[OE-core] [PATCH 0/2] Support for VirtualBox guest additions

[Bystricky, Juro]

The Build Appliance is just one VM that can benefit from VirtualBox guest additions.
There are other VM implementations, where a small size is quite important.
All I am trying to say is, that we need to be able to recreate the same contents
as:

apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

I don't have any strong feelings regarding if an already existing recipe needs to be modified 
or we need a separate recipe.





> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Hatle [mailto:mark.hatle at windriver.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, August 4, 2015 12:22 PM
> To: Bystricky, Juro; openembedded-core at lists.openembedded.org;
> jurobystricky at hotmail.com
> Cc: Purdie, Richard
> Subject: Re: [OE-core] [PATCH 0/2] Support for VirtualBox guest additions
> 
> On 8/4/15 2:10 PM, Bystricky, Juro wrote:
> > I am pretty sure initially I tried to use kernel-devsrc  to install VirtualBox
> guest additions.
> > It did not work out of the box for me, there were either files missing or
> they were not in expected locations.
> > It is possible it could  be made to work with some modified
> > installation,  but the size is an issue as well: kernel-devsrc packs over 500MB
> (uncompressed).
> 
> This can be dealt with.  If necessary splitting into two packages, the minimal
> components and 'everything else', but should still be generated from the
> kernel-devsrc recipe.
> 
> But really is 500MB a problem when using the build-appliance?  (You wouldn't
> use any of these on a memory constrained target anyway -- you'd pre-build
> any modules elsewhere.. so that shouldn't be a consideration.)
> 
> > The source code is only needed when you want to reconfigure/rebuild the
> kernel.
> > Out-of-tree modules generally don't need any additional source code,
> typically only header files.
> 
> Some out of tree modules want to get access to more then just the header
> files.
> 
> --Mark
> 
> > Juro
> >
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Mark Hatle [mailto:mark.hatle at windriver.com]
> >> Sent: Tuesday, August 4, 2015 10:32 AM
> >> To: Bystricky, Juro; openembedded-core at lists.openembedded.org;
> >> jurobystricky at hotmail.com
> >> Cc: Purdie, Richard
> >> Subject: Re: [OE-core] [PATCH 0/2] Support for VirtualBox guest
> >> additions
> >>
> >> On 8/4/15 12:25 PM, Bystricky, Juro wrote:
> >>> I agree, the name "kernel-headers" may not be the most fortunate,
> >>> "linux-
> >> headers"
> >>> is probably more fitting.  The recipe installs the files in a
> >>> similar fashion that is done by
> >>>
> >>> apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
> >>>
> >>> Typical contents can be viewed for example here:
> >>> https://www.archlinux.org/packages/core/i686/linux-headers/
> >>>
> >>> These files are needed to allow building  of kernel drivers against
> >>> the running Linux kernel. In a way, it is a subset of kernel-devsrc,
> >>> but including  ".config" file used for the actual running kernel.
> >>
> >> Again this is part of the purpose of the existing kernel-devsrc
> >> package.  So what is missing preventing this from working.  It likely
> >> needs to be added to the kernel-devsrc package instead (or a sub
> >> package that is created by the kernel-devsrc recipe.)
> >>
> >>> Having these files installed, it is possible  to compile additional
> >>> kernel drivers that are not part of the kernel-devsrc .
> >>>  VirtualBox compiles some of their own drivers this way, others as well.
> >>> There are many other scenarios where you may want to add a new
> >>> kernel driver to an already installed Linux kernel.
> >>
> >> Yes, this was part of the design behind the kernel-devsrc, make sure
> >> the sources and components used to build the running kernel were made
> >> available to the target so that out-of-tree/external kernel modules
> >> could be built to match the running system -- as well as the ability
> >> to reconfigure and rebuild the kernel itself.
> >>
> >> Bruce is on vacation this week and may not be around to respond, but
> >> adding yet another package is not the right answer here.  Lets fix
> >> what may be broken in what we have.
> >>
> >> --Mark
> >>
> >>> Juro
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> -----Original Message-----
> >>>> From: Mark Hatle [mailto:mark.hatle at windriver.com]
> >>>> Sent: Tuesday, August 4, 2015 9:20 AM
> >>>> To: Bystricky, Juro; openembedded-core at lists.openembedded.org;
> >>>> jurobystricky at hotmail.com
> >>>> Cc: Purdie, Richard
> >>>> Subject: Re: [OE-core] [PATCH 0/2] Support for VirtualBox guest
> >>>> additions
> >>>>
> >>>> On 8/3/15 3:35 PM, Juro Bystricky wrote:
> >>>>> In order to support VirtualBox guest additions, kernel headers
> >>>>> need to be present in the VM. I am aware we already have two
> >>>>> packages/recipes that are somewhat similar (kernel-devsrc.bb,
> >>>>> linux-libc-headers), but none
> >>>> of them is suitable for this purpose.
> >>>>> Besides the kernel headers, some additional files (scripts,
> >>>>> Makefiles, .config, etc) are also required.
> >>>>
> >>>> linux-libc-headers is only for building applications.
> >>>> kernel-devsrc is for building modules on the target.
> >>>>
> >>>> What do these specific modules need that are not present in kernel-
> >> devsrc?
> >>>> (I really don't want 'yet another' confusing package added to the
> >>>> system.)
> >>>>
> >>>>> The new recipe "kernel-headers.bb" can in principle be used by
> >>>>> other
> >>>> images as well.
> >>>>> It is not limited to the Build Appliance and hence is not a part
> >>>>> of the Build Appliance recipe.
> >>>>
> >>>> I think kernel-headers is a bad name for a package.  It could be
> confusing.
> >>>>
> >>>> --Mark
> >>>>
> >>>>> Juro Bystricky (2):
> >>>>>   kernel-headers: linux kernel headers
> >>>>>   build-appliance-image: support for VirtualBox guest addtions
> >>>>>
> >>>>>  .../README_vbox_guest_additions.txt                | 78
> >>>> ++++++++++++++++++++++
> >>>>>  .../images/build-appliance-image_12.0.1.bb         |  4 +-
> >>>>>  meta/recipes-kernel/linux/kernel-headers.bb        | 66
> >>>> ++++++++++++++++++
> >>>>>  3 files changed, 147 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)  create mode
> >>>>> 100644
> >>>>> meta/recipes-core/images/build-appliance-
> >>>> image/README_vbox_guest_addit
> >>>>> ions.txt  create mode 100644
> >>>>> meta/recipes-kernel/linux/kernel-headers.bb
> >>>>>
> >>>
> >