[Resolved] VMware Tools not finding gcc

eduncan911 · 2015-05-02 16:26:27

First time posting, switched to Arch recently and loving the spartan environment - in control of everything. I've already contributed a bit to the wiki (I've ran MediaWiki for years on other sites).

I'm having a problem trying to get the vmware tools installed. The vmware-config-tools is not finding GCC, even though I obviously have it in my path and it works. This is preventing the vmhgfs driver from being built.

VMware Workstation 11.1
Latest VMware Tools packaged with it (and the latest from the website). 9.9.2 build-2496486

I apologize but I can't copy-n-paste the output as I am not running a GUI at this time (TTY baby!). It was "fun" to register for this forum, asking me to enter the sha256sum output for anti-spam.

Search for GCC...

The pach "" is not valid path to the gcc binary. 
Would you like to change it? [yes]

What is the location of the gcc program on your machine? /usr/bin/gcc

The path "/usr/bin/gcc" is not valid path to the gcc binary.
Would you like to change it? [yes]

Digging into the perl script (it's been 20 years since I touched Perl!), I see it grabs the out from this binary:

/usr/lib/vmware-tools/sbin64/vmware-modconfig-console --get-gcc -- -l "/usr/lib/vmware-tools"

Which returns nothing. So when the command runs vmware-modconfig-console again specifying the gcc-path, it returns "1" as an error and the script skips vmhgfs all together.

$ which gcc
/usr/bin/gcc

Digging a bit deeper, running ldd on the vmware-modconfig-console showed a few missing dependencies.

ldd /usr/lib/vmware-tools/lib64/libvmware-modconfig-console.so/libvmware-modconfig-console.so

I added the missing dependencies, and the output now shows all dependencies satisfied (sorry, can't copy-n-paste the output here again).

All posts I find related to this asks to install gcc-4.3 on Ubuntu, along with:

libglib
libglib2.0

I've installed those along with about a dozen "related" gcc headers as well.

What I suspect is Arch has a newer GCC than vmware tools is expecting.

$ gcc --version
gcc (GCC) 4.9.2 20150304 (prerelease)

$ cat /proc/version
Linux version 4.0.1-1-ARCH (builduser@tobias) (gcc version 5.1.0 (GCC) ) ...

I guess the kernel was built with even a newer GCC...

I've followed the excellent arch wiki in trying to get things working: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/VM … as_a_guest

All modules seemed to have been found and loaded by default, except the vmw_pvscsi. I added that to the kernel modules and it's there now. I went ahead and explicitly added the others just in case as well.

The last one is the vmhgfs driver here... So I can share my files!

--
OT: I prefer VMs over native installs because of my work environment. I switch from my killer tri-monitor gaming desktop to work's 30" dual monitors and between a killer laptop and a Windows tablet. A VM works best here to share.

Last edited by eduncan911 (2015-05-08 05:15:10)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-05-02 16:36:36

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=196778

EDIT: Welcome to Arch!

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2015-05-02 16:37:06)

eduncan911 · 2015-05-02 16:44:55

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=196778
EDIT: Welcome to Arch!

Awesome! Gcc was found by following those directions! I tried searching a bit, but that post didn't show up. Humm. Thank you again!

Now, I have some build errors... I'll take a look at those when I get back.

Take care!

ewaller · 2015-05-02 16:47:28

Please remember to edit your first post and add [Solved] to the beginning of the thread title (when you regard it it as solved)

And welcome to Arch Linux.

manuelschneid3r · 2015-05-03 22:55:49

Okay, is there a reason to compile the kernel with 5.1? I mean, is there a reason to risk the setup of several users?

From the wiki:
Warning: Be careful when enabling the testing repository. Your system may break after performing an update. Only experienced users who know how to deal with potential system breakage should use it.

I am not sure if the people reading this know how to deal with "potential system breakage". (Including me)

Scimmia · 2015-05-03 23:02:52

Because the kernel is in the Core repo. Everything in Core has to go through Testing. When it was built against Testing, gcc 5.1 was the compiler in Testing.

