Bugzilla – Bug 391434
vmware-kmp-default doesn't seem to work like closed vmare tools do
Last modified: 2008-06-03 08:17:34 UTC
Sorry, I don't know where to file this or even what is helpful to report. Yast was clever and installed vmware-kmp-default for me in my openSUSE 11 beta 3 VM, but even after restarting I didn't seem to get any of the benefits of having VMware tools installed (no display resizing, no mouse synchronization, etc). I uninstalled and used the tarball provided by VMWare Workstate 6.0.2, and that worked fine (ignoring my problems described in bug #391432). I'm happy to mess around with my setup if it will help figure out what's going on. Am I just misunderstanding what vmware-kmp-default is supposed to do? I couldn't installed the proprietary tools until I removed this package.
vmware-kpm-xxx provied only the kernel modules (from the opensource vmware tools) for the virtual network device, etc. The full list is: vmblock.ko, vmhgfs.ko, vmmemctl.ko, vmsync.ko, vmxnet.ko I do not know which is which (only vmxnet gets loaded automatically for the net interface), but even if I load all of them, I can not get the desired behavior. The mouse synchronization can be done by changing which module Xorg loads for mouse. By default it is "mouse". Change it with "vmmouse" and restart X. The resize problem, and the clipboard sync does not work though. There was a thread on opensuse-factory ("Feature request: open-vm-tools as part of the release"), where Dominique said that it should just work. I just posted there to verify if still this is the case.
vmware apparently doesn't work, so we disabled it again. See Bug #372189. Apart from that I'm the wrong person here to ask.
vmmouse works for me in Beta 3. I'll add this comment to Bug #372189.
From the report I'm just wondering if only vmware-kmp-xxx was installed or if open-vm-tools was also added. the kmp does not provide everything needed, mainly the gui tools and all the addons (like host filesystem mounter and the like) are missing. The KMP is only the kernel modules that; I'm just preparing a VM installation based on 11.0ß3 to verify my theory.
INFO: The vmware-kmps are not installed when installing from the Live CD (tested with gnome live cd). So now grabbing a DVD image for more tests... will take a while
Pavol: it looks like %insserv_and_fillup vmware-guest is not working as I'd like it to: after the RPM is being installed, the service vmware-guest is not automatically activated, even though it should be (IMHO). there is a file created in linux:~ # cat /var/adm/fillup-templates/rc.config.open-vm-tools.del # # Start service vmware-guest # START_VMWARE_GUEST="no" but I do not know where from it comes. Probably from the insserv_and_fillup macro? do you just happen to know how to make it activate the service upon installation?
Installed now 11.0 beta 3 from DVD (i586), but it seems the open-vm-tools and the vmware-kmp-* are not on the disc. So apparently the OP received the KMP because he had the online repos active during installation? Pavol: I think those packages should be on the disks (CD / DVD), what is your opinion?
(In reply to comment #7 from Dominique Leuenberger) > Pavol: I think those packages should be on the disks (CD / DVD), what is your > opinion? I thought they were supposed, but that is not for me to decide. Coolo?
Answering questions: - I don't know if I ever had the open-vm-tools package installed...I never explicitly installed it, but I didn't check to see if it was there, either. - I'm not sure at what stage I received the KMP...I can't remember if I enabled the online repositories before or after I installed. Sorry!
I added open-vm-tools on the DVD, the kmps on both CDs and DVDs. Not sure how useful they are without the tools.
Stephan, the kmps alone are rather useless (except the higher performance on the NIC, as the vmxnet would be loaded instead of amd32)
@Pavol, back to the 'on topic' problem: How can I achieve that the service vmware-guest is registered and started just after the installation of the RPM? I fail to find the correct macro for it (or I can just workaround it with chkconfig vmware-guest on in the %post section, but that's not the cleanest way I think. shouldn't %insserv do the trick here? and second: how can we achieve that the open-vm-tools are also installed, and not only the kmp? Seems the Supplements: line is only valid for the kmp. Can we add something like a Recommends: open-vm-tools to the KMPs?
by policy, services usually are _not_ enabled by default after package installation except for a certain exception list. for the macro question: for fillup_and_insserv, the option "-y" will enable it on a new installation, "-Y" will enable it during every package update. having "X-UnitedLinux-Default-Enabled: yes" in the rc-script does also cause automatic enabling on package-installation. For the kmp-packages: you can specify additional deps in the "preamble" file (the one supplied to suse_kernel_module_package with the -p option).
Ruediger, Thank you very much for this information! I think %fillup_and_insserv -y might be ok for this package, but of course I do not want to just jump over internal policies. But as we try to make the installation inside a VMWare as seamless as possible, I think vmware-guest should be on the exception list. For the deps of the kmp: I'll have a look at this; so far no preamble file is used. I'll find some examples of it and dig it up.
well, at least the open-vm-tools package in stable has the preamble file in the sources, so it should be used ...
