I have not found a solution, so I wrote a script to invoke vmware-modconfig on boot if the kernel version has changed. I call it from /etc/rc.local. Feel free to steal it.
#!/bin/bash
PROG=$(/usr/bin/basename $0)
# Directory containing kernel version file
DIR=/usr/local/etc/vmware
# File containing version of kernel from previous boot
KERNEL_VERSION_FILE="${DIR}/previous"
# Make sure required directory exists
[ -d "${DIR}" ] || /bin/mkdir -p "${DIR}"
if [ $? -ne 0 ]
then
/usr/bin/logger "${PROG}: failed to find/create '${DIR}'"
exit 1
fi
# Make sure required kernel version file exists.
# If not, create one with a dummy value that will force a rebuild.
[ -f "${KERNEL_VERSION_FILE}" ] || echo dummy > "${KERNEL_VERSION_FILE}"
if [ $? -ne 0 ]
then
/usr/bin/logger "${PROG}: failed to find/create '${KERNEL_VERSION_FILE}'"
exit 1
fi
# Get current kernel version
CURRENT_KERNEL=$(/bin/uname -r)
# If same kernel version, exit
[ "${CURRENT_KERNEL}" = $(cat "${KERNEL_VERSION_FILE}") ] && exit 0
# If we got here, kernel versions differ.
# Rebuild vmware kernel module.
/usr/bin/logger "${PROG}: building vmware kernel module"
/usr/bin/vmware-modconfig --console --install-all
# If all went well, update kernel version file
if [ $? -eq 0 ]
then
echo "${CURRENT_KERNEL}" > "${KERNEL_VERSION_FILE}"
/usr/bin/logger "${PROG}: finished building vmware kernel module"
else
/usr/bin/logger "${PROG}: error: could not build vmware kernel module"
fi
