[sles-beta] SLES11-SP4 beta2 x86_64 - VMware Tools Again ...

Tue Mar 10 08:54:24 MDT 2015

Hi all

Until now SLES11-SP3 hat no open-vm-tools included, fact.

Now when I do an online update from SLES11-SP3 to SLES11-SP4 using zypper --non-interactive dist-upgrade --auto-agree-with-licenses I find open-vm-tools installed
=================
Warning: You are about to do a distribution upgrade with all enabled repositories. Make sure these repositories are compatible before you continue. See 'man zypper' for more information about this command.
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
Computing distribution upgrade...

The following NEW packages are going to be installed:
  crash-eppic libevent-1_4-2 libgmodule-2_0-0 libiptc0 liblzmadec0 libnfnetlink0 libvmtools0 libxtables9 lzma nfs-client nfsidmap open-vm-tools release-notes-sles rpcbind

The following package is going to be REMOVED:
  crash-sial

The following packages are going to be upgraded:
  at audit audit-libs bash bash-doc bind-libs bind-utils boost-license brocade-firmware cifs-utils cpupower crash desktop-translations e2fsprogs efibootmgr elilo gfxboot gfxboot-branding-SLES hwinfo iproute2 iptables kdump kernel-default kernel-default-base kernel-default-devel kernel-source libboost_regex1_36_0 libcom_err2 libext2fs2 libgcc43 libgcc46 libgcc_s1 libgomp1 libnuma1 libreadline5 libstdc++43 libstdc++46 libstdc++6 libzypp linux-kernel-headers makedumpfile mcelog mdadm mkinitrd ntp numactl openssh parted pciutils-ids perl-Bootloader pwdutils readline-doc satsolver-tools sles-release sles-release-DVD syslinux sysvinit xorg-x11-libX11 xorg-x11-libXext xorg-x11-libXfixes xorg-x11-libXp xorg-x11-libXrender xorg-x11-libXt xorg-x11-libXv xorg-x11-libs xorg-x11-xauth yast2 yast2-bootloader yast2-http-server yast2-installation yast2-iscsi-client yast2-iscsi-server yast2-network yast2-nfs-client yast2-ntp-client yast2-online-update yast2-online-update-frontend yast2-packager yast2-pkg-bindings yast2-samba-server yast2-storage yast2-storage-lib yast2-trans-en_US yast2-update yast2-vm zypper zypper-log

The following product is going to be upgraded:
  SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3

The following packages are not supported by their vendor:
  liblzmadec0 lzma

87 packages to upgrade, 14 new, 1 to remove.
Overall download size: 164.6 MiB. After the operation, additional 14.6 MiB will be used.
Continue? [y/n/? shows all options] (y): y
Automatically agreeing with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 product license.
================

I do now have two sorts of VMWare Tools installed, which is really not wanted

vtsteh:~ # rpm -qa | grep -i vm | grep -i tools
pst-VMwareTools-9.4.11-2400950
libvmtools0-9.4.6-1.1
open-vm-tools-9.4.6-1.1
vtsteh:~ #

The problem is now, that within a simple service pack update absolutely NO architecture change must be done.
Else there should also be updates to  perl 5.16, Apache 2.4, Tomcat 7, java 8, php5.5 etc.

So in my mind SLES11 should keep being without open-vm-tools and let us keep the original ESX VMwareTools

OK, I could write a script to remove the previously installed ESX Tools, change all system settings back to native and let the door open to open-vm-tools.
But this is lot of engineering reverting and has nothing to do anymore with a simple service-pack.

BUT: 
how much can we then say "it is only a service-pack update".
In my mind service pack does mean solely security fixes, HW enablement and minor updates, but no architecture, no methods change please.
No automated installation of new things where one has to reverse-engineer to know where it comes from and find an own way to work around.

So please think the subject with these open-vm-tools over.
And if you come to a result, that open-vm-tools is a must, then declare SLES11-SP4 as a new release with major changes please.
Not only a service-pack update

Thanks
Best regards

Urs Frey                                              
Post CH AG
Informationstechnologie
IT Betrieb 
Webergutstrasse 12 
3030 Bern (Zollikofen) 
Telefon : ++41 (0)58 338 58 70 
FAX     : ++41 (0)58 667 30 07 
E-Mail:   urs.frey at post.ch

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: sles-beta-bounces at lists.suse.com [mailto:sles-beta-bounces at lists.suse.com] Im Auftrag von Mike Latimer
Gesendet: Tuesday, March 10, 2015 3:20 PM
An: sles-beta at lists.suse.com
Betreff: Re: [sles-beta] SLES11-SP4 beta2 x86_64 - VMware Tools Again ...

Hi,

On Tuesday, March 10, 2015 11:36:23 AM Waite, Dick wrote:
> What has been APITA is the grand Ping_Pong being played between VMware and
> SUSE with “Tools”. With SP3 one used VMware tools for Workstation and one
> was happy. You run an update and the good people of SUSE say, we can do
> better and pop into the mix their “open-vm-tools and libvmtools”, You have
> not asked for this, it’s just done, not check to see if this is a “VMware
> Workstation”.

Thanks for reporting this, and sorry for the troubles. Last time I tested 
VMware-workstation, installing VMware tools was done through a tarball, rather 
than an RPM, so I was not expecting the update process to find anything to 
update.

> So you finish the update and all looks Okay, so you then run a VMware tools
> update ‘cos you know you have a new kernel. I’m running VMware Workstation
> 11.1.0 which has tools 9.9.2_2496486 and it’s not given me any issues, so
> far. Re-load after the tools update and Wow… what’s has my mouse been
> smoking !!!!! It’s all over the shop, umm better close down, Wow why is the
> stop script saying it’s not a happy badger….

> One does look around and after the fun and games with SLE12 it’s quite easy
> to see the “open-vm-tools” are back again giving my mouse something that
> sends it in circles…

I thought we had everything worked out in the SLE12 environment - other than 
the gtkmm-2.4/3.0 issue. If there are any outstanding issues, I'd like to 
understand them and get a bug filed.

> If you kill the open-vm-tools and set it to never again darken your door,
> run the VMware tools again and reload then you have a mouse the is back
> under control and scripts that start and stop when asked.

> I do not understand what the open-vm-tools are there for. If you are running
> VMware software then you have their tools, which get updated quite often.
> If your not running VMware why would you want open-vm-tools ?

In theory, including the tools with the distribution should have helped users 
avoid the step of installing additional software after the installation has 
completed. If conflicts are continuing to be seen, we need to get them resolved 
or rethink this approach.

I'll do some testing today, but any further details you can provide (probably 
off-list) would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Mike
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