[Pkg-virtualbox-devel] Bug#607169: /usr/share/virtualbox/VBox.sh: Save machine state with immutable images result in corrupt session

[Eloi Notario]

Package: virtualbox-ose
Version: 3.1.4-dfsg-1~bpo50+1
Severity: important
File: /usr/share/virtualbox/VBox.sh

I have a virtual machine configured with its only hard drive as immutable
for testing reasons. This makes the hard disk appear without any change
made on the previous session, as expected.

However, if I save the machine state to continue working on later, the HD
is backed up at the next VM start. With the memory status restored but
different HD contents, the VM is unusable. Turning off and on the VM
makes it usable again, but losing the saved state.

The save state option is useless and prone to loss of data if unaware of
the issue. Either do not destroy the differencing image on VM start if
the previous state was saved instead of powered off or do not offer to
save state if using immutable HD images.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 5.0.7
  APT prefers stable
  APT policy: (500, 'stable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.26-2-686 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=ca_ES.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=ca_ES.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages virtualbox-ose depends on:
ii  adduser             3.110                add and remove users and groups
ii  libc6               2.7-18lenny6         GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  libcurl3            7.18.2-8lenny4       Multi-protocol file transfer libra
ii  libgcc1             1:4.3.2-1.1          GCC support library
ii  libgl1-mesa-glx [li 7.0.3-7              A free implementation of the OpenG
ii  libpng12-0          1.2.27-2+lenny4      PNG library - runtime
ii  libqt4-opengl       4.4.3-1+lenny1       Qt 4 OpenGL module
ii  libqtcore4          4.4.3-1+lenny1       Qt 4 core module
ii  libqtgui4           4.4.3-1+lenny1       Qt 4 GUI module
ii  libsdl1.2debian     1.2.13-2             Simple DirectMedia Layer
ii  libssl0.9.8         0.9.8g-15+lenny9     SSL shared libraries
ii  libstdc++6          4.3.2-1.1            The GNU Standard C++ Library v3
ii  libx11-6            2:1.1.5-2            X11 client-side library
ii  libxcursor1         1:1.1.9-1            X cursor management library
ii  libxext6            2:1.0.4-2            X11 miscellaneous extension librar
ii  libxml2             2.6.32.dfsg-5+lenny2 GNOME XML library
ii  libxmu6             2:1.0.4-1            X11 miscellaneous utility library
ii  libxt6              1:1.0.5-3            X11 toolkit intrinsics library
ii  python              2.5.2-3              An interactive high-level object-o
ii  python-central      0.6.8                register and build utility for Pyt
ii  python2.5           2.5.2-15+lenny1      An interactive high-level object-o
ii  zlib1g              1:1.2.3.3.dfsg-12    compression library - runtime

Versions of packages virtualbox-ose recommends:
ii  libgl1-mesa-glx [li 7.0.3-7              A free implementation of the OpenG
ii  virtualbox-ose-dkms 3.1.4-dfsg-1~bpo50+1 x86 virtualization solution - kern
ii  virtualbox-ose-qt   3.1.4-dfsg-1~bpo50+1 x86 virtualization solution - Qt b

Versions of packages virtualbox-ose suggests:
ii  libasound2               1.0.16-2        ALSA library
ii  libpulse0                0.9.10-3+lenny2 PulseAudio client libraries
pn  virtualbox-guest-additio <none>          (no description available)

-- debconf information:
  virtualbox-ose/upstream_version_change: false