Help ! I'm stuck installing VMware Player 3 (yes it's an old version, suitable for my old hardware) : the installer needs the kernel headers (source) in order to build VMware's kernel modules; However it says can't find them headers for Kernel 4.4.10-antix.1-486-smp __{{emoticon}}__ Yet I have linux-headers and build-essential installed and up to date, but I can't find a package named kernel-headers ! Are kernel-headers something else than linux-headers ? If so, how do I get/build them, please ?

the kernel headers would be in

linux-headers-4.4.10-antix.1-486-smp

for that kernel.

Yep, the path existss here and populated, and VMware auto-detects this exact path, but it errors thus : I installed VMware on Linux (several distros : SuSE, PCLinuxOS...) in the past, with no problems, hence this begs the question :
Are the published headers complete and in sync with actual antiX kernel ?

Ninho wrote:Yep, the path existss here and populated, and VMware auto-detects this exact path, but it errors thus :

Code: Select all

C header files matching your running kernel were not found.  Refer to your distribution's documentation for installation instructions.

I installed VMware on Linux (several distros : SuSE, PCLinuxOS...) in the past, with no problems, hence this begs the question :
Are the published headers complete and in sync with actual antiX kernel ?

yes, but perhaps your vmware requires an older gcc than what is supported. or perhaps the kernel is too new.

That is debian lenny or even etch time! gcc then was 4.3.2 and 4.1.1 respectively.
You'll have to try a newer version of vmware player it seems

Sceptical 'bout how does C compiler version causes this particular error; seems to be a mismatch between headers and the running kernel...(edit) The error message happens BEFORE the script even tries to compile VMware modules
It says (have to copy manually, the text in error box can't be copypasted, grrr): With buttons to : [Browse..] [Refresh] [Cancel] [Install]

The preset path seems to be right, so what ? Subsequent error message clearly points to headers not being in sync with the running kernel. And yes,

$ sudo uname -r
[sudo] password for ninho:
4.4.10-antix.1-486-smp

Oh well, since you haven't posted the exact error message you must be right.

Actually I see you have edited your post.

The exact same headers and the exact same location is used to install for example VirtualBox.
Can you install it?

"Actually I see you have edited your post."
Why yes, sorry. I am not stuck near the machine, I have a life, too.
Hope a solution can be found, for VMware is an important part of my plan.

My suspicion is that the more modern kernels headers are not in the same location (and possibly same format) as the very old vmware 3 makefile assumes them to be. Googling"install vmware 3 headers not found" brought some interesitng results. It looks like it *might* be possible to work some symlink magic. take this post for instance:


========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"https://communities.vmware.com/thread/453410?start=0&tstart=0"
linktext was:"https://communities.vmware.com/thread/4 ... 0&tstart=0"
====================================

Very good find, Sir, Dolphin Sir ! :=)
Making a symbolic linh per that VMware communities reply did enabled the script to proceed. Unfortunately the build process failed a little later while compiling the"vmon" module (an essential piece of VMware). From the end of the log above, it does seem SamK had a point where he suspected our gcc might be too new :=(

Is there hope to install GCC3 side by side with our GCC4 and not break things ?
I think I'm going to call it doomed at this point, try to clean the mess and see if VMware player 4 could be installed and run here. Otherwise I'd start considering Virtual Box - is there is a (32 bit) version suitable for antiX ?

anticapitalista wrote:That is debian lenny or even etch time! gcc then was 4.3.2 and 4.1.1 respectively.
You'll have to try a newer version of vmware player it seems

LOL! If only some people would actually listen. sigh,

" If only some people would actually listen. sigh,"
Is this aimed at me by chance ? If it was, I'd reply that /you/ should listen (or read), as well : my host hardware (AMD K7) is not supported on up to date versions of the Player - hence I must find a way to install an old version (which is all I need to run my VMs anyway). The"fix" if any is not installing a more recent VMware, it might be installing an older GCC compiler, if only I may be guided to do it without breaking other stuff.

Ninho wrote:" If only some people would actually listen. sigh,"
Is this aimed at me by chance ? If it was, I'd reply that /you/ should listen (or read), as well : my host hardware (AMD K7) is not supported on up to date versions of the Player - hence I must find a way to install an old version (which is all I need to run my VMs anyway). The"fix" if any is not installing a more recent VMware, it might be installing an older GCC compiler, if only I may be guided to do it without breaking other stuff.

did you check the vmware forum post I linked to? there seem to be other vmware users who try to keep this stuff going.

If it's not impossible nor too disruptive, I'd like to install version 3.x of gcc and tools now,
alongside our regular antiX gcc (4.9 iirc); Can you all please provide guidance for that,
including 1. where to get the files from (they're not in our standard repos), 2. how/where (paths) to install them, and then assuming 1 and 2 succeed, how to switch the system, temporarily, from the regular compiler to the alternate, for the time of the first run of rhe player, which is whrn it compiles and installs its modules ? TIA !

DIY and let us know how it went.