Warn the user when in a path that contains special characters

[sethvargo]

There are a number of things, namely on Windows, where any non-UTF-8 character (and sometimes even non-alpnum characters) cause things to fail.

For gem installations that require compiling native extensions, any non-alphnum character will cause the build to fail - that means paths with spaces (like C:\My User) or parenthesis (like Program Files (x86)) will cause the installation to fail.

Similarly, there are known issues in VirtualBox where non-UTF-8 characters in paths cause strange things to happen (#2113).

Given the breadth, span, and nature of these issues, I do not think it is possible to "fix" Vagrant. Instead, I propose we add a function early in Vagrant's initialization stage that sanity checks important paths and prints a helpful warning message (perhaps linking to more verbose documentation) when those paths contain "invalid" characters. Namely:

• VAGRANT_HOME
• GEM_HOME
• GEM_PATH
• GEM_ROOT
• PWD

[koseki]

I think VBOX_USER_HOME is also required to be checked.

In my environment, non-ASCII home (C:\Users\健吾\VirtualBox VMs) causes error.

Command: ["import", "C:/vagrant/boxes/chef-VAGRANTSLASH-centos-6.5/1.0.0/virtualbox/box.ovf", "--vsys", "0", "--vmname", "packer-centos-6.5-x86_64_1421281388083_71845", "--vsys", "0", "--unit", "7", "--disk", "C:\\Users\\\u5065\u543E\\VirtualBox VMs\\packer-centos-6.5-x86_64_1421281388083_71845\\packer-centos-6.5-x86_64-disk1.vmdk"]

Stderr: 0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Interpreting C:\vagrant\boxes\chef-VAGRANTSLASH-centos-6.5\1.0.0\virtualbox\box.ovf...
OK.
0%...
Progress state: VBOX_E_IPRT_ERROR
VBoxManage.exe: error: Appliance import failed
VBoxManage.exe: error: Could not create the directory 'C:\Users\蛛･蜷ｾ\VirtualBox VMs\packer-centos-6.5-x86_64_1421281388083_71845' (VERR_ACCESS_DENIED)
                                                                ^^^^^ garbled
VBoxManage.exe: error: Details: code VBOX_E_IPRT_ERROR (0x80bb0005), component Appliance, interface IAppliance
VBoxManage.exe: error: Context: "int __cdecl handleImportAppliance(struct HandlerArg *)" at line 779 of file VBoxManageAppliance.cpp

I added

disk_params.last.encode!('Shift_JIS')

to here, and it worked. 😩

May be relevant to current code page.

C:\>chcp
現在のコード ページ: 932

• Windows 8.1
• Vagrant 1.7.2
• VirtualBox 4.3.20

[koseki]

Ah, I was getting confused between VBOX_USER_HOME and machinefolder. I mean machinefolder.

The default machinefolder in C:\Users\健吾\.VirtualBox\VirtualBox.xml is like below. Vagrant doesn't work with this configuration.

  <SystemProperties defaultMachineFolder="C:\Users\&#x5065;&#x543E;\VirtualBox VMs" defaultHardDiskFormat="VDI" VRDEAuthLibrary="VBoxAuth" webServiceAuthLibrary="VBoxAuth" LogHistoryCount="3" exclusiveHwVirt="false"/>

This works.

  <SystemProperties defaultMachineFolder="C:\VMs" defaultHardDiskFormat="VDI" VRDEAuthLibrary="VBoxAuth" webServiceAuthLibrary="VBoxAuth" LogHistoryCount="3" exclusiveHwVirt="false"/>

[neichen]

vagrant version 1.7.2

I discovered a method to "solve" this problem if someone doesn't want to change the real path to VAGRANT_HOME like I do.
The answer is to create a soft link ( which called junction in windows ) to the non-ASCII directory, then use the link instead of it.
I used to use a shortcut to do this but failed, and a junction did it! To use it, just type the falling command in cmd ( not in powershell, will cause an error, don't know why )

MKLINK /J Link Target

Take this for an example:

MKLINK /J C:\Devs\links\i C:\Users\宁

You can place the link wherever you like ( a path that does not contain non-ASCII encoding characters ), then add VAGRANT_HOME's new directory in the User Environment. If you vagrant init in a non-ASCII directory too, cd it in the link instead, everything will be fine.
The VirtualBox defaultMachineFolder can also benefit from it.

What's more, I think vagrant can also use this method to solve the problem as you can mklink when user vagrant init in a non-ASCII directory automatically. ( Don't know whether it's a good or bad idea. )

Hope this will help 😃

[sethvargo]

We are going to fix the paths instead.

[atorstling]

@sethvargo Have you discussed this further? I ran into the user folder with special chars problems with 2.0.3...

[briancain]

@atorstling - Please open a new issue. Thanks!

[ElecTreeFrying]

0%...
Progress state: VBOX_E_IPRT_ERROR
VBoxManage.exe: error: Appliance import failed
VBoxManage.exe: error: Could not create the directory 'C:\Users\ermita?o\VirtualBox VMs\ubuntu-cloudimg-trusty-vagrant-amd64_1535503347815_15119' (VERR_INVALID_NAME)
VBoxManage.exe: error: Details: code VBOX_E_IPRT_ERROR (0x80bb0005), component ApplianceWrap, interface IAppliance
VBoxManage.exe: error: Context: "enum RTEXITCODE __cdecl handleImportAppliance(struct HandlerArg *)" at line 886 of file VBoxManageAppliance.cpp

[ghost]

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