VMware Server and kernel 2.6.33

Trying to recompile the VMware Server 2.0.2 on kernel 2.6.33 I came upon these two errors:

# uname -a
Linux Sauron 2.6.33 #1 SMP Tue Mar 9 15:09:05 CET 2010 x86_64 AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 248 AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux

This is a Gentoo machine.

Error 1:

The directory of kernel headers (version @@VMWARE@@ UTS_RELEASE) does not match

your running kernel (version 2.6.33).  Even if the module were to compile

successfully, it would not load into the running kernel.

What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running kernel? [/usr/src/linux/include]

This can be resolved by editing version.h (usually in /usr/src/linux/include/linux) and adding this line:

#define UTS_RELEASE "2.6.33"

Error 2:

The path “/usr/src/linux/include” is a kernel header file directory, but it does not contain the file “linux/autoconf.h” as expected.  This can happen if the kernel has never been built, or if you have invoked the “make mrproper” command in your kernel directory.  In any case, you may want to rebuild your kernel.
What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running kernel? [/usr/src/linux/include]

As the latest kernel doesn’t seem to contain this file, I took the autoconf.h file from 2.6.22.2, and copied it to the correct place. This made VMware compile (until it errored on other stuff, which can be fixed using this script).

I’m fairly clueless what implications it can have to make these changes. So use at your own risk. 🙂