Dynamic module does not define module export function (PyInit_VBoxPython3_6m)

[larytet]

ENVIRONMENT

• Operating System: Host Ubuntu Ubuntu 17.10,
• Python version: 3.6
• VirtualBox version: 5.1.30
• VirtualBox SDK version: 5.2.2-119230

SUMMARY

Following code fails

import virtualbox
vbox = virtualbox.VirtualBox()
vbox.compose_machine_filename("win8", "test", "", "")

with AttributeError: 'TypeError' object has no attribute 'message'

The full error

    def _call_method(self, method, in_p=None):
        if in_p is None:
            in_p = []
        in_params = [self._cast_to_valuetype(p) for p in in_p]
        try:
            ret = method(*in_params)
        except Exception as exc:
            errno = getattr(exc, 'errno', getattr(exc, 'hresult', -1))
            errno &= 0xFFFFFFFF
            errclass = vbox_error.get(errno, VBoxError)
            errobj = errclass()
            errobj.exc = exc
            errobj.value = errno
            # TODO: Is this the only way to get a message from exc...
            #       does this also vary between nix vs windows.
            errobj.msg = None
            if platform.system() == 'Windows':
                if hasattr(exc, 'args'):
                    errobj.msg = exc.args[2][2]
            # TODO: get the Linux/Darwin specific args struct

            if errobj.msg is None:
>               errobj.msg = getattr(exc, 'msg', getattr(exc, 'message'))
E               AttributeError: 'TypeError' object has no attribute 'message'

[larytet]

The following fails as well

import virtualbox
virtualbox.VirtualBox().find_machine("win8")

The whole output looks like

$ bpython3
bpython version 0.17 on top of Python 3.6.3 /usr/bin/python3
>>> import virtualbox
>>> virtualbox.VirtualBox().find_machine("win8")
m=VBoxPython3_6m x=dynamic module does not define module export function (PyInit_VBoxPython3_6m)
m=VBoxPython3m x=No module named 'VBoxPython3m'
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<input>", line 1, in <module>
    virtualbox.VirtualBox().find_machine("win8")
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/virtualbox/library.py", line 7280, in find_machine
    in_p=[name_or_id])
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/virtualbox/library_base.py", line 186, in _call
    return self._call_method(method, in_p=in_p)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/virtualbox/library_base.py", line 212, in _call_method
    errobj.msg = getattr(exc, 'msg', getattr(exc, 'message'))
AttributeError: 'TypeError' object has no attribute 'message'

I suspect that I have a problem with the environment, but I can not figure out what the problem is

[larytet]

After some debugging: exc.dict is {} (instance exc does not contain any attributes) and errobj=0xffffffff (None)

[larytet]

In Python 2.7 I am getting

$ bpython
bpython version 0.17 on top of Python 2.7.14 /usr/bin/python
>>> import virtualbox
>>> virtualbox.VirtualBox().find_machine("win8")
m=VBoxPython2_7 x=No module named VBoxPython2_7
m=VBoxPython2 x=No module named VBoxPython2
m=VBoxPython x=/usr/lib/virtualbox/VBoxPython.so: undefined symbol: _Py_FalseStruct
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<input>", line 1, in <module>
    virtualbox.VirtualBox().find_machine("win8")
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/virtualbox/library_ext/vbox.py", line 22, in __init__
    manager = virtualbox.Manager()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/virtualbox/__init__.py", line 137, in __init__
    self.manager = vboxapi.VirtualBoxManager(mtype, mparams)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/vboxapi/__init__.py", line 989, in __init__
    self.platform = PlatformXPCOM(dPlatformParams)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/vboxapi/__init__.py", line 750, in __init__
    import xpcom.vboxxpcom
  File "/usr/lib/virtualbox/sdk/bindings/xpcom/python/xpcom/vboxxpcom.py", line 78, in <module>
    raise Exception('Cannot find VBoxPython module (tried: %s)' % (', '.join(_asVBoxPythons),))
Exception: Cannot find VBoxPython module (tried: VBoxPython2_7, VBoxPython2, VBoxPython)

I installed pyvbox using sudo pip install pyvbox

[larytet]

I tried to use vboxapi directly - this is about the wrong parameter for findMachine and broken exception handler.

