linux-image-2.6.27(-7)-virtual contains server kernel ...

[Ulf]

Hi,

according to http://packages.ubuntu.com/intrepid/i386/linux-image-2.6.27-7-virtual/filelist the package with the kernel which afaik is meant for virtual machine guests contains a server kernel. This lead to a problem for me while upgrading from 8.04 to 8.10 as my system couldn't boot anymore, as the (new) server kernel requires PAE which VMware Workstation doesn't seem to provide (at least not without changing the config file for the VM). I had to go install a generic kernel to make my system boot with a current kernel version.

Best Regards

Ulf

P.S. Found (from my point of view) related issues/bugs:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-meta/+bug/293831
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-meta/+bug/247588
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/295347
Something has happened to the virtual package which is not only affecting me ...

P.P.S (edited) Looks to me like this change made the virtual package contain the server kernel (from http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/changelogs/pool/main/l/linux-meta/linux-meta_2.6.27.9.13/changelog):

linux-meta (2.6.27.5.6) intrepid; urgency=low

  [ Soren Hansen ]

  * Re-add meta packages for virtual kernel flavour (LP: #276292)
  * Remove "restricted/" from linux-server's Section. It has no dependencies
    in restricted.

 -- Ben Collins <email address hidden> Tue, 07 Oct 2008 06:10:08 -0400

P.P.P.S. Using the generic kernel instead of the "real" virtual prevents me from successfully compiling the VMware-tools:

Building the vsock module.

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.
make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only'
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.27-9-generic/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.27-9-generic'
  CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/linux/af_vsock.o
  CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/linux/driverLog.o
  CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/linux/util.o
/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/linux/util.c: In function ‘VSockVmciLogPkt’:
/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/linux/util.c:157: warning: format not a string literal and no format arguments
  CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/linux/vsockAddr.o
  LD [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.o
  Building modules, stage 2.
  MODPOST 1 modules
WARNING: "VMCIDatagram_CreateHnd" [/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.ko] undefined!
WARNING: "VMCIDatagram_DestroyHnd" [/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.ko] undefined!
WARNING: "VMCIEvent_Subscribe" [/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.ko] undefined!
WARNING: "VMCI_DeviceGet" [/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.ko] undefined!
WARNING: "VMCIMemcpyFromQueueV" [/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.ko] undefined!
WARNING: "VMCIQueuePair_Detach" [/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.ko] undefined!
WARNING: "VMCI_GetContextID" [/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.ko] undefined!
WARNING: "VMCIDatagram_Send" [/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.ko] undefined!
WARNING: "VMCIQueuePair_Alloc" [/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.ko] undefined!
WARNING: "VMCIEvent_Unsubscribe" [/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.ko] undefined!
WARNING: "VMCIMemcpyToQueueV" [/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.ko] undefined!
  CC /tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.mod.o
  LD [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.27-9-generic'
cp -f vsock.ko ./../vsock.o
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only'
Unable to make a vsock module that can be loaded in the running kernel:
insmod: error inserting '/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock.o': -1 Unknown symbol in module

[Scott Ritchie (scottritchie)]

Confirmed on the released Jaunty (!)

Going to the current kernel version at http://packages.ubuntu.com/jaunty/linux-image-virtual and selecting list files shows a bunch of misnames for the server kernel.

[markba (mark-baaijens)]

The virtual kernel is presenting it self in grub (/boot/grub/menu.lst) as a server version:

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-server
uuid bcd97235-6b9e-4a29-beeb-1b12603d9d9d
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-server root=UUID=bcd97235-6b9e-4a29-beeb-1b12603d9d9d ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-server

In VirtualBox, the virtual-kernel (which is really a server-kernel), does not boot. After changing VM-settings (PAE = on), the session boots fine, but seems unstable. Iḿ loading the generic kernel also, so I do not need to set PAE.

[Ralf Naujokat (ubuntu-ralf-naujokat)]

Still the same for Kernel 2.6.28-12
I tried to install package linux-virtual and got kernel 2.6.28-12-server.
This bug now is more than five months old..

[Andy Whitcroft (apw)]

This is not a bug in the linux-meta package, moving to the linux package.

[Soren Hansen (soren)]

In fact, this is not a bug at all.

The -virtual and -server in Intrepid had identical configurations apart from a big stack of modules that were disabled in -virtual, since they'd never be useful in a virtual environment anyway. So, instead of building two identical kernel images, Ben added the concept of subflavours to the kernel build system. It's a mechanism that builds multiple kernel packages from the same kernel image and module set. Essentially, the -virtual kernel package is identical to the -server kernel package, except for a bunch of modules that were removed.

The relevant changelog entry is this:

linux (2.6.26-4.12) intrepid; urgency=low

  [ Ben Collins ]

[...]
  * build: Add sub-flavour infrastructure, and virtual subflav
[...]

 -- Ben Collins <email address hidden> Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:51:39 -0400

As for compiling external modules, the linux-headers-virtual package even simply pulls in the server kernel's headers, which is also completely intentional.

Now, I'm not arguing that this is perfect. Clearly, people are surprised to see their -virtual kernel turn up as "linux-server". How can we make this less surprising?

[Ulf (ulf-bremer)]

Hi,

the "surprise" in this case was that the system wasn't booting anymore (as the kernel requires PAE now) which is more then a cosmetical issue ...

I'll check if I get VMTools compiled now ...

Best Regards

Ulf

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This bug was filed against a series that is no longer supported and so is being marked as Won't Fix. If this issue still exists in a supported series, please file a new bug.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.