Bug 537636

Summary:	vmware for Linux seems to be badly supported.
Product:	[openSUSE] openSUSE 11.2	Reporter:	Elmar Stellnberger <estellnb>
Component:	Other	Assignee:	E-mail List <bnc-team-screening>
Status:	RESOLVED FIXED	QA Contact:	E-mail List <qa-bugs>
Severity:	Normal
Priority:	P5 - None	CC:	forgotten_wbt-beX79k
Version:	Milestone 7
Target Milestone:	---
Hardware:	x86-64
OS:	SUSE Other
Whiteboard:
Found By:	---	Services Priority:
Business Priority:		Blocker:	---
Marketing QA Status:	---	IT Deployment:	---

Description Elmar Stellnberger 2009-09-09 09:21:09 UTC

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux x86_64; de; rv:1.9.1.2) Gecko/20090730 SUSE/3.5.2-2.4 Firefox/3.5.2

  With VMWare 6.5.1 there have been some problems in auto-generating kernel modules at install time, with VMWare 6.5.3 I get a traceback on install (see below). If VMWare is badly supported, VirtualBox only allows 32bit OS-installations and Xen is not option for the desktop user because of its lacking power management then the qemu-kvm virtualisation technology will be of much higher importance. See for Bug 537082 to endow qemu-kvm with all of what the desktop user will expect by just a little extension.


Reproducible: Always

Comment 1 Elmar Stellnberger 2009-09-09 09:23:05 UTC

> rpm -ivh VMware-Workstation-6.5.3-185404.x86_64.rpm
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
   1:VMware-Workstation     ########################################### [100%]
Extracting VMware Installer...done.
You must accept the EULA to continue.  Press enter to proceed.
...

Installing VMware Installer 1.0
Copying files...
Configuring...
Installing VMware Player 2.5.3
Copying files...
Configuring...
Installing VMware VIX API 1.6.3
Copying files...
Configuring...
Installing VMware Player 2.5.3
Copying files...
Configuring...
Installing VMware Player 2.5.3
Copying files...
Configuring...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 73, in emi
t
    if self.shouldRollover(record):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 146, in sh
ouldRollover
    msg = "%s\n" % self.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 630, in fo
rmat
    return fmt.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 421, in fo
rmat
    s = self._fmt % record.__dict__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xe2 in position 20: ordinal not in range(128)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 73, in emi
t
    if self.shouldRollover(record):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 146, in sh
ouldRollover
    msg = "%s\n" % self.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 630, in fo
rmat
    return fmt.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 421, in fo
rmat
    s = self._fmt % record.__dict__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xc3 in position 57: ordinal not in range(128)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 73, in emi
t
    if self.shouldRollover(record):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 146, in sh
ouldRollover
    msg = "%s\n" % self.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 630, in fo
rmat
    return fmt.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 421, in fo
rmat
    s = self._fmt % record.__dict__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xc3 in position 57: ordinal not in range(128)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 73, in emi
t
    if self.shouldRollover(record):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 146, in sh
ouldRollover
    msg = "%s\n" % self.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 630, in fo
rmat
    return fmt.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 421, in fo
rmat
    s = self._fmt % record.__dict__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xc3 in position 57: ordinal not in range(128)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 73, in emi
t
    if self.shouldRollover(record):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 146, in sh
ouldRollover
    msg = "%s\n" % self.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 630, in fo
rmat
    return fmt.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 421, in fo                      rmat
    s = self._fmt % record.__dict__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xc3 in position 57: ordinal not in range(128)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 73, in emi                      t
    if self.shouldRollover(record):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 146, in sh                      ouldRollover
    msg = "%s\n" % self.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 630, in fo                      rmat
    return fmt.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 421, in fo                      rmat
    s = self._fmt % record.__dict__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xc3 in position 57: ordinal not in range(128)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 73, in emi                      t
    if self.shouldRollover(record):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 146, in sh                      ouldRollover
    msg = "%s\n" % self.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 630, in fo                      rmat
    return fmt.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 421, in fo                      rmat
    s = self._fmt % record.__dict__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xc3 in position 57: ordinal not in range(128)