Don't worry, gcc 5.1 will most likely be going to Core soon.

manuelschneid3r · 2015-05-04 00:06:43

Okay I just tried it. Seem to work but But somehow I still have the issue, that has to be patched, although I run 4.0.1. is this normal? Finally got it to work by upating gcc AND ICU from testing.

EDIT:
I was happy to early the vm library opens but as soon as I want to start a vm the wm crashes.

Has anybody tried to use LTS kernel? This should work I guess...

Last edited by manuelschneid3r (2015-05-04 10:50:45)

eduncan911 · 2015-05-04 07:35:49

Coming back with results... Not resolved yet.

I continue to get build errors related to inode.c "struct dentry" has no member named 'd_alias'. The Ubuntu guys found that it is related to the latest kernel update from around Feb 2015. I patched my inode.c manually, and got additional errors in file.c related to 'd_file'.

Feeling like I am going down a deep rabbit hole again, I went to the old "VMware Patch" repo on github and pulled it down:

https://github.com/rasa/vmware-tools-patches/

Given most of these expect a Debian base to run from, I ran the patches manually and most were patched up.

I was able to build vmhgfs successfully and it created the vmhgfs.ko module driver.

Problem is, the VM hard-locks when it attempted to start the "Guest filesystem driver", aka "vmhgfs." Rebooted and specified vmhgfs in the /etc/mkinitcpio.conf, rebooted and it showed up with 'lsmod | grep vm', along with all other module.

Ok, system loads now and lsmod shows vmhgfs loaded; but, anytime I attempt to mount a share the entire VM hard locks again. Specifying them in /etc/fstab causes a kernel panic every time.

I would appreciate any additional help.

--

OT: I myself and wondering why the kernel was built with a newer gcc than is available through pacman. Doesn't seem like a good "test" of packages if you have to upgrade the kernel itself with a newer gcc compiler to get them to work.

Last edited by eduncan911 (2015-05-04 07:59:13)

eduncan911 · 2015-05-04 16:16:55

The "Developer" of the VMware Tools stated on their support site that he's seen the problem and it has been patched/fixed internally back in Feb. It is related to backporting of the latest 3.19 kernel back to 3.13 updates that other distros are using. It is pending a "point release" in both Fusion (OSX) and Workstation (Windows). They are on two different release schedules, and there is no ETA.

https://communities.vmware.com/thread/5 … 0&tstart=0

Very frustrating. Guess I'll go the Samba route for now and push on since my gcc 5.1 build of vmhgfs hard locks the machine.

I like how Arch just uses the latest kernel - no backporting. At least, that is what it looks like to me from my newbie perspective.

Last edited by eduncan911 (2015-05-04 16:22:35)

Rolinh · 2015-05-05 16:29:43

manuelschneid3r wrote:

Has anybody tried to use LTS kernel? This should work I guess...

No it won't if it has already been recompiled with gcc 5.1.

See FS#44784. If you don't want to run testing, the only option is to recompile the kernel proper with gcc 4.9.2. You can use ABS for that.

eduncan911 · 2015-05-08 02:11:43

Yep, recompiling the kernel seems to be the most straight forward approach (on my 4.7 Ghz X79 6-core/12-thread with makepkg.conf set to j13, took about 5m to rebuild in the VM with 12 threads assigned to it). This allows you to continue to stay on Arch tip (pacman -Syu). If another kernel update comes out, you can still boot from your custom kernel - and make a new custom kernel if a new one does come out.

Though it must be noted that VMware Tools, the latest edition as of this post (9.9.2), now has vmhgfs build errors related to d_entry. I posted why above: because of the linux kernel changes, the vmware developers are aware and have resolved the problem internally - we are waiting on a point release as of this date.

