Fixing VMware on Linux 5.3

Same old problem: every kernel update, VMware’s module build shits the bed. This time it’s Linux 5.3.

The fix is to patch the kernel’s VMMON code so it plays nice with the new kernel.

After sudo -s, run the following:

cd /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source
tar xf vmmon.tar
mv vmmon.tar vmmon.old.tar

vim vmmon-only/linux/hostif.c

For the edit itself, see here.

On line 3406, change:

force_sig(SIGKILL, linuxState.fastClockThread);

to:

send_sig(SIGKILL, linuxState.fastClockThread, 1);

Last step: repack it and delete the old files.

tar cf vmmon.tar vmmon-only
rm -r vmmon-only

Run VMware again so it rebuilds the module — passes.