripts/basic/fixdep.c -o scripts/basic/fixdep
  gcc -Iscripts/include scripts/mod/modpost.c scripts/mod/file2alias.c scripts/mod/sumversion.c scripts/mod/symsearch.c -o scripts/mod/modpost
  file scripts/basic/fixdep
  file scripts/mod/modpost

and indeed with those two now as 32-bit your PY script runs! the GAs-XZM module gets activated.

BUT I found now the features 'Clipboard' and 'Mouse Integration' are BROKEN!!
I guess the integration into Xorg suddenly does no longer work?
I'm quite sure they worked few days ago (Aug-3?).
(note I'm always testing with a 'fresh' VM snapshot of Porteus, based your 6.18.43+CONFIG_VBOXSF_FS)

[Blaze]

swissluxtom, I compiled the 32-bit kernel 6.6.84 with CONFIG_HIGHMEM64G in a 64-bit environment.
With this kernel the memory increased in 32 bit native Porteus 5.01 i586, but the kernel still wouldn't compile due to 3 gigabyte limit for the one prosess.
For ZSTD compression need more memory. After changing the compression to LZ4, it compiled correctly.

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file 32bit-ALL-kernel6.18.44/06-crippled_sources-6.18.44-32bit/usr/src/linux-6.18.44/scripts/basic/fixdep
32bit-ALL-kernel6.18.44/06-crippled_sources-6.18.44-32bit/usr/src/linux-6.18.44/scripts/basic/fixdep: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel i386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib/ld-linux.so.2, not stripped
guest@porteus:~$ 

Backup your kernel and try to build VirtualBox with this 32bit-ALL-kernel6.18.44.tar

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# 1. Check if vboxguest module is loaded
lsmod | grep vbox

# 2. Check if VBoxService is running
ps aux | grep VBoxService

# 3. Check if VBoxClient is running
ps aux | grep VBoxClient

# 4. Check if /dev/vboxguest exists
ls -la /dev/vboxguest

# 5. Run manually to confirm:
VBoxClient-all

[swissluxtom]

Blaze - Thanks for the new Kernel (6.8.44).
So far the Porteus VBox-Builder (PY as of Aug-10) runs (thus fixdep in crippled_s 32bit seems OK).
The only thing I noted on the python console was a compiler warning (as error?):

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[vbox-builder] tarballs found: ['VBoxGuestAdditions-x86.tar.bz2', 'VBoxGuestAdditions-amd64.tar.bz2']
[vbox-builder] make failed for /tmp/vbox-stage-gp9ku1x2/src/ex_VBoxGuestAdditions-x86.tar.bz2/src/vboxguest-7.2.14/vboxvideo
  last rc=2
  stdout tail: make: Entering directory '/usr/src/linux-6.18.44'
make[1]: Entering directory '/tmp/vbox-stage-gp9ku1x2/src/ex_VBoxGuestAdditions-x86.tar.bz2/src/vboxguest-7.2.14/vboxvideo'
  CC [M]  hgsmi_base.o
  CC [M]  modesetting.o
  CC [M]  vbox_drv.o
  CC [M]  vbox_fb.o
make[1]: Leaving directory '/tmp/vbox-stage-gp9ku1x2/src/ex_VBoxGuestAdditions-x86.tar.bz2/src/vboxguest-7.2.14/vboxvideo'
make: Leaving directory '/usr/src/linux-6.18.44'

  stderr tail:           ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      |                drm_fb_helper_fill_info
vbox_fb.c:337:14: warning: assignment to ‘struct fb_info *’ from ‘int’ makes pointer from integer without a cast [-Wint-conversion]
  337 |         info = drm_fb_helper_alloc_info(helper);
      |              ^
cc1: some warnings being treated as errors
make[3]: *** [/usr/src/linux-6.18.44/scripts/Makefile.build:287: vbox_fb.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** [/usr/src/linux-6.18.44/Makefile:2050: .] Error 2
make[1]: *** [/usr/src/linux-6.18.44/Makefile:248: __sub-make] Error 2
make: *** [Makefile:248: __sub-make] Error 2

[vbox-builder] NOTE: vboxvideo not built (kernel 6.18.44-porteus newer than VBox DRM support); skipped - graphics via VMSVGA/VBoxDRMClient

Now with the generated GAs xzm module activated, I still don't have the clipboard integration launching automatically.
Here the 5 point check report:

