[FIXED IN SVN] --environment parameter of "VBoxManage guestcontrol execute" causes error "VERR_TOO_MUCH_DATA"

[insecure]

Using the "guestcontrol execute" command of vboxmanage causes VERR_TOO_MUCH_DATA error if the --environment parameter is given.

I experienced this problem on Linux 64-Bit and Windows 7 32-Bit Hosts with a Linux 32-Bit guest. All VirtualBox versions from at least 4.1.8 up to 4.1.14 are affected. The problem occurs only, if the Guest Additions are also 4.1.x, if the Guest Additions are 4.0.10/4.0.16, the executed command runs fine.

In VirtualBox 4.1.10 the guest service ended running in an endless loop and did not respond to any further commands. Since 4.1.12, the VERR_TOO_MUCH_DATA error is raised.

Working command:

VBoxManage.exe guestcontrol "testvm" execute --image /bin/ls --username root --password root --wait-stdout --wait-stderr --wait-exit

Non-working command:

VBoxManage.exe guestcontrol "testvm" execute --image /bin/ls --username root --password root --environment "HOME=/root DISPLAY=:0.0 SHELL=/bin/bash" --wait-stdout --wait-stderr --wait-exit

A valid workaround, although not an option, seems to be

VBoxManage.exe guestcontrol "testvm" execute --image /bin/bash --username root --password root --wait-stdout --wait-stderr --wait-exit -- -c "export HOME=/root DISPLAY=:0.0 SHELL=/bin/bash;/bin/ls"

The wiki thread ​https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=49403&p=224787&hilit=environment+parameter#p224787 is on the same problem.

[pentagonik]

Thanks for the report. This will be fixed in the next upcoming maintenance release of VirtualBox.