[SOLVED] Virtualize this. slackware qemu, virtual-manager, madness with spice and usb-redir

cg132 · 02-02-2016, 06:52 AM

Hello all. Again I find myself beating my head into a wall and feel the need to express my pain. I decided to dive into QEMU and get a virtual machine running. Everything went well at first with base qemu and libvirt. I could run a VM like so...

Code:

qemu-system-i386 -hda ~/qemu/win7.qcow

Wonderful! Now lets get that big'ole virt-manager running. After crawling through slackbuilds.org I got my hands on the following packages:

Code:

gnome-python2-gconf-2.28.1-i486-1_SBo.tgz
tunctl-1.5-i486-2_SBo.tgz
urlgrabber-3.10-i486-1_SBo.tgz
ipaddr-py-2.1.10-i486-1_SBo.tgz
celt051-0.5.1.3-i486-1_SBo.tgz
spice-protocol-0.12.7-noarch-1_SBo.tgz
pyparsing-2.0.3-i486-1_SBo.tgz
spice-0.12.5-i486-1_SBo.tgz
orc-0.4.23-i486-1_SBo.tgz
gstreamer1-1.4.5-i486-1_SBo.tgz
gst1-plugins-base-1.4.5-i486-1_SBo.tgz
vala-0.26.2-i486-1_SBo.tgz
spice-gtk-0.28-i486-1_SBo.tgz
gtk-vnc-0.5.4-i486-1_SBo.tgz
libvirt-glib-0.2.3-i486-1_SBo.tgz
pygobject3-3.10.2-i486-2_SBo.tgz
vte3-0.36.5-i486-1_SBo.tgz
libvirt-python-1.2.21-i486-1_SBo.tgz
libosinfo-0.2.11-i486-1_SBo.tgz
virt-manager-1.2.1-i486-1_SBo.tgz

So far so good. I was able to build all the necessary packages. So I fire up virt-manager and to my amazement it opened up. Could this be true! Is it really going to work?! I begin to configure a new machine and finally I see my first error.

Code:

Unable to complete install:
'unsupported configuration: spice graphics not supported with this version of QEMU'

hahaha! I knew it couldn't be that easy. So I uninstall the qemu.sbo.tgz i have, and edit qemu.SlackBuild to include --enable-spice. Reran the script, reinstalled the new sbo.gz. New error.

Code:

Unable to complete install:
'unsupported configuration: usb redirect not supported with this version of QEMU'

Another mod to the .SlackBuild script to include --enable-usb-redir. Reran the script, removed old, installed new.

Now....when I create a new machine in virt-manager it installs without error. But when the console opens up a gray screen shows nothing but

Code:

Error connecting to graphical console:
USB redirection support not compiled in

Wait didn't I just compile usb-redir into qemu? So close yet so far away. I look back to the qemu slackbuild README (yeah maybe i shoulda read that first). It tells me to run the script with LIBUSB=yes ./qemu.SlackBuild. Well I'm game. Lets try it. Remove old, install new, Same noise. Hang on maybe I'll try it without usb-redir but libusb=yes. Remove old, install new, Same noise. Eh? No matter which way I slice it I cant get around this usb-redir noise.

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Or does anyone have a suggestion as to which way I should go next. I'm giving up for the moment because I've been at it for hours. I'm going to drink some whiskey, play some video games, and catch a nap. I'll report back if I have any breakthroughs or bright ideas. I expect to try recompiling virt-manager at some point but my brain is nearly toast at the moment. Time for a drink.

bassmadrigal · 02-02-2016, 07:17 AM

Looks like you might've not read that line fully...

Quote:

Slackware's libusb is too old. Thus, to enable usb redirection, install usbredir, download libusb-1.19, and build with LIBUSB=yes ./qemu.SlackBuild

NOTE: There is no libusb-1.19, but the maintainer meant 1.0.19, and it is reflected properly in the SlackBuild.

Just make sure that libusb-1.0.19 is included in the same directory as your qemu.SlackBuild and then build qemu with LIBUSB=yes ./qemu.SlackBuild. It will build a static version of libusb into qemu, which won't affect your system version. However, it looks like the script is looking for a tar.xz file, but they don't have that available to download, so I would download the tar.bz2 file and then just edit the SlackBuild accordingly.

cg132 · 02-02-2016, 06:39 PM

Slackbuild has libusb-1.0.19.tar.xz available on the qemu page under sources. Its there. Also I was paraphrasing. I've installed usbredir and tried the LIBUSB=yes ./qemu.Slackbuild but still no dice. Going to try kicking around virt-manager a little to see if maybe it needs to be manhandled after many revisions of qemu pass through while it sits idle.

cg132 · 02-02-2016, 07:20 PM

Guys.... I am sorry for wasting the minutes of your life reading this lame post. I simply changed my VMs display from spice to vnc. All is working now. I got the hint from:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-a-4175487496/

cg132 · 02-24-2016, 03:16 AM

All righty, a revisit. Sorry to bump an old thread but I decided copping out with a weak 'oh i'll settle for vnc' wasn't really solving the issue but just a work around. So I took another look today. Not only does QEMU have a usbredir option but spice-gtk does too! I couldn't believe what I was seeing when I was looking ./configure --help for spice-gtk. I simply added --enable-usbredir=yes to the spice-gtk.SlackBuild script and believe it or not spice video started working with very little reconfiguring of the VM! Don't forget to add a new spice channel and the usb redirector for spice

Cheers everyone. Thanks for putting up with me bumping an old post.

ponce · 02-24-2016, 03:31 AM

you don't need to enable it explicitly because it's autodetected in the SlackBuild

Code:

[...]
if pkg-config --exists libusbredirhost; then usbredir="en"; else usbredir="dis"; fi
[...]
  --${usbredir}able-usbredir \
[...]

kikinovak · 02-24-2016, 05:39 AM

I got the same problem a few days ago. In short:

Build usbredir.
Build qemu with LIBUSB=yes.
Make sure to build spice-gtk against usbredir.

Sounds simple, but kept me busy for two sunny afternoons.

Cheers,

Niki

cg132 · 02-26-2016, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kikinovak

Sounds simple, but kept me busy for two sunny afternoons.

This is exactly why I posted about it on LQ. I knew someone else had to have stumbled over this a few times. Hopefully someone can learn from our mistakes

anon190 · 07-04-2016, 08:01 PM

Hello all,

I just thought I'd let you know I was having this same issue and arrived here for the answer. Thanks.

V/r,
Bryan