Indeed... well, as an external I have 'only' modify access to the one in OBS, and it seems it was not synched in a while. @pavol: I updated the package in Virtualization:VMware and added the preamble there too, including the Recommends: open-vm-tools
I'll update the package in STABLE on Thursday.
@Pavol, information regarding 2008.05.15 There were major changes in the way the vmware-user helper application, which is responsible for many addons like screen resizing, clip board sharing and the like) is started. It was started by vmware-guest (the deamon) before when a 'blessed' application like gnome-panel and the like was seen running. Now, the user session has to take care of starting it on it's own. Do you just have the 'tip at hand' on how to implement this, so it works with all desktop managers (kdm, kdm4, gdm, xdm) and with all DEs? Otherwise I suggest to keep 2008.04 version as we have and just fix it up to: - Start the vmware-guest automatically - have the KMPs Recomment: open-vm-tools to automatically pull it in on installation. Dominique
Version update in STABLE is unacceptable right now. I added "-y" to %fillup_and_insserv macro, so the service starts automatically and "Recommends: open-vm-tools" to KMP preamble. Unfortunately I have no idea about the DE issue.
that should solve the issues for the 04 version. vmware-user is started by vmware-guest in this version, so the autostart works in this setup... we should cover it like this.
Sanford, Dominique: could you please test the setup when the new package is synced out? (You can confirm by looking into package changelog and if the last entry is from May 22).
the DE issue will only come up on the future versions (after 2008.05.15) and I think I have the solution for them already. This just as a side note, as it does not concern this bug here anymore (we stay with the version)
Unfortunately I won't be able to test this for a few days.
I just downloaded a (pre-release of) RC1 (It's not announced yet.. so it might well be a wrong snapshot) and started the live cd in my VMWare. the kmp's are installed and the open-vm-tools are running (in the life environment). Thus: - screen resizing works - Clip board sharing between host and guest works - Mouse is released from the VM when the border of the screen is reached After installing it to the hard disk, all the features are 'just working (tm)' (all, except Drag'n'Drop from the host to the guest... see #394431 )
Drag'n'Drop is fixed also. Closing. Please reopen if needed.
I just installed fresh RC1 (i386/KDE4) in VMWare server. The initial install was OK, the kernel modules and the helper daemon was installed as they should. Now, I have some problems with the screen resizing - it can be because of KDE4, not because of the tools (I did not test with KDE3): - I have started VM console with inventory (F9) open and QuickSwitch mode. RC1 boots OK, and after login, the screen is resized to the size of the empty space (i.e. my monitor size minus tyhe size of the Inventory tab). When I closed the inventory tab, it did not resize the screen properly - it shifted it at the upper right corner, but the visible size (the task bar and the wallpaper) kept their size, while the "virtual" size of the screen changed - i.e I was able to open and move windows in the blank area at the left side of wallpaper. - logout/login does not change the situation - the taskbar and the wallpaper keep their "shrinked" size. But reboot (w/o opening the inventory tab) resized the screen to the full size of the monitor. - When resized the fonts are "disproportionaly" large. I.e. 8pt font looks like at least 12. - I reboot again - just to see if it's going to change - no, the same font sizes. - I opened the "Configure desktop", and set all fonts to 8 - it kind of looks good. - After reboot - it returned me to 800x600 screen (centered in the middle of the monitor) with fonts almost unreadable small. I restored to default and reboot. I always reboot, as logout/login - which should restart X - does not help at all. Anyway - after reboot, the screen resized OK, but the fonts and icons were very big again. So, I selected "Configure desktop" and it suddenly resized the screen to 800x600. I'll attach some screenshots if I succeed to grab them.
Created attachment 219570 [details] Logged in and Inventory tab open After fresh boot, with QuickSwitch on and Inventory tab, the screen is resized properly (too big fonts though).
Created attachment 219571 [details] Closing the inventory tab If the inventory tab is closed, the "virtual" screen is resized, but not the task bar and the wallpaper.
Created attachment 219572 [details] Logout after closing the Inventory tab The login screen appears as aways in 800x600
Created attachment 219573 [details] Login again Now, without reboot, login again - the screen is set to 800x600 - using quickswitch on/off does not change anything - no resize is performed at all. The only usable space is in these 800x600.
Created attachment 219574 [details] After reboot After reboot, it resizes the virtual screen to the whole available space, but keeps the taskbar and the wallpaper in 800x600. I can open other windows in the empty space though.
Screen Resizing does not work with KDE4. This is not an error in open-vm-tools (as far as I can tell), as other programs, like for example the nVidia resolution switcher, shows exactly the same behaviour when used on KDE4. The Screen Resizing not working before a login is 'normal', as the vmware-user program is started as a session tool (for clip board sharing and everything). Thus those features are not available during login.
Dominique: so there is nothing we can do?
Pavol: Nothing will probably be done in the open-vm-tools to fix an error in KDE4. As pointed out in http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-factory/2008-05/msg00450.html it seems to be an issue with the DM.. KDE3 and Gnome seem to work just fine.
OK, closing then.