On Debian sid 5.2.0 kernel vmware-modconfig fails with GLib-CRITICAL **: 22:08:25.546: g_file_test: assertion 'filename != NULL' failed

[blastwave]

Essentially the kernel modules can not be compiled by the vmware installer
scripts due to some Glibc issues. Even tried manually to work around the
installer script thus :

styx#
styx# PREFIX="/usr" ; export PREFIX
styx# BINDIR="/usr/bin" ; export BINDIR
styx# SBINDIR="/usr/sbin" ; export SBINDIR
styx# LIBDIR="/usr/lib" ; export LIBDIR
styx# DATADIR="/usr/share" ; export DATADIR
styx# SYSCONFDIR="/etc" ; SYSCONFDIR
-bash: SYSCONFDIR: command not found
styx# SYSCONFDIR="/etc" ; export SYSCONFDIR
styx# DOCDIR="/usr/share/doc" ; export DOCDIR
styx# MANDIR="/usr/share/man" ; export MANDIR
styx# INCLUDEDIR="/usr/include" ; export INCLUDEDIR
styx# INITDIR="/etc" ; export INITDIR
styx# INITSCRIPTDIR="/etc/init.d" ; export INITSCRIPTDIR
styx#
styx# VMWARE_INSTALLER="/usr/lib/vmware-installer/2.1.0" ; export VMWARE_INSTALLER
styx# VERSION="2.1.0" ; export VERSION
styx# VMISBUILDNUM="7305623" ; export VMISBUILDNUM
styx# VMISPYVERSION="27" ; export VMISPYVERSION
styx#
styx# /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-modconfig-console --install-all
[AppLoader] GLib does not have GSettings support.

(process:7910): GLib-CRITICAL **: 22:08:25.546: g_file_test: assertion 'filename != NULL' failed
Failed to setup build environment.
styx#
styx# ls -lap /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-modconfig-console
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 29 Aug 19 18:11 /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-modconfig-console -> /usr/lib/vmware/bin/appLoader

The workstation version was 14.1.7 and this took hours to arrive at a no-go situation.

[joaomorenorf]

It worked for me, I made what eftex said:
git clone -b workstation-15.1.0 https://github.com/mkubecek/vmware-host-modules.git
cd vmware-host-modules/
tar -cf vmmon.tar vmmon-only
tar -cf vmnet.tar vmnet-only
cp -v vmmon.tar vmnet.tar /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/
vmware-modconfig --console --install-all
https://communities.vmware.com/thread/617466

# uname -a
Linux A-Crux 5.2.0-2-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.2.9-2 (2019-08-21) x86_64 GNU/Linux

[mkubecek]

The glib issue is not related to kernel modules. It has been discussed multiple times in various places, IIRC it's some library compatibility problem between some distributions and VMware userspace software.