Bug 331579 – app-emulation/vmware-server-2.0.2.203138-r1 - Running vmware-config.pl always adds vmware to default runlevel

• Product: Gentoo Linux
• Status: RESOLVED OBSOLETE

[Description Eric Westbrook 2010-08-07 22:14:35 UTC]

I always, always start vmware-server manually with "/etc/init.d/vmware start".  However, every recent upgrade has added it to my default runlevel when I run vmware-config.pl (or emerge --config vmware-server).  Using the --skip-stop-start flag is not helpful here either; /etc/init.d/vmware still gets added to the default runlevel, and without prompting.

Customary Gentoo behavior for services is that adding to the default runlevel is a conscious task for the administrator to perform.  (Or whatever runlevel is desired, actually; the package itself cannot simply assume that willy-nilly either, just as it cannot assume the administrator wants it added to any of them.)  It violates one's expectations to have a service added to the default runlevel by simply emerging it or running its configure script.

A brief examination of /opt/vmware/server/bin/vmware-config.pl did not reveal to me where in the scripts this is invoked, actually, so any advice on that would be appreciated and would help me provide a patch for this behavior (as an overlay for myself even if the change is not accepted into the tree).

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. emerge app-emulation/vmware-server
2. emerge --config vmware-server
3. Answer a few questions

Actual Results:  
Between questions, observe /etc/init.d/vmware being presumptively added to the default runlevel without further ado.

Expected Results:  
Adding /etc/init.d/vmware to the default runlevel, or any other, should be left to the administrator.

[Comment 1 Vadim Kuznetsov (RETIRED) 2010-08-12 18:04:28 UTC]

Here is the current patch, that does enable runlevel update:
--- bin.old/vmware-config.pl    2009-07-02 17:56:08.873568674 -0400
+++ bin/vmware-config.pl        2009-07-02 17:56:59.000000000 -0400
@@ -1341,6 +1341,14 @@
       }
    }
 
+   # Try using Genoot's rc-config
+   if ($gHelper{'rc-config'} ne '') {
+       if(0 == system(shell_string($gHelper{'rc-config'}) . ' add '
+                       . $service . ' default')) {
+               return;
+       }
+   }
+
    # Set up vmware to start/stop at run levels 2, 3 and 5
    link_runlevel(2, $service, $S_level, $K_level);
    link_runlevel(3, $service, $S_level, $K_level);

[Comment 2 Vadim Kuznetsov (RETIRED) 2011-12-17 14:02:54 UTC]

vmware server was removed from the tree. Bug 374599.