Therefore, to get VMware tools compiled you have to use the ye ol' "Community Patches" procedure to patch up VMware tools before you run it:

https://github.com/rasa/vmware-tools-patches/

What baffles me is that Arch seems to have a little more than half of the VMware Modules compiled and included with the Core! vmwgfx, vmw_balloon, vmw_vmci, etc. Attempting to overwrite those will error in the patch scripts.

Better to skip the "shell scripts" they have in that patch repo and do them yourself manually with just the "patch.sh" file. The scripts were written for Debian-based systems (sudo apt-get install anyone?). Once patched up, move into the vmware-tools-distro/ folder and run sudo vmware-install.pl manually.

--

But yet there's still one OUTSTANDING issue: VMBLOCK

Without this, vmware-user will not load, file sharing will not be enabled, etc. I can run vmware-vmblock-fuse manually, create mount points according to the systemd scripts I find on Debian systems. But still nothing happens.

Still working on that...

Last edited by eduncan911 (2015-05-08 02:13:56)

eduncan911 · 2015-05-08 02:19:22

Rolinh wrote:

manuelschneid3r wrote:
Has anybody tried to use LTS kernel? This should work I guess...
No it won't if it has already been recompiled with gcc 5.1.
See FS#44784. If you don't want to run testing, the only option is to recompile the kernel proper with gcc 4.9.2. You can use ABS for that.

I tried LTS but the system wouldn't boot - would even boot load.

I believe I had the bootloader set right, as I built my own kernel and did the same mods to the bootloader and am able to boot from that custom kernel.

eduncan911 · 2015-05-08 05:13:49

Success. Whew. Quick recap over the past 8 days... (yes, 8 unproductive days...)

* With the April 29th Arch linux kernel update to 4.0.1, this broke VMware's Tools from being able to build vmhgfs (for shared folders). Resolution is to patch the perl scripts with the repo noted above.

* Also with the April 29th linux kernel update to 4.0.1, the kernel was compiled with a newer/different version of gcc. All attempts to compile vmhgfs with upgraded testing versions of gcc fail when actually using them (would hard lock the actual VM). Resolution is to re-compile the current kernel using the actual gcc on the system. Make sure to install the headers from the recompilation as well. See notes above as well.

* Wiki pages were missing information on how to get vmware-vmblock-fuse installed manually, as a systemd service, so that all-things-VMware could be shared with the host over Fuse. I've added that information to the main Arch wiki on "Installing Arch as a guest" page.

I have also updated several wiki pages to reflect a recent installation/configuration experience, except the gcc/custom kernel building. That's on the VMware Tools' devs (and also Arch devs to match gcc version with kernel!) to straighten out and doesn't belong in the wikis.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/VM … as_a_guest

Hope that helps someone...

Last edited by eduncan911 (2015-05-08 05:14:04)

Arch Linux

#1 2015-05-02 16:26:27

[Resolved] VMware Tools not finding gcc

#2 2015-05-02 16:36:36

Re: [Resolved] VMware Tools not finding gcc

#3 2015-05-02 16:44:55

Re: [Resolved] VMware Tools not finding gcc

#4 2015-05-02 16:47:28

Re: [Resolved] VMware Tools not finding gcc

#5 2015-05-03 22:55:49

Re: [Resolved] VMware Tools not finding gcc

#6 2015-05-03 23:02:52

Re: [Resolved] VMware Tools not finding gcc

#7 2015-05-04 00:06:43

Re: [Resolved] VMware Tools not finding gcc

#8 2015-05-04 07:35:49

Re: [Resolved] VMware Tools not finding gcc

#9 2015-05-04 16:16:55

Re: [Resolved] VMware Tools not finding gcc

#10 2015-05-05 16:29:43

Re: [Resolved] VMware Tools not finding gcc

#11 2015-05-08 02:11:43

Re: [Resolved] VMware Tools not finding gcc

#12 2015-05-08 02:19:22

Re: [Resolved] VMware Tools not finding gcc

#13 2015-05-08 05:13:49

Re: [Resolved] VMware Tools not finding gcc

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