import vboxapi
vboxapi.VirtualBoxManager(None, None).getVirtualBox().findMachine('win8')

import vboxapi
vboxMgr = vboxapi.VirtualBoxManager(None, None)
m=VBoxPython3_6m x=dynamic module does not define module export function (PyInit_VBoxPython3_6m)
m=VBoxPython3m x=No module named 'VBoxPython3m'
#  I hope I am doing it right 
vbox = vboxMgr.getVirtualBox()
vbox.findMachine('win8')
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<input>", line 1, in <module>
    vbox.findMachine('win8')
  File "<XPCOMObject method 'findMachine'>", line 3, in findMachine
TypeError: internal error in PyXPCOM, parameter must be a bytes object

[larytet]

I tried

import vboxapi
vboxMgr = vboxapi.VirtualBoxManager(None, None)
m=VBoxPython3_6m x=dynamic module does not define module export function (PyInit_VBoxPython3_6m)
m=VBoxPython3m x=No module named 'VBoxPython3m'
#  I hope I am doing it right 
vbox = vboxMgr.getVirtualBox()
 vbox.findMachine(u"win8".encode())
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<input>", line 1, in <module>
    vbox.findMachine(u"win8".encode())
  File "<XPCOMObject method 'findMachine'>", line 3, in findMachine
TypeError: This parameter must be a unicode object

[larytet]

I suspect that Python3 binding is broken. In Python 2.7 I am getting Cannot find VBoxPython module (tried: VBoxPython2_7, VBoxPython2, VBoxPython)

I tried to set the path PYTHON_PATH=/usr/lib/virtualbox/sdk/bindings/xpcom/python:/usr/lib/virtualbox PYTHONPATH=/usr/lib/virtualbox/sdk/bindings/xpcom/python:/usr/lib/virtualbox

There is a file /usr/lib/virtualbox/VBoxPython.so

[sethmlarson]

Hello! Thanks for posting this issue and including all this information. Could you answer a few questions about your environment then I'll be able to help you a lot easier:

• Do you know where vboxapi is installed on your system?
• When you installed vboxapi which Python did you use to install it?
• Are you using system Python to install pyvbox or a virtual environment? If you're not using a virtualenv can you try this and report back?
• Could you try downloading the latest vboxapi and seeing if that works?
• Did you use the SDK from the VirtualBox website? I ask this because there's lots of places to get the "SDK" but really it's a community-made port.

We'll get to the bottom of this!

[larytet]

I have downloaded VirtualBoxSDK-5.2.2-119230.zip from the VirtualBox website md5 d533c08e64f31e5cd7c886c906ed7d16

I am using system (Host machine) Python 3 to install everything unzip cd sdk/installer sudo VBOX_INSTALL_PATH=/usr/lib/virtualbox python3.6 vboxapisetup.py install sudo pip3 install vboxapi

It appears that I have /usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages import vboxapi works fine as you see in my posts above

The issue is not with pyvbox, but with my installation of vboxapi. I guess pyvbox is not the right place to continue.

Would be nice to have an egg which installs everything in Ubuntu.

Meanwhile I switched to the VBoxManager shell for my project.

[sethmlarson]

I'll still try to recreate your issue as I have Ubuntu 17.10 installed.

[larytet]

I did

    # install VirtualBox SDK from https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
    # wget http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/5.2.2/VirtualBoxSDK-5.2.2-119230.zip
    # unzip VirtualBoxSDK-5.2.2-119230.zip
    # cd sdk/installer/
    # sudo VBOX_INSTALL_PATH=/usr/lib/virtualboxpython3 python3.6 ./vboxapisetup.py install

[noxdafox]

I have the same issue on Debian Stretch, Python 3.5.

pyvbox was installed via pip.

sudo pip3 install pyvbox

In [1]: import virtualbox

In [2]: vbox = virtualbox.VirtualBox()
m=VBoxPython3_5m x=dynamic module does not define module export function (PyInit_VBoxPython3_5m)
m=VBoxPython3m x=No module named 'VBoxPython3m'

In [3]: vm = vbox.find_machine(vbox.machines[0].name)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TypeError                                 Traceback (most recent call last)
/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/virtualbox/library_base.py in _call_method(self, method, in_p)
    194         try:
--> 195             ret = method(*in_params)
    196         except Exception as exc:

/usr/lib/virtualbox/sdk/bindings/xpcom/python/xpcom/client/__init__.py in findMachine(self, Param1)

TypeError: internal error in PyXPCOM, parameter must be a bytes object

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

AttributeError                            Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-3-65f32237fea6> in <module>()
----> 1 vm = vbox.find_machine(vbox.machines[0].name)

/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/virtualbox/library.py in find_machine(self, name_or_id)
   7278             raise TypeError("name_or_id can only be an instance of type basestring")
   7279         machine = self._call("findMachine",
-> 7280                      in_p=[name_or_id])
   7281         machine = IMachine(machine)
   7282         return machine

