OS2 World Community Forum

OS/2, eCS & ArcaOS - Technical => Setup & Installation => Topic started by: Bennie Nelson on December 28, 2021, 07:37:01 pm

Title: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: Bennie Nelson on December 28, 2021, 07:37:01 pm
I'm interested in finding out how much effort is involved in creating the Warpin package for the VirtualBox Guest Additions. I maintain a number of ArcaOS VMs and I'm hoping there is an easier method than just manually updating the guest additions every time I move to newer releases of VirtualBox.

Thanks,
Bennie Nelson

Title: Re: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: Dave Yeo on December 28, 2021, 07:50:16 pm
The documentation etc is under x:\sys\install\WARPIN. I think you can use wic.exe to disassemble the package, then after updating files, reassemble it. Haven't tried though.
Title: Re: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: Doug Bissett on December 28, 2021, 08:36:36 pm
Quote
Haven't tried though.

I did try, a few years ago. It is actually pretty easy to build a WarpIn installer. The problem is, that you need the updated files, before they are released, so you can build the installer, and that installer needs to be included in the release. Oracle isn't interested in any of that because they don't have an OS/2 system to run WarpIn to build the package, and if they don't build it, they won't include it (you never know what might be in an externally produced package, so they won't do it).

After much experimenting, I decided that a REXX script was the answer, but they won't include that either. My script is now very much out of date (it doesn't include the access to shared folders), and it really isn't needed any more, since ArcaOS now installs that stuff for you (but only at an initial install, I think).

One very important thing, is: DO NOT copy the LIBC stuff into your system, unless you really want trouble. The stuff in the Extensions is way out of date, and you could replace the up to date stuff, if it is already installed.
Title: Re: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: Bennie Nelson on December 29, 2021, 04:13:00 pm
So I extracted the install script (wic -X) from the VirtualBox WPI file and listed the package (wic -l), but I have not found a way to list the specific files in the package other than extracting them with wic -x. It looks like I should be able to delete the 9 files, add the newer versions from the Guest Additions ISO, update the script (see below), and add that, as well.

Archive: "vboxadd.wpi"
WPI revision: 3
Stub size: 0 bytes
Package 1
     9 files, size:  5,107,122 bytes original
                     1,694,924 bytes compressed (67% compression)
Summary: 1 package(s), 9 files total
     5,107,122 bytes original
     1,694,924 bytes compressed (67% compression)

The version string for the PACKAGEID in the install script would need to be changed:
<PCK INDEX=1 PACKAGEID="Oracle\VirtualBox\Client Additions\6\1\12"

What am I missing?

Thanks,
Bennie Nelson
Title: Re: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: Neil Waldhauer on December 29, 2021, 04:29:50 pm
I suggest extracting all the files, replacing what you want, then assemble all the files.

Check the license file to see if you can publish your WarpIN package. You might be making this for your own purposes, but if you can get others to use your package, it will help you find any bugs sooner.
Title: Re: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: Andreas Schnellbacher on December 29, 2021, 05:35:12 pm
You can use my DOSBox installer as a huge example for using REXX to extend WarpIN. Beneath extracting the files README.OS2, inst\* and the .wis file from Jochen's package, there exists dosbox-createwpi.cmd.

The REXX .cmd files contain tons of examples. The createwpi script allows for using either extracted files (from an older package) or include files. Jochen always builds his files with recent DOSBox files, directly from its repository, so for me remained only to download recent NLS files and convert their numerous encodings.

Special about the REXX code in the DOSBox WarpIN installer is: It downloads missing .rpm packages, edits a config file, removes all kinds of old DOSBox files and uses dynamic WarpIN page contents.

It's surely much to big to start with wic. But I can sent it to you if you want. I rarely watch my os2world.com PM area, so please drop me a note here, in case.

BTW: WarpIN has several flaws. Many of them can be worked around with WarpIN REXX. Christian had made 2 presentations about advanced installations. One is how to automate uninstall (quite complicated, implemented now by Alex) and the others I remember are how to debug contained REXX code and how to dynamically build installer pages (e.g. his genmac installer). For NEPMD he had created a preprocessor that expands vars in the .wis file. Furthermore, I have added to the NEPMD installation to rename old NEPMD entries in the WarpIN database. All these are very special and require some experience.

Some tips:

Title: Re: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: Alex Taylor on December 30, 2021, 03:26:52 am
So I extracted the install script (wic -X) from the VirtualBox WPI file and listed the package (wic -l), but I have not found a way to list the specific files in the package other than extracting them with wic -x. It looks like I should be able to delete the 9 files, add the newer versions from the Guest Additions ISO, update the script (see below), and add that, as well.

