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Hi all,
since the release of VMware's ESXi 5.0 (Aug 25, 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).
So, for ESXi 4.1 VMware published all the Open Source code, see here: http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/esx41u1_oss/dHdlYnRkdGpiZGhwZA==. However, for ESXi 5.0 VMware did NOT do this up to today (Oct 23, 2011). At http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/esx50_os_l/dHRAYnQlcHdiZHAlJQ== you will only find a text file with the Open Source license conditions, but not the source code. A copy of this text file is also located on the ESXi 5.0 install ISO with the file name VMWARE-ESX-BASE-OSL-TXT.
At the end of this file there is a note that you can obtain a copy of the source code by sending an email to [email protected] with the clearly specified request "OPEN SOURCE FILES REQUEST, Attention General Counsel". I did exactly this, and a presales guy answered my mail directing me to the Open Source section of the VMware download center. When I made clear that the requested source code is indeed not available there he promised to forward my request to the General Counsel.
I don't expect anything to happen very quickly now, but I think the more people do the same and request the Open Source code of ESXi 5.0 to become available the sooner this will really happen.
So, please
1. Send an email to [email protected] (there is also a postal address mentioned in the text)
2. Address the General Counsel and ask for the Open Source code of ESXi 5.0
3. Mention that you already checked the VMware Download Center finding nothing there.
4. And, please be polite: There is no point in being too demanding or even threatening with law suits. Only the authors and copyright holders of the original code are really entitled to do this.
By doing this you will help raising the pressure on VMware to make the Open Source Code of ESXi 5.0 available. And this is the main prerequisite for the community to be able to develop new ESXi 5.0 compatible drivers.
- Andreas
since the release of VMware's ESXi 5.0 (Aug 25, 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).
So, for ESXi 4.1 VMware published all the Open Source code, see here: http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/esx41u1_oss/dHdlYnRkdGpiZGhwZA==. However, for ESXi 5.0 VMware did NOT do this up to today (Oct 23, 2011). At http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/esx50_os_l/dHRAYnQlcHdiZHAlJQ== you will only find a text file with the Open Source license conditions, but not the source code. A copy of this text file is also located on the ESXi 5.0 install ISO with the file name VMWARE-ESX-BASE-OSL-TXT.
At the end of this file there is a note that you can obtain a copy of the source code by sending an email to [email protected] with the clearly specified request "OPEN SOURCE FILES REQUEST, Attention General Counsel". I did exactly this, and a presales guy answered my mail directing me to the Open Source section of the VMware download center. When I made clear that the requested source code is indeed not available there he promised to forward my request to the General Counsel.
I don't expect anything to happen very quickly now, but I think the more people do the same and request the Open Source code of ESXi 5.0 to become available the sooner this will really happen.
So, please
1. Send an email to [email protected] (there is also a postal address mentioned in the text)
2. Address the General Counsel and ask for the Open Source code of ESXi 5.0
3. Mention that you already checked the VMware Download Center finding nothing there.
4. And, please be polite: There is no point in being too demanding or even threatening with law suits. Only the authors and copyright holders of the original code are really entitled to do this.
By doing this you will help raising the pressure on VMware to make the Open Source Code of ESXi 5.0 available. And this is the main prerequisite for the community to be able to develop new ESXi 5.0 compatible drivers.
- Andreas
You can stop now ...