Build failure: vmware-workstation

[gepbird]

Nixpkgs version

• Unstable (25.05)

Steps to reproduce

1. NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE=1 nix build github:NixOS/nixpkgs/5c72fd684249c99b173fbc33ef82c460f414f60b#vmware-workstation --impure

Can Hydra reproduce this build failure?

No, Hydra cannot reproduce this build failure.

Link to Hydra build job

No response

Relevant log output

trying https://softwareupdate.vmware.com/cds/vmw-desktop/ws/17.6.1/24319023/linux/core/VMware-Workstation-17.6.1-24319023.x86_64.bundle.tar
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
  0     0    0     0    0     0      0      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--     0
100   167  100   167    0     0   2750      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--  2783
100  354k    0  354k    0     0  1056k      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 1056k
unpacking source archive /build/VMware-Workstation-17.6.1-24319023.x86_64.bundle.tar
tar: This does not look like a tar archive
tar: Skipping to next header
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors
do not know how to unpack source archive /build/VMware-Workstation-17.6.1-24319023.x86_64.bundle.tar

Additional context

Related: #310121

System metadata

• system: "x86_64-linux"
• host os: Linux 6.13.7-zen1, NixOS, 25.05 (Warbler), 25.05.20250315.c80f6a7
• multi-user?: yes
• sandbox: yes
• version: nix-env (Lix, like Nix) 2.91.1 System type: x86_64-linux Additional system types: i686-linux, x86_64-v1-linux, x86_64-v2-linux, x86_64-v3-linux Features: gc, signed-caches System configuration file: /etc/nix/nix.conf User configuration files: /home/gep/.config/nix/nix.conf:/etc/xdg/nix/nix.conf:/home/gep/.nix-profile/etc/xdg/nix/nix.conf:/nix/profile/etc/xdg/nix/nix.conf:/home/gep/.local/state/nix/profile/etc/xdg/nix/nix.conf:/etc/profiles/per-user/gep/etc/xdg/nix/nix.conf:/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/etc/xdg/nix/nix.conf:/run/current-system/sw/etc/xdg/nix/nix.conf Store directory: /nix/store State directory: /nix/var/nix Data directory: /nix/store/riqr33jgc60nsk8w2d0blq17y8skp0yn-lix-2.91.1/share
• nixpkgs: /nix/store/alzxn3hjisc84hrlv44x6hni48crww26-source

Notify maintainers

@cawilliamson @deinferno @vifino

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[SigmaSquadron]

I'm pretty sure it downloaded an HTML page instead of the tar archive, since the download URL is no longer valid.

[SigmaSquadron]

The new download URLs also seem to be behind authentication gates, so this will need a requireFile.

[cedric-lamalle]

Yes the download url now returns a 301 redirecting to the broadcom support site (location: https://support.broadcom.com):