Archive: "vboxadd.wpi"
WPI revision: 3
Stub size: 0 bytes
Package 1
     9 files, size:  5,107,122 bytes original
                     1,694,924 bytes compressed (67% compression)
Summary: 1 package(s), 9 files total
     5,107,122 bytes original
     1,694,924 bytes compressed (67% compression)

Put a package number at the end of the command line to see the files in that package.

Or you can use my ARCVIEW program, it will display WPI file contents.

Quote
The version string for the PACKAGEID in the install script would need to be changed:
<PCK INDEX=1 PACKAGEID="Oracle\VirtualBox\Client Additions\6\1\12"

What am I missing?

Other than updating the changed files, not much. Unless, of course, the actual required install logic needs to be changed, in which case you'll need to figure that out.
Title: Re: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: Neil Waldhauer on December 30, 2021, 03:20:56 pm
If you can find a readme, you might add a note to it explaining your change.
Title: Re: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: jailbird on December 30, 2021, 11:08:09 pm
A dumb question..

Are the OS/2 Additions even really changed that often, or does their build system just automatically bump the release version every time they cut a new one?

I’m basically wondering if it’s even worth updating them, really?
Title: Re: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: Doug Bissett on December 30, 2021, 11:22:05 pm
A dumb question..

Are the OS/2 Additions even really changed that often, or does their build system just automatically bump the release version every time they cut a new one?

I’m basically wondering if it’s even worth updating them, really?

From what I have seen, the date, and time, on the files gets changed, at every release, but if you compare them to the previous ones, they are not really changed very often. They do get changed sometimes, but the only way to find out is to do a compare on the files. The safe, and easy, way is to always update, whether the files were actually changed, or not.
Title: Re: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: Dave Yeo on December 30, 2021, 11:31:16 pm
A dumb question..

Are the OS/2 Additions even really changed that often, or does their build system just automatically bump the release version every time they cut a new one?

I’m basically wondering if it’s even worth updating them, really?

Bird (Knut) does occasionally do work on the OS/2 additions, last was extended folders IIRC. He was the one who did most of our current libc work back in the day and now maintains the VBox build system.
Title: Re: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: Andreas Schnellbacher on December 31, 2021, 12:32:57 am
How often Knut has changed the OS/2 additions in the nearer past? IIRC, Valery wrote that the current one may be Knut's last one.
Title: Re: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: Dave Yeo on December 31, 2021, 12:41:45 am
How often Knut has changed the OS/2 additions in the nearer past? IIRC, Valery wrote that the current one may be Knut's last one.

About the same time as Valery released his, Knut also released some updates. IIRC, Valery's was more complete. Knut might return to working on it or might not. Not sure who builds the official OS/2 Additions, perhaps Knut
Title: Re: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: mauro on December 31, 2021, 02:58:49 pm
How often Knut has changed the OS/2 additions in the nearer past? IIRC, Valery wrote that the current one may be Knut's last one.

About the same time as Valery released his, Knut also released some updates. IIRC, Valery's was more complete. Knut might return to working on it or might not. Not sure who builds the official OS/2 Additions, perhaps Knut

Confirm that in my case, after having installed the Valery GA 5.0.51.r218 in feb 2020 , non further update was needed as they perfectly handle mouse integration, clipboard sharing, folder sharing, video resolution, although I've upgraded Virtualbox version time by time till today.
Title: Re: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: Martin Iturbide on January 01, 2022, 04:27:25 pm
Are the OS/2 Additions even really changed that often, or does their build system just automatically bump the release version every time they cut a new one?

I’m basically wondering if it’s even worth updating them, really?

Hi

On VirtualBox 6.0.2 OS/2 Additions (https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog-6.0), Knut finished (or restored) the "Shared Folder" functionality, on 6.0.10 he fixed something else on the shared folders. I think the latest ones are just rebuilds of the same OS/2 Additions source code. The final word is on the VirtuaBox Changelog (https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog). As far as I know this "shared Folders" from the official source only works from the command line of OS/2 to read and copy files from the host.

I'm using Valery's VBOX additions because he has WPS support for the "Shared Folder" feature. I can read and copy files from the host using the WPS GUI.

For what I been told Valery's implementation of shared folders (VBOXFS.IFS , not to be confused with VBOXSF.IFS) is completely different from the official one.

