[vbox-dev] [EXPERIMENTAL] VBox-Unattended Release 0.7.1 - Automated guest OS install

[Alexey Eromenko]

1. I have called it VirtualBox_unattended-OSE. So yes, maybe I should
avoid changing numbers. Just last number, if uneven, indicates an
unstable build. Oracle publishes only even-ended releases. x.y.0,
x.y.2, etc..
So this is beneficial to have numbers also...

2. You missed the elephant in da room: I use "mtools" as dependency.
Windows host lacks ability to manipulate floppy images. Create new
1.44 MB floppy image, format it with FAT, loop mount it, copy files to
it, etc... If someone writes an equivalent software for Windows, it
should be good. (Hint: Qemu has it.)

3. could happen...

4. No source control. I believe that for one-man projects, I will just
shoot in the foot if I add the overhead of a version control. IMO it
should be used only for teams.

On Fri, Oct 18, 2013 at 3:10 PM, Pau Garcia i Quiles
<pgquiles at elpauer.org> wrote:
> Alexey,
>
> This is great work indeed
>
> I do not work for Oracle but I'm sure they will agree with this:
>
> Please do not increment version numbers. What you call "4.1.29" should be
> called "4.1.28+alexey" or "4.1.28+unattended", or something like that.
> Otherwise, it creates confusion.
>
> Why would porting to Windows be difficult? I have skimmed over the code and
> noticed nothing really difficult to port (or maybe I missed it)
>
> I noticed some wrong changes in the documentation (probably due to moving
> your patch forward VBox versions without re-reading the whole patch, easy to
> fix)
>
> Are you publishing your code in a git/svn repository somewhere? If you use
> git to mirror the VirtualBox svn repository (use git-svn) and create a
> branch for your work, then synchronizing and providing patches (and getting
> more people to eventually help with VBox Unattended) would be much easier
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Oct 18, 2013 at 8:39 PM, Alexey Eromenko <al4321 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I have good news and bad news:
>>
>> The Good news:
>> 1. I have revived vboxunattended patch with 0.7.1 release
>> 2. I have built a binary installer - VirtualBox_unattended-OSE-4.1.29
>> for those who like to try it out
>> The version is a patched 4.1.28, that I renamed as 4.1.29.
>>
>> The bad news:
>> 1. Linux hosts only (porting to Windows will be difficult)
>> 2. I'we tried & failed to port the patchset to the new VirtualBox
>> 4.3.0 release -- because the code in this release is so complex, that
>> I can't understand it.
>>
>> [specifically: I was unable to understand how parameters are passed
>> between the classes in the New VM wizard, for example how the RAM
>> parameter goes from the VirtualBox GUI into the COM server IMachine
>> interface:
>>
>> UIWizardNewVMPageBasic2->UIWizardNewVMPage2->UINameAndSystemEditor->UIWizardNewVM->CMachine...
>> ?]
>>
>> NOTE:
>> vbox-unattended patchset is experimental.
>>
>> Supported guest OSes: (list not changed in few years)
>> -openSUSE 11.4 32/64-bit
>> -Debian 6.0 DVD 32/64-bit
>> -Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 (32/64-bit)
>> -Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (32/64-bit)
>> -Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (32/64-bit)
>> -Windows XP (32-bit)
>> -Windows Vista (32-bit)
>> (other OSes might or might not work)
>>
>> Install instructions: (Debian Linux)
>> 1. New Dependencies:
>> # apt-get install p7zip-full mtools genisoimage
>> 2. Download & install patched VirtualBox-unattended-OSE for Linux:
>> (4.1.29)
>>
>> http://www.qumble.org/Downloads/VirtualBox-4.1.29_unattended-OSE-r89849.run
>> 2.a. [OPTIONAL] MD5SUM:
>> 2e22e1568a49c0585ab7d4dee6eec50e
>> /home/alexey/1/VirtualBox-4.1.29_unattended-OSE-r89849.run
>> 3. Make sure you use Oracle's guest additions:
>> Download
>> http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/4.1.28/VBoxGuestAdditions_4.1.28.iso
>> cp [path]/VBoxGuestAdditions_4.1.28.iso
>> /opt/VirtualBox/additions/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso
>>
>> Source code:
>> https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=46798&p=211187#p211187
>> --
>> -Alexey Eromenko "Technologov"
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> vbox-dev mailing list
>> vbox-dev at virtualbox.org
>> https://www.virtualbox.org/mailman/listinfo/vbox-dev
>
>
>
>
> --
> Pau Garcia i Quiles
> http://www.elpauer.org
> (Due to my workload, I may need 10 days to answer)



-- 
-Alexey Eromenko "Technologov"