curl -v https://softwareupdate.vmware.com/cds/vmw-desktop/ws/17.6.1/24319023/linux/core/VMware-Workstation-17.6.1-24319023.x86_64.bundle.tar
* Host softwareupdate.vmware.com:443 was resolved.
* IPv6: 2a06:98c1:58::a5, 2606:4700:7::a5
* IPv4: 172.66.0.165, 162.159.140.167
*   Trying [2a06:98c1:58::a5]:443...
* Immediate connect fail for 2a06:98c1:58::a5: Network is unreachable
*   Trying [2606:4700:7::a5]:443...
* Immediate connect fail for 2606:4700:7::a5: Network is unreachable
*   Trying 172.66.0.165:443...
* ALPN: curl offers h2,http/1.1
* TLSv1.3 (OUT), TLS handshake, Client hello (1):
* TLSv1.3 (IN), TLS handshake, Server hello (2):
* TLSv1.3 (IN), TLS change cipher, Change cipher spec (1):
* TLSv1.3 (IN), TLS handshake, Encrypted Extensions (8):
* TLSv1.3 (IN), TLS handshake, Certificate (11):
* TLSv1.3 (IN), TLS handshake, CERT verify (15):
* TLSv1.3 (IN), TLS handshake, Finished (20):
* TLSv1.3 (OUT), TLS change cipher, Change cipher spec (1):
* TLSv1.3 (OUT), TLS handshake, Finished (20):
* SSL connection using TLSv1.3 / TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 / x25519 / RSASSA-PSS
* ALPN: server accepted h2
* Server certificate:
*  subject: C=US; ST=California; L=Palo Alto; O=Broadcom Inc.; CN=softwareupdate.vmware.com
*  start date: May 27 00:00:00 2024 GMT
*  expire date: May 28 23:59:59 2025 GMT
*  subjectAltName: host "softwareupdate.vmware.com" matched cert's "softwareupdate.vmware.com"
*  issuer: C=US; O=DigiCert Inc; CN=DigiCert TLS RSA SHA256 2020 CA1
*  SSL certificate verify ok.
*   Certificate level 0: Public key type RSA (2048/112 Bits/secBits), signed using sha256WithRSAEncryption
*   Certificate level 1: Public key type RSA (2048/112 Bits/secBits), signed using sha256WithRSAEncryption
*   Certificate level 2: Public key type RSA (2048/112 Bits/secBits), signed using sha1WithRSAEncryption
* Connected to softwareupdate.vmware.com (172.66.0.165) port 443
* using HTTP/2
* [HTTP/2] [1] OPENED stream for https://softwareupdate.vmware.com/cds/vmw-desktop/ws/17.6.1/24319023/linux/core/VMware-Workstation-17.6.1-24319023.x86_64.bundle.tar
* [HTTP/2] [1] [:method: GET]
* [HTTP/2] [1] [:scheme: https]
* [HTTP/2] [1] [:authority: softwareupdate.vmware.com]
* [HTTP/2] [1] [:path: /cds/vmw-desktop/ws/17.6.1/24319023/linux/core/VMware-Workstation-17.6.1-24319023.x86_64.bundle.tar]
* [HTTP/2] [1] [user-agent: curl/8.12.1]
* [HTTP/2] [1] [accept: */*]
> GET /cds/vmw-desktop/ws/17.6.1/24319023/linux/core/VMware-Workstation-17.6.1-24319023.x86_64.bundle.tar HTTP/2
> Host: softwareupdate.vmware.com
> User-Agent: curl/8.12.1
> Accept: */*
> 
* Request completely sent off
* TLSv1.3 (IN), TLS handshake, Newsession Ticket (4):
* TLSv1.3 (IN), TLS handshake, Newsession Ticket (4):
< HTTP/2 301 
< date: Tue, 25 Mar 2025 14:41:55 GMT
< content-type: text/html
< content-length: 167
< location: https://support.broadcom.com
< cache-control: max-age=3600
< expires: Tue, 25 Mar 2025 15:41:55 GMT
< strict-transport-security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains
< content-security-policy: *
< expect-ct: enforce, max-age=300
< x-content-type-options: nosniff
< x-frame-options: SAMEORIGIN
< x-xss-protection: 1; mode=block
< server: cloudflare
< cf-ray: 925f2c03daff64d5-GIG
< 
<html>
<head><title>301 Moved Permanently</title></head>
<body>
<center><h1>301 Moved Permanently</h1></center>
<hr><center>cloudflare</center>
</body>
</html>
* Connection #0 to host softwareupdate.vmware.com left intact

[nixos-discourse]

This issue has been mentioned on NixOS Discourse. There might be relevant details there:

https://discourse.nixos.org/t/vmware-workstation-fails-to-unpack-tar-archive/62161/1

[StephanDaaboul]

I'm encountering the same issue on unstable NixOS and Nixpkgs for VMware Workstation, as discussed before, authentication is causing the build to fail.

Is there a way to authenticate the download issue or any workarounds to make the build work?

Environment:

• NixOS Version: unstable
• Nixpkgs Version: unstable
• VMware Version: 17.6.1
• Date: The issue persists as of 26.03.25

[gepbird]

Is there a way to authenticate the download issue or any workarounds to make the build work?

With a broadcom account, download the currently 17.6.1 vmware bundle file

Obtain the downloaded file's hash and add it to the nix store (edit the path here and run it)

nix hash to-sri --type sha256 $(nix-prefetch-url --type sha256 file:///home/your-user/Downloads/VMware-Workstation-17.6.1-24319023.x86_64.bundle.tar)

Add this to your config, update the hash that you got before and rebuild:

  nixpkgs.overlays = [
    (
      final: prev:
      let
        finalAttrs = final.vmware-workstation;
        baseUrl = "https://softwareupdate.vmware.com/cds/vmw-desktop/ws/${finalAttrs.version}/${finalAttrs.build}/linux";
      in
      {
        vmware-workstation = prev.vmware-workstation.overrideAttrs {
          src =
            prev.requireFile rec {
              name = "VMware-Workstation-${finalAttrs.version}-${finalAttrs.build}.x86_64.bundle.tar";
              url = "${baseUrl}/core/${name}";
              hash = "sha256-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=";
            }
            + "/VMware-Workstation-${finalAttrs.version}-${finalAttrs.build}.x86_64.bundle";
        };
      }
    )
  ];

You may get a message that "Unfortunately, we cannot download file VMware-Workstation-17.6.1-24319023.x86_64.bundle.tar automatically.", follow the instructions in the error message, essentially run the following then rebuild again:

nix-store --add-fixed sha256 VMware-Workstation-17.6.1-24319023.x86_64.bundle.tar

In theory this should work for 17.6.1, newer versions probably require more tweaking. However I haven't tested it with an actual vmware file

[gepbird]

There's a snapshot of the vmware site before they locked downloading behind a broadcom account, but looks like its for windows: https://archive.org/download/vmware-workstation-full-17.6.1-24319023_20241121
However the availability is not the best, and it's possible that it goes against their ToS or something

Edit: this should be a working link https://web.archive.org/web/20241118212048/https://softwareupdate.vmware.com/cds/vmw-desktop/ws/17.6.1/24319023/linux/core/