I contacted Knut about the ticket I opened and he said that he is going to take a look to put the "ArcaOS OS type."

Regards
Title: Re: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: Bennie Nelson on January 01, 2022, 04:36:45 pm
I built the Guest Additions WPI package for VB 6.1.28, removed the version that came with ArcaOS 5.0.7, and installed version 6.1.28. The process went smoothly, but it's still too early to tell if this will resolve the mouse freeze issue in the ArcaOS VM. I did confirm that some of the files had changed between the two versions, but the VBOXMOUSE driver was not one of them.

One other thing I've discovered: the mouse in ArcaOS is virtually unusable without the Guest Additions. I was able to open a 4OS session and the Computer folder on the Desktop, but from there I had to use the keyboard.

Thanks to every one who helped me get the WPI package built. I'm working on a REXX script to streamline the process I used, and I'll post a write up and the script here.

May all of you have a happy and blessed new year!
Bennie Nelson
Title: Re: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: Sgeo on May 11, 2022, 12:53:30 am
May I ask how the VirtualBox Additions WarpIN installer is going?

I've been contemplating attempting to make my own. I'm new to OS/2 though. Would probably just try to package up the current Additions and describe how to do so. Knowing me, it would go out of date quickly.

I'd probably just use LIBPATH to get the VirtualBox drivers to be used instead of the preinstalled one, and I don't know how supported that actually is (seems to work on OS/2 Warp 4.52, at least). I also am unsure of when the libc stuff should be used or not.
Title: Re: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: Doug Bissett on May 11, 2022, 07:27:56 pm
Quote
May I ask how the VirtualBox Additions WarpIN installer is going?

A few years ago, I buit a WapIN installer for VBox additions. It was easy to do, but totally useless.

There were two major problems:

1) You cannot get the files until after they are released. Meaning you need to watch for an update, extract the files, turn them into a WarpIN installer, within minutes of a new VBox being released.

2) Oracle has no interest in adding anything to their distribution of VBox, so users need to get the WaprIN installer from somewhere else.

A more minor problem, is that installing the addirions is not suited to using a WarpIN installer. It is better done with a REXX script. I have a REXX script that does part of the job (just do what the instructions say to do), but I haven't updated my script to handle the shared folder support.

Quote
I'd probably just use LIBPATH to get the VirtualBox drivers to be used instead of the preinstalled one, and I don't know how supported that actually is (seems to work on OS/2 Warp 4.52, at least).

That is okay, if you always make sure that the code is available, but if the CD (or image) gets unmounted, it could be trouble. Drivers don't follow LIBPATH anyway, so other things need to be done to get all of it done properly. Probably easier to just follow the instructions, and do it properly in the first place.

Quote
I also am unsure of when the libc stuff should be used or not.

LIBC should onlu be handled by RPM/YUM (use ANPM to simplify that). The LIBC stuff, that is in the additions, is usually out of date, and installing that can down level what is already installed. Remember that you are updating stuff in OS/2, not the host, and you need to use OS/2 tools to do it, using the additions (other than LIBC) from the VBox additions CD (or image).

Also remeber, that the OS/2 additions are not necessarilly updated at each VBox relese, even though the version might change. That doesn't really matter, you should still do the update, to be sure that you have the latest stuff.
Title: Re: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: ivan on May 11, 2022, 09:29:09 pm
An odd question.  Is there a version of vBox that runs reliably on an OS/2 host with only usb2/3 ports?  The usb controller chip on my Ryzen gen 3 unit is a usb3 controller with usb2 pass through and I have discovered that it doesn't like usb1.1 add in cards, no slots to plug them in.
Title: Re: VirtualBox and Warpin (wic.exe)
Post by: Bennie Nelson on May 13, 2022, 08:31:10 pm
May I ask how the VirtualBox Additions WarpIN installer is going?

I've been contemplating attempting to make my own. I'm new to OS/2 though. Would probably just try to package up the current Additions and describe how to do so. Knowing me, it would go out of date quickly.

I'd probably just use LIBPATH to get the VirtualBox drivers to be used instead of the preinstalled one, and I don't know how supported that actually is (seems to work on OS/2 Warp 4.52, at least). I also am unsure of when the libc stuff should be used or not.
Sorry it's taken me a while to get to this. I recently upgraded VirtualBox and used the installer. It worked fine, but I made some usability tweaks to it. I need to package it in a Zip file with a suitable Use-at-your-own-risk disclaimer. :) I'd like to get that uploaded to the forum soon to see what others make of it.

Thanks for asking about it.
Bennie Nelson