Re: VMWare player: why no package?
On Tue, Jan 01, 2008 at 09:52:36PM -0500, Andrew Malcolmson wrote:
> On Tue, 1 Jan 2008 20:46:47 -0500, "Carl Fink" <carl@finknetwork.com>
> said:
> > VMWare Player's source has been released. Does anyone know why it isn't
> > packaged for Debian? Should I just submit an RTP?
> > --
>
> FYI: a similar program 'Virtual Box' is packaged for Debian.
I got VMWare Player going at the expense of a very irritating kernel
rebuild. The advantage of VMWare is their packaging utility that converts
existing Windows installations into VMs, and their tools (special video and
mouse drivers) that let the VM blend seamlessly with X. I don't see mention
of these things for VirtualBox.
Gripe: I had to rebuild the kernel because VMWare Player requires certain
kernel modules, and they don't ship prebuilt ones for Debian. Their
installer will then try to compile them, but they GCC build has to match the
GCC used to compile the kernel, and Debian kernels are compiled with a
significantly older GCC than is included in Testing.
Why? Why can't modules be compiled with a different compiler, for one? I'm
sure there's a good reason but as a non-C programmer I don't know what it
is.
Also, why would the kernels be compiled with an obsolete GCC when clearly
the current one works (because I'm typing this on a box running a kernel
compiled with 4.2.1-6)?
VMWare Player works great, by the way.
--
Carl Fink nitpicking@nitpicking.com
Read my blog at blog.nitpicking.com. Reviews! Observations!
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