docs/vmware-guest.html

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   3 <title>VMware guest GL driver</title>
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  10 <h1>VMware guest GL driver</h1>
  11
  12 <p>
  13 This page describes how to build, install and use the VMware guest GL driver
  14 (aka the SVGA or SVGA3D driver) for Linux using the latest source code.
  15 This driver gives a Linux virtual machine access to the host's GPU for
  16 hardware-accelerated 3D.
  17 VMware Workstation running on Linux or Windows and VMware Fusion running on
  18 MacOS are all supported.
  19 </p>
  20
  21 <p>
  22 End users shouldn't have to go through all these steps once the driver is
  23 included in newer Linux distributions.
  24 </p>
  25
  26
  27
  28 <h2>Components</h2>
  29
  30 The components involved in this include:
  31 <ul>
  32 <li>Linux kernel module: vmwgfx
  33 <li>X server 2D driver: xf86-video-vmware
  34 <li>User-space libdrm library
  35 <li>Mesa/gallium OpenGL driver: "svga"
  36 </ul>
  37
  38
  39 <h2>Prerequisites</h2>
  40
  41 <ul>
  42 <li>Kernel version at least 2.6.25
  43 <li>Xserver version at least 1.7
  44 <li>Ubuntu: For ubuntu you need to install a number of build dependencies.
  45   <pre>
  46   sudo apt-get install git-core
  47   sudo apt-get install automake libtool libpthread-stubs0-dev
  48   sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-dev x11proto-xinerama-dev
  49   sudo apt-get build-dep libgl1-mesa-dri libxcb-glx0-dev
  50   </pre>
  51 <li>Fedora: For Fedora you also need to install a number of build dependencies.
  52   <pre>
  53   sudo yum install mesa-libGL-devel xorg-x11-server-devel xorg-x11-util-macros
  54   sudo yum install automake gcc libtool expat-devel kernel-devel git-core
  55   </pre>
  56 </ul>
  57
  58 <p>
  59 Depending on your Linux distro, other packages may be needed.
  60 The configure scripts should tell you what's missing.
  61 </p>
  62
  63
  64
  65 <h2>Getting the Latest Source Code</h2>
  66
  67 Begin by saving your current directory location:
  68   <pre>
  69   export TOP=$PWD
  70   </pre>
  71
  72 <ul>
  73 <li>Mesa/Gallium master branch. This code is used to build libGL, and the direct rendering svga driver for libGL, vmwgfx_dri.so, and the X acceleration library libxatracker.so.x.x.x.
  74   <pre>
  75   git clone git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/mesa/mesa
  76   </pre>
  77 <li>VMware Linux guest kernel module. Note that this repo contains the complete DRM and TTM code. The vmware-specific driver is really only the files prefixed with vmwgfx.
  78   <pre>
  79   git clone git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/mesa/vmwgfx
  80   </pre>
  81
  82 <li>libdrm, A user-space library that interfaces with drm. Most distros ship with this driver. Safest bet is really to replace the system one. Optionally you can point LIBDRM_CFLAGS and LIBDRM_LIBS to the libdrm-2.4.22 package in toolchain. But here, we replace:
  83   <pre>
  84   git clone git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/mesa/drm
  85   </pre>
  86 <li>xf86-video-vmware. The chainloading driver, vmware_drv.so, the legacy driver vmwlegacy_drv.so, and the vmwgfx driver vmwgfx_drv.so.
  87   <pre>
  88   git clone git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/xorg/driver/xf86-video-vmware
  89   </pre>
  90 </ul>
  91
  92
  93 <h2>Building the Code</h2>
  94
  95 <ul>
  96 <li>Build libdrm: If you're on a 32-bit system, you should skip the --libdir configure option. Note also the comment about toolchain libdrm above.
  97   <pre>
  98   cd $TOP/drm
  99   ./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr --enable-vmwgfx-experimental-api --libdir=/usr/lib64
 100   make
 101   sudo make install
 102   </pre>
 103 <li>Build Mesa and the vmwgfx_dri.so driver, the vmwgfx_drv.so xorg driver, the X acceleration library libxatracker.
 104 The vmwgfx_dri.so is used by the OpenGL libraries during direct rendering,
 105 and by the Xorg server during accelerated indirect GL rendering.
 106 The libxatracker library is used exclusively by the X server to do render,
 107 copy and video acceleration:
 108 <br>
 109 The following configure options doesn't build the EGL system.
 110 <br>
 111 As before, if you're on a 32-bit system, you should skip the --libdir
 112 configure option.
 113   <pre>
 114   cd $TOP/mesa
 115   ./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr --libdir=/usr/lib64 --with-gallium-drivers=svga --with-dri-drivers= --enable-xa
 116   make
 117   sudo make install
 118   </pre>
 119
 120 Note that you may have to install other packages that Mesa depends upon
 121 if they're not installed in your system.  You should be told what's missing.
 122 <br>
 123 <br>
 124
 125 <li>xf86-video-vmware: Now, once libxatracker is installed, we proceed with building and replacing the current Xorg driver. First check if your system is 32- or 64-bit. If you're building for a 32-bit system, you will not be needing the --libdir=/usr/lib64 option to autogen.
 126   <pre>
 127   cd $TOP/xf86-video-vmware
 128   ./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr --libdir=/usr/lib64
 129   make
 130   sudo make install
 131   </pre>
 132 <li>vmwgfx kernel module. First make sure that any old version of this kernel module is removed from the system by issuing
 133   <pre>
 134   sudo rm /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/gpu/drm/vmwgfx.ko*
 135   </pre>
 136 Then
 137   <pre>
 138   cd $TOP/vmwgfx
 139   make
 140   sudo make install
 141   sudo cp 00-vmwgfx.rules /etc/udev/rules.d
 142   sudo depmod -ae
 143   </pre>
 144 </ul>
 145
 146
 147 Now try to load the kernel module by issuing
 148   <pre>
 149   sudo modprobe vmwgfx</pre>
 150 Then type
 151   <pre>
 152   dmesg</pre>
 153 to watch the debug output. It should contain a number of lines prefixed with "[vmwgfx]".
 154
 155 <p>
 156 Then restart the Xserver (or reboot).
 157 The lines starting with "vmwlegacy" or "VMWARE" in the file /var/log/Xorg.0.log
 158 should now have been replaced with lines starting with "vmwgfx", indicating that
 159 the new Xorg driver is in use.
 160 </p>
 161
 162
 163 <h2>Running OpenGL Programs</h2>
 164
 165 <p>
 166 In a shell, run 'glxinfo' and look for the following to verify that the
 167 driver is working:
 168 </p>
 169
 170 <pre>
 171 OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc.
 172 OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on SVGA3D; build: RELEASE;
 173 OpenGL version string: 2.1 Mesa 8.0
 174 </pre>
 175
 176 If you don't see this, try setting this environment variable:
 177   <pre>
 178   export LIBGL_DEBUG=verbose</pre>
 179 then rerun glxinfo and examine the output for error messages.
 180 </p>
 181
 182
 183
 184 </body>
 185 </html>