Since I published my ESXi-Customizer and ESXi-Customizer-PS tools to slipstream driver packages into an ESXi installation ISO I was asked dozens of times if I can provide a driver for the unsupported device xyz or whether I can give instructions on building such a driver. So far my answer was always No, because - although I'm quite familiar with using Linux - I do not have any of the Linux kernel hacking skills that I thought would be required to do this.
Read more »
Showing posts with label Open Source Code. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Open Source Code. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
VMware finally released the Open Source Code of vSphere 5.0!
Great news! Today VMware finally made the vSphere v5.0 Open Source code archives available for download.
Why is that important?
Since the release of VMware's ESXi 5.0 (Aug 24, 2011) many people are asking for the development of drivers for hardware devices that are not supported by ESXi 5.0 out-of-the-box.
ESXi device drivers are based on Linux device drivers (which lead to the persistent misunderstanding that ESXi itself is based on Linux), but the stock Linux driver code must be modified in a specific way to be compatible with ESXi.
With past versions of ESXi (up to 4.1) it was possible to study and reproduce these required modifications, because VMware published the source code of the ESXi device drivers (the original Linux code plus their modifications). The reason for this is that most Linux drivers are licensed under the GPL (General Public License), and the GPL requires that derived works are also published under the GPL and their source code is made freely available (aka the "Copyleft" principle).
Now, that VMware also published the Open Source Code of ESXi 5.0 (including the device drivers that it contains) it will be possible (or at least much easier) to develop custom ESXi 5.0 drivers for devices that are not officially supported by VMware.
Why is that important?
Since the release of VMware's ESXi 5.0 (Aug 24, 2011) many people are asking for the development of drivers for hardware devices that are not supported by ESXi 5.0 out-of-the-box.
ESXi device drivers are based on Linux device drivers (which lead to the persistent misunderstanding that ESXi itself is based on Linux), but the stock Linux driver code must be modified in a specific way to be compatible with ESXi.
With past versions of ESXi (up to 4.1) it was possible to study and reproduce these required modifications, because VMware published the source code of the ESXi device drivers (the original Linux code plus their modifications). The reason for this is that most Linux drivers are licensed under the GPL (General Public License), and the GPL requires that derived works are also published under the GPL and their source code is made freely available (aka the "Copyleft" principle).
Now, that VMware also published the Open Source Code of ESXi 5.0 (including the device drivers that it contains) it will be possible (or at least much easier) to develop custom ESXi 5.0 drivers for devices that are not officially supported by VMware.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)