vmware-user-suid-wrapper is not executed on login

Thanks for reporting this bug.

What is your host running?

Did you run vmware-user-suid-wrapper in the guest before testing? If not, please try it and let us know if that fixes the problem.

(If it does, it certainly still is a bug that vmware-user-suid-wrapper is not being run automatically on login.)

vmware-user-suid-wrapper is not automatically run on login because /usr/share/applications/vmware-user.desktop is missing which is symlinked from /etc/xdg/autostart/.

After manually putting the attached file into the right place, cut'n'paste and auto-screen-resiszing work again as in Lucid.

Additional info, to answer the question from #1 : if you run vmware-user-suid-wrapper manually, this also fixes the problem.

My host is Windows 7 (64-bit), Guest is Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty)

I just tried running vmware-user-suid-wrapper, and it works.

Isn't the vmware-user.desktop file suppose to be created when open-vm-tools?

If it isn't being created properly, then I suggest that someone should push a fix, so that when open-vm-tools is installed, the vmware-user.desktop is created.

I don't have a problem creating the file, put it would be a hassle. I would like it created during the install process.

Looking at the diff file (seen on the next line), it is installed, although would someone be kind and tell me what that sed command is suppose to do with the vmware-toolbox.desktop file after it's installed.
+ mkdir -p debian/open-vm-toolbox/usr/share/applications
+ install -m 644 scripts/common/vmware-toolbox.desktop debian/open-vm-toolbox/usr/share/applications
+ sed -i s/Exec=.*/Exec=vmware-toolbox/ debian/open-vm-toolbox/usr/share/applications/vmware-toolbox.desktop

Please note: /usr/share/applications/vmware-toolbox.desktop is a different file and used for the GTK frontend of the open-vm-tools.

The sed command changes the executable in the Exec line from whatever was in there before to "vmware-toolbox". This seems to be necessary because the binary was renamed from its original name by the Debian/Ubuntu maintainer.

The vmware-user.desktop file on the other hand only launches the suid-wrapper (responsible for preparing working cut'n'paste and dynamic screen resizing) during user login and does nothing else. In Lucid this file and corresponding symlink in /etc/xdg/autostart was shipped in the open-vm-toolbox package while in Natty only the symlink exists, the real desktop file has been lost.

The attached package includes the .desktop file and should fix the problem.

For some reason the desktop files aren't being installed by make install-exec, as the makefiles seem to think they should. This change forcibly copies the needed .desktop file into place.

@Daviey,

I assigned it to you in the hopes that you would be willing to upload the fix when verified.

I would try to push the fix to my repo, but the builders are so backed up that by the time it builds, the fix might be in the main repo already.

This bug was fixed in the package open-vm-tools - 2011.03.28-387002-0ubuntu2

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open-vm-tools (2011.03.28-387002-0ubuntu2) oneiric; urgency=low

  * debian/rules: copy the vmware-user.desktop into place. (LP: #772837)
 -- Serge Hallyn <email address hidden> Fri, 29 Apr 2011 22:03:33 +0000

Uploaded open-vm-tools to natty-proposed, awaiting SRU acceptance.

Accepted open-vm-tools into natty-proposed, the package will build now and be available in a few hours. Please test and give feedback here. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Thank you in advance!

hallyn: vmware-user-suid-wrapper/Makefile copies the .desktop file directly into /etc/xdg/autostart. The reason that doesn't work is that debian/open-vm-toolbox.links creates a symlink to /usr/share/applications/vmware-user.desktop that overwrites the one the makefile copied into place. This could be fixed more directly just by removing debian/open-vm-toolbox.links.

That being said, I can confirm that open-vm-toolbox 2011.03.28-387002-0ubuntu1.1 fixes the issue and enables all of the functionality I expect (Unity mode, DnD, copy/paste passthrough, window resize)

@Evan

Thanks, that makes sense. If you'd like to upload a debdiff to do it the simpler way, I think it woudl be worth it for simplifying future syncs.

This bug was fixed in the package open-vm-tools - 2011.03.28-387002-0ubuntu1.1

---------------
open-vm-tools (2011.03.28-387002-0ubuntu1.1) natty-proposed; urgency=low

  * debian/rules: copy the vmware-user.desktop into place. (LP: #772837)
 -- Serge Hallyn <email address hidden> Fri, 29 Apr 2011 22:03:33 +0000