[sles-beta] SLES for VMware & vmware-tools

[Matthias G. Eckermann]

Hello Maximilian and all,

On 2013-03-22 T 15:33 +0100 Decker Maximilian wrote:

> yes that indeed is a nice and easy solution - as long
> as you consider the kernel ABI 100% unchanged ;-)

The rule for SUSE Linux Enterprise is that the Kernel
ABI does not incopmatibly change during the lifetime of
a Service Pack.  Our Kernel team as automated checks in
place to enforce this.

As this rule or guideline applies for the whole Kernel
ABI, SUSE's policy in this aspect is stricter than the
one of other Linux distributions.

> But there are patches that might possibly influence
> here.  As the linux kernel is monolithic, the
> communication (binary) interface to drivers is prone
> to changes with each and every update.  So, especially
> for production systems, I prefer kernel modules built
> against exactly the same kernel version, just to be
> sure there are no glitches that might have passed the
> compatibility check by mistake ...

You are free to not trust our team -- however, please do
not complain about additional work in that case! :-)

[...]
> Now we see there are lots of different ways and
> opinions here, and that is exactly why I would love to
> see officially supported vmware tools (and kernel
> modules) as part of the base installation.
 
I think, Mark and Kai have listed a number of convincing
reasons why this can not be achieved as easily and
quickly as we all wanted, ... 

So long -
	MgE

-- 
Matthias G. Eckermann     Senior Product Manager   SUSE® Linux Enterprise
Phone: +49 30 44315731    Mobile: +49 179 2949448    E-Mail: mge at suse.com
SUSE LINUX Products GmbH  Maxfeldstraße 5          90409 Nürnberg Germany
GF: Jeff Hawn, Jennifer Guild, Felix Imendörffer, HRB 16746 (AG Nürnberg)