1. Migrate to open-vmware-tools : they stay current with kernel and seem to have less 'hooks' into kernel to get messed up every release - I also run VMware and it has nowhere the issues I see with Parallels Tools on *nix. 2. Clearly state which linux distros are supported and what works at what level. Keep it up to date! 3. If Parallels does not see value in support for Linux, FreeBSD say so and drop it. 4. Support EFI virtual disks in Ubuntu as boot image. 5. Do some work on recommendations for *nix performance under Parallels. Any documentation out there is either generic (i.e., don't page) or old. Provide recommendations on *nix file systems - EXT4 or BTRFS or ZFS or .... ? Do I use Parallels snapshots on disk or BTRFS/ZFS ones --- which has less performance impact. 6. Provide (or at least promote) *nix tools in Parallels ToolBox. 7. Fix the conversion issues moving a VMware virtual disk to Parallels. 8. Any hope of Parallels Workstation on *nix?
I think it will fall on deaf ears, mate. . I started with the same proposition years ago, but I believe the primary market for Parallels Desktop is to run Windows on macOS. Everything else is kind of a side effect that they have a full fledged framework for the virtualisation. My primary issue with Parallels Desktop is the way it is packaged, is installed, and runs. The way they do it is utterly unsafe from the information security perspective -- everything runs with full administrative privileges. They have a chance to do it nicely -- macOS provides its own hypervisor (and you can chose to use it in Parallels), so the entire GUI and CLI can be run as non-privileged account (normal user). I have a script that downloads, unpacks, and bastardise Parallels Desktop to drop as much privileges as possible without access to the source code. I also use macOS native `launchctl` services to load kernel extensions and services (and not the convoluted way Parallels Desktop does it, when you lauch GUI for the first time). Perhaps, I will publish my script on GitHub someday.
If everyone in this forum could upvote something like the following: https://forum.parallels.com/threads/linux-guest-tools-a-call-to-open-source.346987/ we would have much better chances to get a much better integration and support for the Linux community.
Unfortunately, the way the voting system works is that you can only cast your vote if you locate the topic in the list of suggestions (once you are in the thread it seems there is no option for upvoting) . Currently, the topics for "open source Parallels Tools" sit on page 3 (https://forum.parallels.com/forums/parallels-desktop-for-mac-feature-suggestions.769/page-3).
@parallels @alev please give us an open source tools solution to make it simpler to support many Linux and FreeBSD options. Parallels feels dead at present given the rapid development of the *nix world.
