[3707] in Release_7.7_team
ATTENTION: VMWare Linux Athena users
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Greg Hudson)
Fri Jan 17 17:31:48 2003
Date: Fri, 17 Jan 2003 17:31:31 -0500
Message-Id: <200301172231.RAA12595@error-messages.mit.edu>
From: Greg Hudson <ghudson@MIT.EDU>
To: release-announce@MIT.EDU
It has been brought to our attention that recent Red Hat kernel
versions adversely affect VMWare. Specifically:
* Kernel version 2.4.18-18.7.x, which is part of the upcoming 9.1.24
patch release, causes the virtual machine to be unable to talk to
the outside network using Bridged mode. (Host-only and NAT
networking will still work.) The Red Hat bugzilla entry is at:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=80329
This bug is potentially disabling for people who rely on network
bridging for the virtual machine.
* Kernel version 2.4.18-17.7.x, which is already out in the field as
of 9.1.18, caused a VMWare crash when the virtual machine is
suspended or shut down. The Red Hat bugzilla entry is at:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=78758
This bug is annoying, but livable.
Both failure modes have been verified to exist on Athena machines.
Both problems are known to still exist in Red Hat's latest kernel
(2.4.18-19.7.x), and it seems likely that the eventual fix will come
from VMWare, not from Red Hat.
VMWare is not currently a supported IS product, but some users are
known to have purchased it individually and installed it locally. If
you are one of these people, you should consider staying at 9.1.18 if
you rely on network bridging. We will send more mail when the
situation is known to be resolved. (If you are not yet running
9.1.18, you should upgrade to it, in spite of the VMWare crash bug;
9.1.18 fixes a remote security hole which could be used to take over
your machine.)