... and then rpm -ivh hangs.
pressing Ctrl-C:

^CRolling back VMware Player 2.5.3
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 73, in emit
    if self.shouldRollover(record):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 146, in shouldRollover
    msg = "%s\n" % self.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 630, in format
    return fmt.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 421, in format
    s = self._fmt % record.__dict__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xe2 in position 20: ordinal not in range(128)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 73, in emit
    if self.shouldRollover(record):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 146, in shouldRollover
    msg = "%s\n" % self.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 630, in format
    return fmt.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 421, in format
    s = self._fmt % record.__dict__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xc3 in position 57: ordinal not in range(128)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 73, in emit
    if self.shouldRollover(record):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 146, in shouldRollover
    msg = "%s\n" % self.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 630, in format
    return fmt.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 421, in format
    s = self._fmt % record.__dict__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xc3 in position 57: ordinal not in range(128)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 73, in emit
    if self.shouldRollover(record):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 146, in shouldRollover
    msg = "%s\n" % self.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 630, in format
    return fmt.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 421, in format
    s = self._fmt % record.__dict__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xc3 in position 57: ordinal not in range(128)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 73, in emit
    if self.shouldRollover(record):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 146, in shouldRollover
    msg = "%s\n" % self.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 630, in format
    return fmt.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 421, in format
    s = self._fmt % record.__dict__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xc3 in position 57: ordinal not in range(128)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 73, in emit
    if self.shouldRollover(record):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 146, in shouldRollover
    msg = "%s\n" % self.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 630, in format
    return fmt.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 421, in format
    s = self._fmt % record.__dict__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xc3 in position 57: ordinal not in range(128)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 73, in emit
    if self.shouldRollover(record):
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/handlers.py", line 146, in shouldRollover
    msg = "%s\n" % self.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 630, in format
    return fmt.format(record)
  File "/tmp/vmis.B53Th4/install/vmware-installer/python/lib/logging/__init__.py", line 421, in format
    s = self._fmt % record.__dict__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xc3 in position 57: ordinal not in range(128)
Removing files...
Deconfiguring...
Uninstalling VMware Player 2.5.3
Removing files...
Deconfiguring...
Uninstalling VMware VIX API 1.6.3
Removing files...
Deconfiguring...
Uninstalling VMware Player 2.5.3
Removing files...
Deconfiguring...
Uninstalling VMware Installer 1.0
Removing files...
Deconfiguring...
Installation was unsuccessful.

Comment 2 Forgotten User wbt-beX79k 2009-09-10 22:56:47 UTC

An additional problem in milestone 7 is that the kernel version doesn't match the kernel source version:

delder:~ # rpm -q kernel-source
kernel-source-2.6.31-7.1.noarch
delder:~ # uname -a
Linux delder 2.6.31-rc9-7-desktop #1 SMP PREEMPT 2009-09-08 18:49:15 +0200 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Workstation 6.3 seems to install correctly (I don't see the above errors) but without some trickery it's not possible to build the vmware kernel modules.

Comment 3 Forgotten User wbt-beX79k 2009-09-11 21:09:11 UTC

My mistake, I was just missing all the necessary kernel packages:

kernel-desktop-2.6.31-7.1.x86_64
kernel-xen-devel-2.6.31-7.1.x86_64
kernel-default-devel-2.6.31-7.1.x86_64
linux-kernel-headers-2.6.31-1.8.noarch
kernel-source-2.6.31-7.1.noarch
kernel-desktop-base-2.6.31-7.1.x86_64
kernel-debug-devel-2.6.31-7.1.x86_64
kernel-syms-2.6.31-7.1.x86_64
kernel-desktop-devel-2.6.31-7.1.x86_64

Once those were installed VMware built the kernel modules just fine.  Everything does appear to work correctly now.