Arch Linux

TuxmanLC

Member

Registered: 2017-05-29

Posts: 3

[SOLVED] What VM software has the least amount of issues w/ 'pacman

I've been on arch for about 6 months now and loving it, but VMware is a huge headache. Whenever I update the system, VMware breaks, and it takes hackery in order to get things up and running.. sometimes I can't open my VM for days+ until someone clever posts something in AUR's 'vmware patch' comments.

Does VirtualBox have the same issues when updating, as VMware? It seems that VMware always fumbles on re-compiling modules after gcc/kernel updates.. does VirtualBox have to re-compile after system updates too?

Basically, I'm trying to figure out what VM software or solution will encounter the least amount of issues when dealing with 'pacman -Syu' on a regular basis.

Thanks

EDIT: Marking thread as solved.

Last edited by TuxmanLC (2017-06-10 21:07:18)

jasonwryan

Anarchist

From: .nz

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 30,426

Website

Re: [SOLVED] What VM software has the least amount of issues w/ 'pacman

Please edit your thread title and choose one that is specific and actually reflects your issue: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Co … ow_to_post

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stanna

Member

From: melb.au

Registered: 2017-03-24

Posts: 100

Re: [SOLVED] What VM software has the least amount of issues w/ 'pacman

i couldnt even get vmware working in the first place and gave up and moved my daily VM's into qemu once i switched to Arch a few weeks ago (coming from fedora im used to vmware breaking every kernel update). now all i need to do to complete my migration is get a bridge network going but im not smart enough for that sadly..

the only alternative i guess is to lag behind with updates.

Rethil

Member

Registered: 2014-08-21

Posts: 83

Re: [SOLVED] What VM software has the least amount of issues w/ 'pacman

I'm using qemu/kvm without any problems. Try it.

HiImTye

Member

From: Halifax, NS, Canada

Registered: 2012-05-09

Posts: 1,072

Re: [SOLVED] What VM software has the least amount of issues w/ 'pacman

virtualbox works fine for me, but you have to remember to reload your kernel modules along with any kernel updates. the virtualbox and linux updates are typically together, and the aur update for virtualbox-ext-oracle (the extension pack) also typically follows closely. kernel/video driver/xorg updates are the times when I restart the PC anyway, so it goes hand in hand, but I would say the majority of periodic virtualbox errors stems from not restarting/reloading kernel modules after an update

herOldMan

Member

Registered: 2013-10-11

Posts: 163

Re: [SOLVED] What VM software has the least amount of issues w/ 'pacman

Virtualbox is rock-solid for me.

Hydranix

Member

Registered: 2013-02-10

Posts: 56

Re: [SOLVED] What VM software has the least amount of issues w/ 'pacman

Qemu is quite good, but if you want a pretty gui, virt-manager is great.

VirtualBox is pretty good as well, but not as nicely integrated into the kernel as Qemu/KVM, so you have to reload modules.

VMWare is just a mess... I'm sure it's good on a system that never updates anything ever... but feels taped together on a system that stays up to date.

Never used Xen, not much to say about it.

Are there others?

Last edited by Hydranix (2017-05-31 23:08:38)

TuxmanLC

Member

Registered: 2017-05-29

Posts: 3

Re: [SOLVED] What VM software has the least amount of issues w/ 'pacman

I grately appreciate all your responses, thank you!

I decided to migrate to QEMU. It took me a few days to read up on, and really tweak out, my command line args but I'm really glad I invested the time to learn it. QEMU is outstanding! My VM is running like a racecar engine (qemu) compared to a jalopy (other VM emulators), with the real bonus of not breaking every update.

I'm glad to be leaving VMWare behind... As a wise man (@Hydranix) once said, "VMWare is just a mess."