Compiling vmmon module fails on linux kernel 5.16.0-arch1-1

[phiroict]

After upgrading to the 5.16 kernel on my main machine:
uname -a :

5.16.0-arch1-1 #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon, 10 Jan 2022 20:11:47 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I found that recompiling the vmmon  module fails with

/tmp/modconfig-lXl0QD/vmnet-only/vm_assert.h:43:10: fatal error: stdarg.h: No such file or directory
43 | #include <stdarg.h>

There are more errors, all based on not finding the stdarg.h header file. Now, the linux-headers have been installed, and compiling on the previous kernel worked ok.

When starting workstation pro (vmware --version: VMware Workstation 16.2.1 build-18811642) it offers to recompile the modules

Which then fails with:

So this looks like more customers may run into as the 5.16 becomes more current.

Rebuilding on the commandline with:

vmware-modconfig --console --install-al

Results in the same error, it looks like the process does not find the linux headers anymore. The header missing is in the source directory

cd /usr/src/linux/include
find . -name stdarg.h -type f
./linux/stdarg.h

Which leads me to believe that the Makefile does not look into that directory when building. Can somebody point me to where the kernel headers path for compiling is set? 

[xboydavey]

When every other method failed, this one worked for me! Workstation Pro 16.2.3, kernel 6.3.12, PCLinuxOS.

Thank you!

[hfcVM]

I cannot believe that one major release later, and now on Kernel 6.5.4, this is STILL the go-to solution.

I just had to use it when I got a kernel upgrade and it wouldn't compile the modules. Tried upgrading to VMWare 17.0.2 from 17.0.1 to no avail.  Used https://github.com/mkubecek/vmware-host-modules and checked out the 17.0.2 branch, and BAM! it worked.

I'm running Pop!OS 22.04

Once again, this should NOT be the solution, but IT IS!

-Hugh Ferguson

[wcdeich4]

make produces error:

In file included from /home/will/Downloads/vmware-host-modules-workstation-16.2.4/vmmon-only/common/vmx86.c:56:
./arch/x86/include/asm/timex.h: In function ‘random_get_entropy’:
./arch/x86/include/asm/timex.h:12:24: error: implicit declaration of function ‘random_get_entropy_fallback’; did you mean ‘random_get_entropy’? [-Werror=implicit-function-declaration]
12 | return random_get_entropy_fallback();
| ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| random_get_entropy