vboxwrapper (Mac): fix startup failure on Mac

[davidpanderson]

The VBox home dir (where it keeps its files) is
"/Library/Application Support/BOINC Data/.VirtualBox/",
not ~/.Virtualbox (the latter may be inaccessible)

Fixes #6015

[Copilot]

Copilot wasn't able to review any files in this pull request.

Files not reviewed (1)

• samples/vboxwrapper/vbox_vboxmanage.cpp: Language not supported

[CharlieFenton]

Why is it .VirtualBox a hidden directory (starting with a period) on the Mac? I can understand making it hidden in the user's home directory because they might be puzzled to see a directory named VirtualBox there , but it seems that it would be better for debugging and tech support not to have hidden files or directories in the BOINC Data folder.

[computezrmle]

This is what the VirtualBox manual states here:
https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/topics/TechnicalBackground.html#vboxconfigdata-global

Global Settings

In addition to the files for the virtual machines, Oracle VirtualBox maintains global configuration data in the following directory:

    Linux and Oracle Solaris:$HOME/.config/VirtualBox.

    Windows:$HOME/.VirtualBox.

    macOS:$HOME/Library/VirtualBox.

Oracle VirtualBox creates this configuration directory automatically, if necessary. You can specify an alternate configuration directory by either setting the VBOX_USER_HOME environment variable, or on Linux or Oracle Solaris by using the standard XDG_CONFIG_HOME variable. Since the global VirtualBox.xml settings file points to all other configuration files, this enables switching between several Oracle VirtualBox configurations.

In this configuration directory, Oracle VirtualBox stores its global settings file, an XML file called VirtualBox.xml. This file includes global configuration options and a list of registered virtual machines with pointers to their XML settings files.

[NenTech]

Can someone compile it for me? I don't have Xcode at the moment. Then I can try to test it.

[AenBleidd]

Check it here: https://github.com/BOINC/boinc/actions/runs/12883992708/artifacts/2460428970

[NenTech]

Thanks!

The wrapper is replaced immediately with the version of the server. (LHC Theory) Is it possible to force the wrapper in the app_config.xml? I could not find it in the documentation.

EDIT: Force successful with the <dont_check_file_sizes>1</dont_check_file_sizes> option in cc_config.xml.

Running now tasks of LHC.

[computezrmle]

@NenTech
See here:
https://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/forum_thread.php?id=6277&postid=51433

And it would be nice if you could post your test results at the LHC@home forum including a link to the task/computer to check the logs.

[NenTech]

The tasks are running now with the new wrapper. I cannot find the directory at '/Library/Application Support/BOINC Data'
I cannot find the files anywhere else on my Mac as well..

[NenTech]

Tasks are running over 1 hour. I don't see any activity. I still cannot find the .VirtualBox folder or the VBoxSVC.log file.

The task is running but the VM and the vboxwrapper are not running. When I start the vboxwrapper manual via the CLI from the slot path, the VM is booting and failing due to communication error with the servers.
https://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/result.php?resultid=418983172

[CharlieFenton]

As I pointed out here, the directory is hidden because its name starts with a period. You can see hidden files and directories using Terminal with the command ls -al. Have you tried that?

Also, please make sure you ran the Mac_SA_Secure.sh script after replacing VBoxWrapper to fix its ownership and permissions, thus:

cd /Library/Application\ Support/BOINC\ Data 
sudo /Volumes/DEV/BOINC_GIT/boinc_trunk/mac_build/Mac_SA_Secure.sh

Finally, It's possible that the .VirtualBox/ directory and its contents may need to have their group set to boinc_project, which would require additional code in Mac_SA_Secure.sh and perhaps also the Mac installer and BOINC client. But I doubt that is needed since it worked with the .VirtualBox/ directory inside the projects directory (until the BOINC client was restarted and deleted it there.)

[NenTech]

Yes I tried that. And to narrow the issues I tried the following:

• Changed the VBoxwrapper with the new version
• Tasks started running in BOINC. No checkpoints made, no VM started, VBoxWrapper is not started either.
• Added manually .VirtualBox in ~/ and /Library/Application\ Data/BOINC\ Data/
• No changes in behaviour
• Started manual vboxwrapper in the slots folder via terminal
• VM starts and runs but fails due to problems with contact of internet servers
• Changed back to 26208 gives the same failures and behaviour. I cannot get to crash the task instantly again.

I think another change between 26207 and 26208 causes issues now. The 26206b wrapper gives the same issues on the VM. (No connection) I still need to test if the VM will start when the 26206b wrapper is used.