Date: Tue, 1 Aug 2000 22:58:24 -0400 From: "Vladimir N. Silyaev" <vsilyaev@mindspring.com> To: Garance A Drosihn <drosih@rpi.edu> Cc: Robert Withrow <bwithrow@nortelnetworks.com>, emulation@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: VMware port stability Message-ID: <20000801225824.A1751@jupiter.delta.ny.us> In-Reply-To: <v04210100b5ad2b9b94da@[128.113.24.47]>; from drosih@rpi.edu on Tue, Aug 01, 2000 at 10:01:26PM -0400 References: <vns@mindspring.com> <200008011321.JAA14859@pobox.engeast.BayNetworks.COM> <20000801190823.A298@jupiter.delta.ny.us> <v04210100b5ad2b9b94da@[128.113.24.47]>
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On Tue, Aug 01, 2000 at 10:01:26PM -0400, Garance A Drosihn wrote: > >I don't think that it doesn't run, it should run, but without > >networking stuff. > > I am running 4.0-20000625-STABLE, and had vmware working. I > noticed the port was updated with a newer version of vmware, > and a number of improvements that seemed nice. So, I updated > my ports tree, rebuilt vmware2, and it installed fine without > any complaint. It was not until I rebooted that I got some > messages about "can't load if_tap.ko" and "cannot create > /compat/linux/dev/vmnet1". My previously-working vmware2 > setup is now gone, apparently, because of that upgrade. I > don't mind too much, because I wanted to rebuild with the > 4.1-RELEASE.iso image anyway, but I hope you can understand > that this would get mighty frustrating mighty fast. > > The result is that vmware runs, but if I try to start any > previously-working virtual machine I get a new error about > "could not open /dev/vmnet1", and the virtual machine just > stops at that point. It sure seems like I can not run any > machine which I previously had working, and I was given no > helpful warning of this until it was too late. Ok. All of this stuff only about networking, isn't it? > > > A final suggestion: it would be great to maintain a > > > version that *does* work on 4.0-RELEASE, even if it > > > doesn't support bridging. I'm sure there are other > > > sites like ours that can't jump on new FreeBSD releases > > > immediately. > > > > If you have -RELEASE just use port from /usr/ports tree > > what is coming with you release. And you will be guaranteed > > to have the same result as for date when release was > > published, not less, not more. > > I understand that vmware2, by necessity, was a fast-moving > target which depended on new features installed in the > "stable" system. However, I think it would now be a good > idea to do something to recognize that many people are > actually USING the port right now, and can not update to > the up-to-the-second version of 'stable' just to get some > minor changes to vmware2 (such as a new bug-fix release > of the base linux-based vmware from vmware.com itself). > > I don't know what the best suggestion would be, but almost > all the other ports have a higher standard of compatibility > with previous freebsd releases than you have described for > vmware2. The problem is that all other ports don't include inside kernel modules. BTW in -STABLE branch interfaces for ethernet drivers was changed two times for last two months. And new source code don't compiled with old kernel and vise versa. > My guess is that we maybe need a "vmware2" port, > and a "vmware2-devel" port. The first would hopefully > remain compatible with freebsd-4.1-release at the very LEAST. The one of purposes to exclude vmnet stuff from the current port and move that functionality into the tap driver it was to move kernel depended code into the main FreeBSD kernel source tree. > It still might be updated for assorted reasons (such as a new > vmware release from vmware.com) In such way you are may just to use old port with corrected filename for vmware tarball and use make NOCHECKSUM=yes reinstall. > but not in ways where people > trying the port for the first time have to dig up their > original copy of the 4.1-release CD's. You could then have > the bleeding-edge "vmware2-devel" port, where it is explicitly > stated that you must be running "the absolutely most recent > snapshot of 4-current" to use, and it would even have some > check in it to indicate what that minimum version level is. Ok, let's put in that way, anything located at http://www.mindspring.com/~vsilyaev/vmware/vmware.tar.gz it's a bleeding-edge, and in to an announce I including special requirements to use it, i.e. from the latest one -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= So for using networking stuff with new port you should have a post 4.1-Release system. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Official port you should get from FreeBSD ports tree, or what's better from snapshot of ports tree from yours release/snapshot. -- Vladimir To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-emulation" in the body of the message
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