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How do I package ubuntu for virtual box in a ready-to-eat format so I can foist it on every person who owns a laptop? (that way they have NO barrier to use it: neither in the install or the required rebooting for dual boot)

Ubuntu has very poor out-of-the-box performance as a guest in virtual box due to the high dependence on hardware acceleration for it's all important eyecandy/perfectly-purple-pixels. For a usable system the virtualbox VM needs to be configured to allow 3D acceleration and Ubuntu needs specific drivers to benefit from this. How can I go about packaging the whole shebang so noobs get a ready to eat package?

Target Group: Noobs who show the slightest curiosity; acquaintances and distant family susceptible to cajoling, coercion and emotional blackmail; anyone with a new machine. More technical users can configure VBox machines themselves, setup dualboots or just ditch windows like I did.

I posted a question on launchpad a while ago but that is gathering dust.. (https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/232004)

Ideally I would like the Ubuntu iso to contain the drivers to support virtual box, since it too is an important "platform". My questions are :

  1. The drivers and extensions are under some GPL incompatible opensource license (CDL I think) Is there any technical/legal problem in including them on the iso? (there are ready to use debs on the official ubuntu repo already that use DKMS+source code)
  2. How can I file a request to include them on the iso? I had no luck on launchpad, either on my own or with my request for guidance.

Update:

The question has no reduced to "how do I ask for the virtualbox-guest-additions package to be included by default in the ubuntu 13.10 iso?"

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  • The question you stated the link to has an answer from actionparsnip: "13.10 is prerelease right now so not for new users. Suggest you report a bug and state your case." I suggest you read their full response.
    – Thomas Ward ♦
    Sep 5, 2013 at 17:40
  • well I can't ask to have the drivers included by default in the iso after it is released can I? :/
    – staticd
    Sep 6, 2013 at 10:27
  • No, however if you had read you would have seen you should have filed a bug and it would have been discussed, but now that we're pretty far along in the dev cycle this might be a consideration for 14.04...
    – Thomas Ward ♦
    Sep 6, 2013 at 19:05
  • Why not download the preinstalled virtual disk image? Google for "Virtual appliance".
    – ignis
    Sep 14, 2013 at 10:01

2 Answers 2

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I don't know where you get that idea, but the guest additions, since version 4.0.0, are released under the GPL2 license.

You can check it in the source code if your are still in doubt. See this file for an example. Feel free to check others.

So don't worry about redistributing them with the rest of VirtualBox.

Another complete different matter is the Extension Pack, that contains things like usb2 support. This is not open source software and can't be distributed.

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  • Thanks. I reread the license in the guest additions package. btw where do I file a (bug) feature request to have this in the default ubuntu iso for 13.10? I cant seem to find and relevant page on launchpad.
    – staticd
    Sep 6, 2013 at 10:45
  • As far as I know the default ISO content is decided at UDS. UDS sessions are usually started with a blueprint in Launchad, but you should probably ask this as a different question. Lot's of people here know it but are unlikely to notice this in a VB question.
    – Javier Rivera
    Sep 6, 2013 at 15:43
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To show off Ubuntu a virtual machine is the least alternative I would have thought of. It will leave users with the tragically wrong impression that Ubuntu is a sluggish, slow running, and hence unusuable OS.

In addition, other than the guest OS we will also have to configure the host to be able to run a VM fairly well.

So your project - as nice as it looks at first glance - will not lead to the desired effect. I would not recommend it, and the effort you will have to put in is not worth it.

Having said that, here are some nice guides for alternatives (but you can also get ideas for your project from these guides):

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  • I use ubuntu in virtual box to test out new software. Ubuntu runs just fine with the necessary drivers. I know windows users who use ubuntu in this manner so that they can use ubuntu applications side by side. Hell, they even use it to run Scientific simulations for god's sake, so it really is not that slow on a modern machine. (what ever sluggishness exists is because unity IS bloated and sluggish) The whole point of this exercise was to avoid the necessity to reboot out of windows, irrespective of whether it is a LiveCD or a Dual boot
    – staticd
    Sep 4, 2013 at 11:17
  • I'd just export a ready configured VM to DVD to import it to any other instance of Virtual Box (see edit for link). Still, the receiver will have to install and configure Virtual Box on the host first. So at the end it's a lot more work than booting a live system to try our Ubuntu.
    – Takkat
    Sep 4, 2013 at 11:32
  • :/ The only thing I'm sure of is that once the drivers are compiled and installed the whole binary can't be distributed.. so that isn't an option. I was looking for instructions as to how I can file a request to include the package in the default iso as out of the box support for virtual box is also a good thing in general cases.
    – staticd
    Sep 4, 2013 at 13:05

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