Upgrading Parallels Tools for Debian

[gorbag]

Attempting to install new (4.0) version of Parallels tools yeilds the error that an error occured when downloading needed source modules and that

Kernel Sources

are missing.


After doing apt-get install linux-source-2.6.18

I still get the same error.

a) this is not a very helpful error message, and should point toward exactly what package is being asked for.

b) networking is working after a lot of trial and error. I could not get shared networking to work. I was able to dedicate my wireless connection to the guest OS, use ifconfig to bring eth1 down then back up with a new address,
and then separately use route to add my gateway. I'm going to assume this is a function of not having the most recent parallels tools.

c) suggest a binary parallels tools for LAG guest OSes that are "supported" be part of the distro - I shouldn't need to install kernel sources, and if parallels tools is needed to make networking transparent, there should be a better bootstrapping mechanism!

 

[gorbag]

more detail

And before anyone makes the obvious suggestion, yes, I did go to /usr/src, unpack the tar.bz2 file, and make a symbolic link between linux and that directory, so ls /usr/src/linux gets you what you would expect.

 

[gorbag]

And here's the install log

Note that installer/pm.sh seems to not be able to figure out the correct package manager for debian?

(hint: dpkg and apt-get).

 

[disciple]

gorbag, could you please start installation of Parallels Tools with "-i" or "--install" option and then attach "/var/log/parallels-tools-install.log" file to this thread. We will investigate this issue to prepare solution fixing it.

BTW, as a temporary fix could you please execute the following command in terminal window with root permissions:
# apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r) make gcc
to install required packages for building of kernel modules! After successful installation of these packages please try again to install Parallels Tools.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Rince]

Good morning,

I installed Debian Lenny on my Desktop 4.0 and tried to install the Parallel Tools.

After starting the installer with -i, the error message in the logfile is:

make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.26-1-amd64'
Start installation of prl_tg kernel module
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.26-1-amd64/build SUBDIRS=/usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_tg/Toolgate/Guest/Linux/prl_
tg SRCROOT=/usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_tg/Toolgate/Guest/Linux/prl_tg modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.26-1-amd64'
CC [M] /usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_tg/Toolgate/Guest/Linux/prl_tg/prltg.o
/usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_tg/Toolgate/Guest/Linux/prl_tg/prltg.c:1: error: code model ‘kernel’ not suppo
rted in the 32 bit mode
make[2]: *** [/usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_tg/Toolgate/Guest/Linux/prl_tg/prltg.o] Fehler 1
make[1]: *** [_module_/usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_tg/Toolgate/Guest/Linux/prl_tg] Fehler 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.26-1-amd64'
make: *** [prl_tg] Fehler 2
Error: could not build prl_tg kernel module

 

[disciple]

The root issue is that you are trying to build x64 kernel modules using x32 compile tools!
You should update your compile tools (compiler, linker, libraries) to support building of modules for 64 bit system.

 

[Rince]

Hi,

I think the error message is wrong;

I checked the Makefile.v26 in /usr/lib/parallel-tools/kmods/prl_tg/Toolgate/Guest/Linux/prl_tg/ and apparently the architecture doesn't get properly found - the parameters for 32bit gets set even if uname -m gives an "x86_64".
When I change that if-statement it can get compiled. Unfortunately the installer everytime overwrites everything from before.
So, is there a way to let the installer not overwrite the already unpacked files? Or just use the modules which there are (already compiled)?
When I compile it manually, it works (at least I can see it in lsmod and dmesg), but the installer won't install it...

 

[disciple]

Oh, we will check the Makefile and correct it! Thank you!

BTW, now you may do the following steps to apply your patch:
1. copy the whole content of installation CD into the some directory, e.g. ~/pt/
2. unpack the ~/pt/kmods/prl_tg.tar.gz file into the e.g. ~/tg/ directory
3. apply you patch to ~/tg/Toolgate/Guest/Linux/prl_tg/Makefile.v26 file
4. pack the whole content of ~/tg/ directoly into the prl_tg.tar.gz file.
5. replace the original ~/pt/kmods/prl_tg.tar.gz with new one!
6. reinstall Parallels Tools from ~/pt/ directory: ~/pt/install -i

 

[gorbag]

OK, i upgraded to the latest tool (intstall -v: 4.0.3540.209165)

Things actually got worse:

sudo ./install -i
Extra packageas are required to setup Guest Tools kernel modules.
Would you like to install these packages automatically?
Please, answer [yes,No] yes
can't detect package managers
Unknown utility for automatical download packages
Error: failed to install, upgrade or remove Parallels Guest Tools!
Please, look at /var/log/parallels-tools-install.log file for more information.

Unfortunately, no log file was created.

 

[gorbag]

BTW, as a temporary fix could you please execute the following command in terminal window with root permissions:
# apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r) make gcc
to install required packages for building of kernel modules! After successful installation of these packages please try again to install Parallels Tools.

After following this direction, parallels tools did not prompt to try to install additional libraries and did install (asking me to reboot). After a reboot, X came up normally, so it appears I'm back in business.

Thanks!