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VMware Workstation Shifting from Proprietary Code to Using Upstream KVM

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Re: VMware Workstation Shifting from Proprietary Code to Using Upstream KVM

#11

Post by guiambros »

TowerTall wrote: post #6

off topic, but has anyone succesfully registered their Workstation Pro single user license with broadcom? I followed the instructions they send to my email like a month ago, but it still says on the broadcom portal that i am not eligible to download latest version despite me having a valid license. context: Broadcom has made Pro free for private users but you still need to register with them to download it.

Broadcom licensing site is a disaster. The usability is terrible; took me an hour going in circles, but eventually I was able to find where to click. It was something completely unintuitive. But it works. Maybe. Sometimes.

Re: VMware Workstation Shifting from Proprietary Code to Using Upstream KVM

#12

Post by lmz »

CommanderData wrote: post #9

Having used Workstation, the graphic performance inside its GUI is really nice, it's better than anything else on the market by a far margin. It performs better than virt-manager/qemu on Linux. Could this move require VMWare/BC to release source code that could improve qemu/virt-manager? KVM is GPL if not mistaken.

Wouldn't KVM be part of the kernel interface to userspace? The emulated devices aren't really part of KVM, are they?

Re: VMware Workstation Shifting from Proprietary Code to Using Upstream KVM

#13

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

CommanderData wrote: post #9

Having used Workstation, the graphic performance inside its GUI is really nice, it's better than anything else on the market by a far margin. It performs better than virt-manager/qemu on Linux. Could this move require VMWare/BC to release source code that could improve qemu/virt-manager? KVM is GPL if not mistaken.

I believe (IANAL) the implementation of KVM is GPL because it's part of Linux, but that's not viral into user space.

Re: VMware Workstation Shifting from Proprietary Code to Using Upstream KVM

#14

Post by sturadnidge »

TowerTall wrote: post #6

off topic, but has anyone succesfully registered their Workstation Pro single user license with broadcom? I followed the instructions they send to my email like a month ago, but it still says on the broadcom portal that i am not eligible to download latest version despite me having a valid license. context: Broadcom has made Pro free for private users but you still need to register with them to download it.

I didn't have any trouble, although I have owned full versions of Workstation and Fusion in the past. Having said that, their licensing portal is awful and i wouldnt be surprised at all if things were getting lost somewhere in the back end.

Re: VMware Workstation Shifting from Proprietary Code to Using Upstream KVM

#15

Post by CommanderData »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #13
CommanderData wrote: post #9

Having used Workstation, the graphic performance inside its GUI is really nice, it's better than anything else on the market by a far margin. It performs better than virt-manager/qemu on Linux. Could this move require VMWare/BC to release source code that could improve qemu/virt-manager? KVM is GPL if not mistaken.

I believe (IANAL) the implementation of KVM is GPL because it's part of Linux, but that's not viral into user space.

I'm no expert on licensing but I seem to remember GPL requires making available source if using and if the GPL project is modified, though I could be entirely mistaken.

Re: VMware Workstation Shifting from Proprietary Code to Using Upstream KVM

#17

Post by CommanderData »

lmz wrote: post #12
CommanderData wrote: post #9

Having used Workstation, the graphic performance inside its GUI is really nice, it's better than anything else on the market by a far margin. It performs better than virt-manager/qemu on Linux. Could this move require VMWare/BC to release source code that could improve qemu/virt-manager? KVM is GPL if not mistaken.

Wouldn't KVM be part of the kernel interface to userspace? The emulated devices aren't really part of KVM, are they?

I was thinking due to modified code and copyleft/GPL it could force copyleft on Workstation, but I may have misunderstood how it works.

Re: VMware Workstation Shifting from Proprietary Code to Using Upstream KVM

#20

Post by naikrovek »

patmorgan23 wrote: post #7
jsheard wrote: post #4

AIUI they already had to do something similar on Windows. Enabling certain features causes Windows to boot itself inside Hyper-V, and VMwares own hypervisor can't run nested under the Hyper-V hypervisor, so VMware gives up and runs its guests directly on Hyper-V instead.

Windows basically always runs inside a hyper-v VM these days.

Only if Hyper-V is enabled and/or WSL2 is installed. And Hyper-V is a prerequisite for WSL2.

If hyper-V is not enabled, then you’re running on metal.

You may notice a longer than normal reboot time when enabling or disabling Hyper-V compared to a normal reboot, and this is why; you’re moving from running on silicon to running in a privileged management VM or vice versa.

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