[gentoo-user] virtualbox: no x-server after kernel upgrade to 4.12.12-gentoo

[Alexander Puchmayr]

Hi there,

I'm using a gentoo-guest inside a virtual box on a Win10 host. The last
somewhat working combination was kernel 4.4.39/virtualbox-5.1.24.

When I update to kernel 4.12.12, the X-Server does not work anymore (I've also
tried with 4.9.xx, same result -- no X)

I used genkernel to compile the kernel, copied the previous 4.4.39-config from
/proc/config.gz to /usr/src/linux-4.12.12-gentoo via zcat, and did no further
changes; so nothing relevant should be changed, at least to my knowledge.

After compilation of the kernel, required packages have been re-emerged:
- app-emulation/virtualbox-guest-additions
- x11-drivers/xf86-video-virtualbox

Booting with 4.12.12:
- sddm crashes with segfaults
- Starting X from the command line: X complains missing EGL_MESA_drm
EGL_MESA_drm_image required.
: CommandLine Error: Option 'asan-instrument-assembly' registered more than
once!
LLVM ERROR: inconsistency in registered CommandLine options
[??? No idea where this comes from :-( ]


cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log
[ 793.159] (II) LoadModule: "vboxvideo"
[ 793.159] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/vboxvideo_drv.so
[ 793.159] (II) Module vboxvideo: vendor="Oracle Corporation"
[ 793.159] compiled for 1.19.3, module version = 1.0.1
[ 793.159] Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[ 793.159] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 23.0
[ 793.159] (**) Load address of symbol "VBOXVIDEO" is 0x7f3840a24380
[ 793.160] (II) VBoxVideo: guest driver for VirtualBox: vbox
[ 793.160] (II) modesetting: Driver for Modesetting Kernel Drivers: kms
[ 793.160] (II) FBDEV: driver for framebuffer: fbdev
[ 793.160] (II) VESA: driver for VESA chipsets: vesa
[ 793.160] (II) vboxvideo: kernel driver found, not loading. <-- !!!!!!
[ 793.160] (II) vboxvideo: kernel driver found, not loading.
[ 793.160] (II) modeset(0): using drv /dev/dri/card0
[ 793.160] (II) Loading sub module "glamoregl"
[ 793.160] (II) LoadModule: "glamoregl"
[ 793.160] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/libglamoregl.so
[ 793.163] (II) Module glamoregl: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[ 793.163] compiled for 1.19.3, module version = 1.0.0
[ 793.163] ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.4
[ 793.163] (II) glamor: OpenGL accelerated X.org driver based.
[ 793.217] (II) glamor: EGL version 1.4 (DRI2):
[ 793.217] EGL_MESA_drm_image required.
[ 793.218] (EE) modeset(0): glamor initialization failed

dmesg shows:
5.269630] VBoxService 5.1.24 r117012 (verbosity: 0) linux.amd64 (Sep 15 2017
16:09:26) release log
00:00:00.000046 main Log opened
2017-09-15T15:23:25.220990000Z
[ 5.269691] 00:00:00.000133 main OS Product: Linux
[ 5.269717] 00:00:00.000165 main OS Release: 4.12.12-gentoo
[ 5.269740] 00:00:00.000191 main OS Version: #1 SMP Fri Sep 15 15:33:45
CEST 2017
[ 5.269772] 00:00:00.000213 main Executable: /usr/sbin/vboxguest-
service
00:00:00.000214 main Process ID: 4275
00:00:00.000215 main Package type: LINUX_64BITS_GENERIC
(OSE)
[ 5.272160] 00:00:00.002532 main 5.1.24 r117012 started. Verbose level
= 0
[7.780006] vboxvideo 0000:00:02.0: fb0: vboxdrmfb frame buffer device

Booting old 4.4.39 kernel [Just select old kernel in grub]
- sddm shows login screen
- /var/log/Xorg.0.log shows lots of lines regarding VBoxVideo driver.
- dmesg does not show the vboxvideo line from above

Obviously, something is going terribly wrong here, and I'm getting stuck as I
do not have any Idea where to start. The only thing that changed is a kernel
upgrade and a rebuild of the virtual box modules.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Alex

[R0b0t1]

Details on this are sparse but you need to run @x11-modules-rebuild
after a kernel upgrade. You may also want to run @module-rebuild
depending on how you rebuilt your kernel.

