I translated this from a French document.
I also adapted a few things, from the original document, which was made for Ubuntu, into Debian Etch.
Because a simple alien --to-deb <rpm package> conversion won't work at all, a few things described in this howto would make it work.
Also, once the deb package is generated, it is necessary to run its installation via a 3rd-party script, what is also described here.
The original French document can be found here.
Pre-requisites
build-essential
gcc
g++
Linux headers
xserver-xorg-video-vmware
What to do
Obtain the vmware (workstation, not the player) rpm package
Open a terminal, and log as root
cd to the directory where you have the rpm
Enter this command: alien --to-deb --generate --scripts --fixperms <vmware rpm package>
Remark: this command will create a directory with all the "sources" of the future debian package.
cd to that directory (usually it starts with "VMwareWorkstation" so you could tab-complete that).
Now we will modify a few scripts that pose some issues when installing and updating this package.
We will start editing the pre-installation script:
With your favorite editor, open debian/preinst
Add the following line:
VMWARE_RPM_VERBOSE='yes'
After the lines that start with something similar to:
# BEGINNING_OF_TMPDIR_DOT_SH
#!/bin/sh
Remark: these lines usually are 15 and 16.
Save debian/preinst
Now, we will edit the pre-suppression script:
Again, with your favorite editor, open debian/prerm
Add the line:
VMWARE_RPM_VERBOSE='yes'
After the line:
instances="$1"
Change this last line to:
instances=0
Save debian/prerm
And the last edition we do is in the post-suppression script:
This is identical to the edition made in the pre-suppression script
With the editor, open debian/postrm
Add the line:
VMWARE_RPM_VERBOSE='yes'
After the line:
instances="$1"
Change this last line to:
instances=0
Save debian/postrm
Now, let's create the deb package
Enter dpkg-buildpackage
Wait for a few minutes while the package is being created.
Don't worry with the warnings that might be displayed, they are not very significant.
Once the package is created, go to the parent directory (cd ..).
Now install the package
dpkg -i <package name>
Don't run it yet, it has to be configured.
To configure it, it's necessary to obtain an 3rd-party script, and run it.
That 3rd-party script is inside the tarfile: vmware-any-any-update104.tar.gz
That tarfile can be obtained here
Suggestion: You can download that tar file by doing the following:
Open another terminal. No need to log as root, and enter the following
Code: Select all
wget http://platan.vc.cvut.cz/ftp/pub/vmware/vmware-any-any-update104.tar.gzAs root, go to the directory you untarred (vmware-any-any-update104)
Run ./runme.pl
Remark: pay attention because you will have to accept the terms of vmware company that will be shown to you.
Once this is done, still as root, you can set vmware to be allowed its execution as root (necessary for it to run well), by entering:
chmod +s /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-vmx
Advanced Configuration (copied from this webpage)
Once running VMWare offers some configuration options, like tuning the amount of memory allocated to VMs. By default it grabs lots of physical memory; unless you are going to run lots of VM images side-by-side, this is too much. You can change the memory allocation in the GUI, but you cannot save the settings unless you have write access to the relevant directory. You will know if you don't, as you will get an error message about not being able to get a lock "Unable to save changes to settings: Failed to obtain a write lock on the file /etc/vmware/config."
As root, go to that directory and make the contents world writeable as shown:
Code: Select all
# cd /etc/vmware/
# chmod o+w . *Code: Select all
# chmod o-w . *VMWare Player
VMWare Workstation
Removing or update issues
If you come accross any problem related to removal/update, you can do, as root, the following:
rm -r /etc/vmware
apt-get remove vmwareworkstation
If you get no errors, vmware will be uninstalled from your system.
Cheers,
domecq[/code]
