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

[Decker Maximilian]

Well if that is an official statement from SuSE then I would be happy to rely on the ABI being stable within service packs ;-)
I was not aware of that, thanks for clarifying.

However I remember we once had an issue with a changed ABI within SLES 11 SP1, according to my notes it was bnc#625674 that
broke things a bit around ixgbe (fiber nic). It was a quite special case, though, and I can't tell if that one might have 
had affected vmware modules at all, but things like that just make me prefer a bit of a conservative approach here...
But I'm starting to get off topic, never mind.

Just better start finding solutions to include vmware-tools instead of reasons against ;-)
(no offense, more like a glimmer of hope)

And thanks to the list in general, really was quite informative on that specific topic.


- Maximilian

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: sles-beta-bounces at lists.suse.com [mailto:sles-beta-bounces at lists.suse.com] Im Auftrag von Matthias G. Eckermann
Gesendet: Freitag, 22. März 2013 16:45
An: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Authorized Beta Program
Betreff: Re: [sles-beta] SLES for VMware & vmware-tools

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
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