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root@porteus:/home/guest# lsmod | grep vbox                                                                                                                                 
vboxvideo              16384  0                                                                                                                                             
drm_vram_helper        12288  1 vboxvideo                                                                                                                                   
vboxsf                 57344  0                                                                                                                                             
drm_ttm_helper         12288  4 drm_vram_helper,vboxvideo,vmwgfx                                                                                                            
drm_client_lib         12288  2 vboxvideo,vmwgfx                                                                                                                            
drm_kms_helper         73728  5 drm_vram_helper,drm_ttm_helper,vboxvideo,drm_client_lib,vmwgfx                                                                              
drm                   262144  9 drm_vram_helper,drm_ttm_helper,vboxvideo,drm_client_lib,vmwgfx,ttm,drm_kms_helper                                                           
vboxguest             188416  2 vboxsf                                                                                                                                      
root@porteus:/home/guest# ps aux | grep VBoxService                                                                                                                         
root       632  0.0  0.3  31932  3340 ?        Sl   23:23   0:00 /usr/sbin/VBoxService                                                                                      
root      1366  0.0  0.2   4024  2436 pts/1    S+   23:32   0:00 grep VBoxService                                                                                           
root@porteus:/home/guest# ps aux | grep VBoxClient                                                                                                                          
root      1368  0.0  0.2   4024  2428 pts/1    S+   23:32   0:00 grep VBoxClient
root@porteus:/home/guest# ls -la /dev/vboxguest
crw------- 1 root root 10, 258 Aug 12  2026 /dev/vboxguest
root@porteus:/home/guest# VBoxClient-all
VBoxClient: error: unrecognized option '--all'
root@porteus:/home/guest# VBoxClient --clipboard
21:34:43.031777 main     VBoxClient 7.2.14 r174565 (verbosity: 0) linux.x86 (Jul 17 2026 17:08:44) release log
21:34:43.031779 main     Log opened 2026-08-11T21:34:43.031773000Z
21:34:43.031793 main     OS Product: Linux
21:34:43.031796 main     OS Release: 6.18.44-porteus
21:34:43.031799 main     OS Version: #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Tue Aug 11 13:47:08 Local time zone must 
21:34:43.031801 main     Executable: /opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-7.2.14/bin/VBoxClient
21:34:43.031801 main     Process ID: 1391
21:34:43.031802 main     Package type: LINUX_32BITS_GENERIC
21:34:43.031806 main      VBoxClient 7.2.14 r174565 started. Verbose level = 0
error: XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is invalid or not set in the environment.
21:34:43.033429 main      Session type is: VBGHDISPLAYSERVERTYPE_X11
21:34:43.033466 main      Service: Shared Clipboard
21:34:43.033762 main      Daemonizing service ...
root@porteus:/home/guest# ps aux | grep VBoxClient
root      1397  0.0  0.2  24776  1876 ?        S    23:34   0:00 VBoxClient --clipboard
root      1398  0.0  0.5  28988  4628 ?        Sl   23:34   0:00 VBoxClient --clipboard
root      1412  0.0  0.2   4024  2400 pts/1    S+   23:38   0:00 grep VBoxClient
root@porteus:/home/guest# 

As you can see, only after I manually used 'VBoxClient --clipboard', the integration got working.
BTW I'm on LXQT desktop.

[swissluxtom]

Blaze, for my installation, the file '/usr/bin/VBoxClient-all'

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 #!/bin/sh
 exec /usr/bin/VBoxClient --all "$@"

I think the argument '--all' is undocumented or simply wrong?
It is also not in the source code
https://github.com/VirtualBox/virtualbo ... t/main.cpp

[Blaze]

swissluxtom, fixed

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#!/bin/sh
# Start all VBoxClient services for VirtualBox 7.x
VBoxClient --clipboard
VBoxClient --seamless
VBoxClient --draganddrop
VBoxClient --display

Download update-vbox-live from 2026-08-12 (mirror)

Thanks

[swissluxtom]

Blaze - Thanks for the new PY.
so far this sequence in "VBoxClient-all" is correct;

Just for completeness, there is also a
VBoxClient --vmsvga-session
it is a newer service allowing screen resolution changes from host via new Linux kernel vmwgfx driver.
(like https://github.com/VirtualBox/virtualbo ... dd-xclient )
But it also requires a new binary VBoxDRMClient been built. Should Porteus provide a complete VBox Guest experience?

So far ok - BUT it does not yet fullfill one last requirement, it's about PERMISSION (what else, it is always this nasty thing).
See next post.