Colin Watson asked that I discuss this issue in #ubuntu-kernel. A log of the IRC discussion is below, as requested by Martin Pitt, and I'll attach a debdiff for 'grub-gfxpayload-lists' in due course:
Here is what we discussed: <flexiondotorg> I been discussing https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/virtualbox/+bug/1368784/ with cjwatson in #ubuntu-devel <ubot5> Ubuntu bug 1368784 in virtualbox (Ubuntu) "Vivid and Utopic Virtualbox guest gets only up to resolution of 640x480" [High,Confirmed] <flexiondotorg> I've got the following work around - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/virtualbox/+bug/1368784/comments/17 <flexiondotorg> cjwatson is prepared to update grub-gfxpayload-lists if someone here can confirm "fixing" this issue at a kernel level is hopeless. <flexiondotorg> So, thoughts? <apw> flexiondotorg, "fixing" at the kernel level, do we know what the issue is ? <apw> flexiondotorg, the implication of the (admittedly older) comments is that you need virtualbox-guest-x11 <apw> flexiondotorg, and indeed i can confirm that installing the said package does sort things out, who knows what i has in it mind <apw> seems it has a vbox specific video drivers <apw> i wonder if they should be being installed by jockey <flexiondotorg> apw, So the issue is the default resolution when virtualbox-guest-x11 is not installed. <apw> the default resolution is that offered by the vesa settings i assume ? <flexiondotorg> apw, The vmware video devices are already blacklisted by grub-gfxpayload-lists <apw> ok, so then it sounds like whatever this is using now is a candidate for blacklisting ? <flexiondotorg> apw, Must be. vesa is used by vbox when the guestadditions-x11 is absent. <apw> so that is a vbox issue really, offering stupid resolutions by default <flexiondotorg> apw, Since 14.04. Yes. <flexiondotorg> apw, The 640x480 thing started sometime during 14.10. <apw> and presumably it does that because they don't care about you if you don't install their video driver <flexiondotorg> apw, I couldn't possibly comment ;) <apw> i wonder why i makes a difference to blacklist it in grub though, vesa must be very broken <apw> and so i would think rather than being a fallback option to blacklist more things in grub, it might <apw> be the appropriate option instead <flexiondotorg> apw, It is odd because when booting from the live media, resolution is 1024x768. <flexiondotorg> But on first install, resolution is 640x480. <apw> right, that doesn't use grub, nor initialise the display <apw> it uses syslinux <flexiondotorg> apw, Indeed. <apw> grub initialises the display, because you know the vesa modes offered should be the preferred size of your display, so setting it up early makes sense and makes things prettier <apw> unless your vesa config is spam <apw> and has "1 1024x768 2 640x480 (default)" in it ... or equiv <flexiondotorg> So, possibly a regression in what Virtualbox provides. <apw> but if we are blacklisting for vbox video anyhow, it may well make sense to blacklist everything when vbox is found <apw> which is what i assume the wildcard you added does <flexiondotorg> apw, Yes. <flexiondotorg> Although, AKAIK, vbox have only ever used one device ID for video. <apw> flexiondotorg, not that i really know why one would use vbox if you had any other choice <flexiondotorg> The other "work around" is to configure grub to use 'console' for all video output. <flexiondotorg> apw, It is very popular with people who just want to test. Low barrier of entry. <apw> flexiondotorg, i don't find virtmgr any more complex to drive, and it idoesn't have these issue at least <flexiondotorg> apw, Agreed. <apw> and i don't need 30k lines of random out of tree junk loaded into my kernle to make it work either <flexiondotorg> But, people do use vbox. <flexiondotorg> apw, So the question is. Is this fixable by the kernel team? Seems like a big fat "No" based on what we've discussed? <apw> well they had much more ufn, they were just exploding in the host when they tried <apw> flexiondotorg, i am not sure what we would fix, grub handed us a configured terminal, and we continued to use it as instructed <apw> flexiondotorg, and presumably because vesa, it was at a stupid resolution <apw> i'll try your workaround on that same gnome image in vbox and see how it looks <flexiondotorg> apw, So I think that blacklisting the vbox video device in grub is the way forward. <flexiondotorg> apw, OK. Thanks for testing. <apw> flexiondotorg, and i think the behaviour with the blacklist seems more useful, and i assume if i install the -guest-x11 i'll get go faster stripes <flexiondotorg> apw, Yes with guest-x11 install you get dynamic resizing and such. <apw> flexiondotorg, but yes, i htink my prefrered option is this blacklist, and if it fixes the issues you have with locked disks that sounds liek a win <flexiondotorg> apw, Agreed. Although the inability to enter encryption pass phrases affects actual hardware too. By blacklisting vbox for grub you get a text mode plymouth which always works. <apw> flexiondotorg, yeah, i assume we have a lot of issues there now we have systemd fun to play with <apw> i guess i ought to reinstall some of my kit with that to find out <flexiondotorg> apw, systemd isn't to blame for passphrase entry. That was present in 14.10 also. <flexiondotorg> apw, My "solution" was not to ship a graphical plymouth theme in 14.10. That way only text mode available and pass phrase entry worked. <flexiondotorg> apw, Are you still testing this on an Ubuntu GNOME image or have we concluded that blacklisting is the solution? <apw> i think we concur blacklisting is the way forward for the size issue <apw> the plymouth not working is separate <flexiondotorg> apw, Thanks for your time. <apw> flexiondotorg, thanks for paying attention to it :) <flexiondotorg> apw, I'll report back to cjwatson and he can make the blacklist change. <flexiondotorg> apw, Most welcome :) <apw> ack, thanks -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1368784 Title: Vivid and Utopic Virtualbox guest gets only up to resolution of 640x480 To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub-gfxpayload-lists/+bug/1368784/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
