Arch Linux

archexplorer

Member

Registered: 2024-12-19

Posts: 7

Virtualbox taints kernel

Installing virtualbox with sudo pacman -S virtualbox with the arch modules taints the kernel. Is there a way to install virtualbox without tainiting the kernel?

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 9,003

Website

Re: Virtualbox taints kernel

The kernel is tainted by the out-of-tree VirtualBox drivers so the only way to avoid that is to not load those drivers.

Perhaps try something better instead? QEMU/KVM is part of the mainline kernel and outperforms VirtualBox.

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Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,194

Re: Virtualbox taints kernel

What disadvantage do you think you have from an out of tree module tainting the kernel?

archexplorer

Member

Registered: 2024-12-19

Posts: 7

Re: Virtualbox taints kernel

Looks like I'll need to do some reading to understand what out-of-tree means more. Is there any query I can use to see which packages have loaded out of tree modules?

I use qemu/kvm for most of my virtualization needs, I just use vbox for my ansible work at the moment.

Last edited by archexplorer (2025-01-07 13:13:46)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,194

Re: Virtualbox taints kernel

Properly packaged external kernel modules land in /usr/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/extramodules you could ls there or do e.g. a pacman -Qo on that path to get packages that have modules there.