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/X_server/upgrade
https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-6633091.html

Cheers,
R0b0t1

[Alexander Puchmayr]

Thanks for the answer!

I re-emerged both @x11-modules-rebuild and @module-rebuild, but it did not
help a bit. Still the same problem.

I assume that the key is the vboxvideo line from dmesg. It registers a
framebuffer device fb0, which may cause the Xorg-driver to fail. But I do not
know how to disable this, since it comes from the vbox driver module itself.

Regards
Alex

[Alexander Kapshuk]

The Gentoo wiki article referenced below emphasizes the fact that certain kernel config options need enabling in order to have proper hardware emulation. So you want to make sure you have those enabled in your kernel config. Then take it from there.

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/VirtualBox

[Marc Joliet]

Am Freitag, 15. September 2017, 17:43:52 CEST schrieb R0b0t1:
> Details on this are sparse but you need to run @x11-modules-rebuild
> after a kernel upgrade.

Since when has that been the case? AIUI X11 modules live 100% in userspace,
the kernel component is its own thing (unless you use nvidia, I suppose).
@x11-modules-rebuild is for xorg-server upgrades, and even then, strictly
speaking only when there is an ABI change (see the first of your links).

But even so, the way Xorg stabilisations are handled in Gentoo (i.e.,
everything is stabilised simultaneously) you shouldn't really need it in the
first place; at least, I can't remember the last time I needed to use it.

HTH
--
Marc Joliet
--
"People who think they know everything really annoy those of us who know we
don't" - Bjarne Stroustrup

[R0b0t1]

On Fri, Sep 15, 2017 at 3:36 PM, Marc Joliet <mar...@gmx.de> wrote:
> Am Freitag, 15. September 2017, 17:43:52 CEST schrieb R0b0t1:
>> Details on this are sparse but you need to run @x11-modules-rebuild
>> after a kernel upgrade.
>
> Since when has that been the case? AIUI X11 modules live 100% in userspace,
> the kernel component is its own thing (unless you use nvidia, I suppose).
> @x11-modules-rebuild is for xorg-server upgrades, and even then, strictly
> speaking only when there is an ABI change (see the first of your links).
>
> But even so, the way Xorg stabilisations are handled in Gentoo (i.e.,
> everything is stabilised simultaneously) you shouldn't really need it in the
> first place; at least, I can't remember the last time I needed to use it.
>

Starting around a decade ago, I think. When I was originally given
this advice there was no detailed explanation available as to why it
was needed. However, I rebuilt my kernel a few times and was forced to
merge that package to get X11 working again, so causation was
established.

Recently I can verify that I haven't been doing it manually between
kernel upgrades.

R0b0t1

[Alexander Puchmayr]

Am Freitag, 15. September 2017, 20:35:03 schrieb Alexander Kapshuk:
> On Fri, Sep 15, 2017 at 5:47 PM, Alexander Puchmayr
<alexander...@linznet.at> wrote:

> [list with log dumps cutted]

> > Obviously, something is going terribly wrong here, and I'm getting stuck
> > as I
> > do not have any Idea where to start. The only thing that changed is a
> > kernel
> > upgrade and a rebuild of the virtual box modules.
> >
> > Any ideas?
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> >
> > Alex
>
> The Gentoo wiki article referenced below emphasizes the fact that certain
> kernel config options need enabling in order to have proper hardware
> emulation. So you want to make sure you have those enabled in your kernel
> config. Then take it from there.
>
> https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/VirtualBox
>

Thanks for your hint, the kernel config was as it should be (except that I used
modules wherever possible).

My assumption was that the kernel frame buffer device and X driver conflict and
the X server does not load because the kernel frame buffer driver was active.
So, I removed the kernel driver by blacklisting vboxvideo

$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
blacklist vboxvideo
$ genkernel initramfs
[...]
$ reboot

After reboot: sddm showed a login screen, X was working (with VboxVideo
driver), I could log in successfully.

Problem solved :-)

Thanks to all who spent a thought on this!

Regards
Alex

PS: The question, why a framebuffer device for virtualbox is automatically
created just to cause a conflict with X later on, still remains. Do other
installations have the same problem?