/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/virtualbox/library_base.py in _call(self, name, in_p)
    184         method = self._search_attr(name)
    185         if inspect.isfunction(method) or inspect.ismethod(method):
--> 186             return self._call_method(method, in_p=in_p)
    187         else:
    188             return method

/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/virtualbox/library_base.py in _call_method(self, method, in_p)
    210 
    211             if errobj.msg is None:
--> 212                 errobj.msg = getattr(exc, 'msg', getattr(exc, 'message'))
    213             raise errobj
    214         return ret

AttributeError: 'TypeError' object has no attribute 'message'

[sethmlarson]

See issue #102.

[noxdafox]

Yes I was already reading through that issue, what is the recommended workaround?

I tried to copy the libfile but did not help.

cp /usr/lib/virtualbox/VBoxPython3_5m.so /usr/lib/virtualbox/VBoxPython3_5.so

[sethmlarson]

I'm not sure, upstream hasn't responded to the issue I raised with them. I was thinking of maybe writing some retry import logic that sets sys.abiflags() to return an empty string if the first import fails? Not sure.

[sethmlarson]

Actually setting sys.abiflags to an empty string before importing and then restoring after the import might just work! Since this import logic happens within xpcom.py not within our code.

[noxdafox]

Yup that works! Thanks!

[sethmlarson]

Now to codify it in our crazy import logic. :)

[noxdafox]

Actually it just fixed the vbox instance creation error, not the original one reported in this issue.

In [1]: import sys

In [2]: sys.abiflags = ''

In [3]: import virtualbox

In [4]: vbox = virtualbox.VirtualBox()

In [5]: vm = vbox.find_machine(vbox.machines[0].name)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TypeError                                 Traceback (most recent call last)
/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/virtualbox/library_base.py in _call_method(self, method, in_p)
    194         try:
--> 195             ret = method(*in_params)
    196         except Exception as exc:

/usr/lib/virtualbox/sdk/bindings/xpcom/python/xpcom/client/__init__.py in findMachine(self, Param1)

TypeError: internal error in PyXPCOM, parameter must be a bytes object

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

AttributeError                            Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-5-65f32237fea6> in <module>()
----> 1 vm = vbox.find_machine(vbox.machines[0].name)

/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/virtualbox/library.py in find_machine(self, name_or_id)
   7278             raise TypeError("name_or_id can only be an instance of type basestring")
   7279         machine = self._call("findMachine",
-> 7280                      in_p=[name_or_id])
   7281         machine = IMachine(machine)
   7282         return machine

/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/virtualbox/library_base.py in _call(self, name, in_p)
    184         method = self._search_attr(name)
    185         if inspect.isfunction(method) or inspect.ismethod(method):
--> 186             return self._call_method(method, in_p=in_p)
    187         else:
    188             return method

/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/virtualbox/library_base.py in _call_method(self, method, in_p)
    210 
    211             if errobj.msg is None:
--> 212                 errobj.msg = getattr(exc, 'msg', getattr(exc, 'message'))
    213             raise errobj
    214         return ret

AttributeError: 'TypeError' object has no attribute 'message'

[sethmlarson]

Could you open up a separate issue?

[noxdafox]

106

[lzwgiter]

I have the same issue with python2.7:

>>> import virtualbox
>>> vbox = virtualbox.VirtualBox()
m=VBoxPython2_7 x=No module named VBoxPython2_7
m=VBoxPython2 x=No module named VBoxPython2
m=VBoxPython x=/usr/lib/virtualbox/VBoxPython.so: undefined symbol: _Py_FalseStruct
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/home/float/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/virtualbox/library_ext/vbox.py", line 22, in __init__
    manager = virtualbox.Manager()
  File "/home/float/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/virtualbox/__init__.py", line 145, in __init__
    self.manager = vboxapi.VirtualBoxManager(mtype, mparams)
  File "vboxapi/__init__.py", line 972, in __init__
    self.platform = PlatformXPCOM(dPlatformParams)
  File "vboxapi/__init__.py", line 732, in __init__
    import xpcom.vboxxpcom
  File "/usr/lib/virtualbox/sdk/bindings/xpcom/python/xpcom/vboxxpcom.py", line 78, in <module>
    raise Exception('Cannot find VBoxPython module (tried: %s)' % (', '.join(_asVBoxPythons),))
Exception: Cannot find VBoxPython module (tried: VBoxPython2_7, VBoxPython2, VBoxPython)