Re: Add VMXNET3 kernel module to debian kernels

["Sergey V. Lobanov" <sergey@lobanov.in>]

Hello,

I’m using VMWare Fusion for Apple Silicon (M1) (build 18656771), it is working fine with vmxnet3 driver

I’ve built vanilla kernel with vmxnet3 driver and tested it that is why I’m suggesting to enable VMXNET3 driver. It will be useful for arm64 kernel builds.

root@deb11:~# uname -a
Linux deb11 5.15.0-rc6-custom #1 SMP Sat Oct 23 01:08:59 MSK 2021 aarch64 GNU/Linux
root@deb11:~# modinfo vmxnet3
filename:       /lib/modules/5.15.0-rc6-custom/kernel/drivers/net/vmxnet3/vmxnet3.ko
version:        1.6.0.0-k
license:        GPL v2
description:    VMware vmxnet3 virtual NIC driver
author:         VMware, Inc.
srcversion:     C6B42AF3D5CC6A614E2D6BC
alias:          pci:v000015ADd000007B0sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends:        
intree:         Y
name:           vmxnet3
vermagic:       5.15.0-rc6-custom SMP mod_unload modversions aarch64
root@deb11:~# cat /etc/issue
Debian GNU/Linux 11 \n \l

root@deb11:~# lspci | grep -i vmx
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: VMware VMXNET3 Ethernet Controller (rev 01)



--
Sergey



> On 23 Oct 2021, at 11:27, Salvatore Bonaccorso <carnil@debian.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> On Sat, Oct 23, 2021 at 10:39:50AM +0300, Sergey V. Lobanov wrote:
>> Hello,
>> 
>> For some reason, VMXNET3 driver (VMware network card) is not
>> included to Debian kernels. Is it possible to add VMXNET3 driver as
>> a kernel model?
>> 
>> sergey@deb11:~$ cat /boot/config-5.10.0-9-arm64 | grep VMXNET
>> # CONFIG_VMXNET3 is not set
> 
> Back in
> https://salsa.debian.org/kernel-team/linux/commit/0762a217c3d224a6235b49e1311b0be9028d9f59
> this has been disabled for !x86 architectures.
> 
> Has this changed for arm64? open-vm-tools in their experimental upload
> enabled arm64 build (cf.
> https://tracker.debian.org/news/1248054/accepted-open-vm-tools-21130-2-source-into-experimental/).
> 
> We might do the same for the next experimental upload.
> 
> Regards,
> Salvatore