Hi.

The open-vm-tools package is one of the packages in the Debian archive that
should be proposed for installation when a given hardware dongle is
inserted or available.  Thanks to the appstream system, this can now be
announced in a way other tools can use and act on.  I've written the
isenkram system to ask the current user if hardware specific packages
should be installed when a new dongle is installed or already present on
a machine, and isenkram now uses appstream as one source for hardware to
package mappings.

You can read more about this on my blog,
<URL: http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_appstream_with_isenkram_to_install_hardware_related_packages_in_Debian.html >.

Instructions on how to create the metadata XML file can be found in
<URL: https://wiki.debian.org/AppStream/Guidelines >.

It would be great if you could add an appstream metainfo file to the
open-vm-tools package, with content similar to this:

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
  <component>
   [...]
   <provides>
	<modalias>dmi:*:svnVMWare*:*</modalias>
    </provides>
  </component>

If there are other USB ids also supposed by the package, please add
those too. :)

Here is a patch implementing the change, relative to the current git
master branch.  The license is quite close to the xfree86-1.0 one
listed, but lacked the extra paragraph, so I added a new block.

diff --git a/debian/copyright b/debian/copyright
index e635007a..29eaf510 100644
--- a/debian/copyright
+++ b/debian/copyright
@@ -34,6 +34,10 @@ Copyright: 2007-2013 Daniel Baumann <mail@daniel-baumann.ch>
            2022 Bryce Harrington <bryce@canonical.com>
 License: GPL-2+

+Files: debian/open-vm-tools.metainfo.xml
+Copyright: 2024 Petter Reinholdtsen <pere@debian.org>
+License: MIT
+
 License: BSD-3
  This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by Chris Torek.
  .
@@ -167,3 +171,22 @@ License: xfree86-1.0
  author(s) shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale,
  use or other dealings in this Software without prior written authorization from
  the copyright holder(s) and author(s).
+
+License: MIT
+ Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+ of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+ in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+ to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+ copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+ furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+ .
+ The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+ copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+ .
+ THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+ IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+ FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+ AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+ LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+ OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+ SOFTWARE.
diff --git a/debian/open-vm-tools.install b/debian/open-vm-tools.install
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..452200a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/open-vm-tools.install
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+debian/open-vm-tools.metainfo.xml usr/share/metainfo
diff --git a/debian/open-vm-tools.metainfo.xml b/debian/open-vm-tools.metainfo.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..99492604
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/open-vm-tools.metainfo.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<component>
+  <id>com.github.vmware.open-vm-tools</id>
+  <metadata_license>MIT</metadata_license>
+  <name>open-vm-tools</name>
+  <summary>Open VMware Tools for virtual machines hosted on VMware (CLI)</summary>
+  <description>
+    <p>The Open Virtual Machine Tools (open-vm-tools) project is an
+    open source implementation of VMware Tools. It is a suite of
+    virtualization utilities and drivers to improve the functionality,
+    user experience and administration of VMware virtual machines.</p>
+
+    <p>This package contains only the core user-space programs and
+    libraries.</p>
+  </description>
+  <provides>
+    <modalias>dmi:*:svnVMWare*:*</modalias>
+  </provides>
+</component>

Here is an updated patch, transformed into an upstreamable patch as the
metadata belong upstream.  Any hope to have it included in the Debian
package any time soon?  The initial request is more than eight years old
now.

diff --git a/debian/copyright b/debian/copyright
index e635007a..b4371db3 100644
--- a/debian/copyright
+++ b/debian/copyright
@@ -34,6 +34,11 @@ Copyright: 2007-2013 Daniel Baumann <mail@daniel-baumann.ch>
            2022 Bryce Harrington <bryce@canonical.com>
 License: GPL-2+

+Files: open-vm-tools/com.github.vmware.open_vm_tools.metainfo.xml
+       debian/patches/hw-mapping-appstream
+Copyright: 2024 Petter Reinholdtsen <pere@debian.org>
+License: MIT
+
 License: BSD-3
  This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by Chris Torek.
  .
@@ -167,3 +172,22 @@ License: xfree86-1.0
  author(s) shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale,
  use or other dealings in this Software without prior written authorization from
  the copyright holder(s) and author(s).
+
+License: MIT
+ Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+ of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+ in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+ to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+ copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+ furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+ .
+ The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+ copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+ .
+ THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+ IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+ FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+ AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+ LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+ OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+ SOFTWARE.
diff --git a/debian/patches/hw-mapping-appstream b/debian/patches/hw-mapping-appstream
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a5ab39cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/patches/hw-mapping-appstream
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+Description: Announce package and hardware mapping using Appstream metadata XML
+Author: Petter Reinholdtsen <pere@debian.org>
+Forwarded: no
+Last-Update: 2024-12-23
+---
+--- open-vm-tools-12.4.5.orig/open-vm-tools/Makefile.am
++++ open-vm-tools-12.4.5/open-vm-tools/Makefile.am
+@@ -71,6 +71,8 @@ if HAVE_UDEV
+    SUBDIRS += vmwgfxctrl
+ endif
+
++metainfodir = $(datarootdir)/metainfo
++metainfo_DATA = com.github.vmware.open_vm_tools.metainfo.xml
+
+ install-data-local:
+       $(INSTALL) -d $(DESTDIR)/etc/vmware-tools/
+--- /dev/null
++++ open-vm-tools-12.4.5/open-vm-tools/com.github.vmware.open_vm_tools.metainfo.xml
+@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
++<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
++<component>
++  <id>com.github.vmware.open-vm-tools</id>
++  <metadata_license>MIT</metadata_license>
++  <name>open-vm-tools</name>
++  <summary>Open VMware Tools for virtual machines hosted on VMware (CLI)</summary>
++  <description>
++    <p>The Open Virtual Machine Tools (open-vm-tools) project is an
++    open source implementation of VMware Tools. It is a suite of
++    virtualization utilities and drivers to improve the functionality,
++    user experience and administration of VMware virtual machines.</p>
++
++    <p>This package contains only the core user-space programs and
++    libraries.</p>
++  </description>
++  <provides>
++    <modalias>dmi:*:svnVMWare*:*</modalias>
++  </provides>
++</component>
diff --git a/debian/patches/series b/debian/patches/series
index 16610732..98d2ff08 100644
--- a/debian/patches/series
+++ b/debian/patches/series
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 use-debian-pam
 debian/scsi-udev-rule
+hw-mapping-appstream

Is there anything I can do to help get the AppStream information into
unstable?

Here is an slightly updated patch.  I would be happy to do a NMU if
that is required to get this fix into unstable.

diff --git a/debian/copyright b/debian/copyright
index ca9b7f25..f87a8aa8 100644
--- a/debian/copyright
+++ b/debian/copyright
@@ -31,6 +31,11 @@ Copyright: 2007-2013 Daniel Baumann <mail@daniel-baumann.ch>
            2022 Bryce Harrington <bryce@canonical.com>
 License: GPL-2+

+Files: open-vm-tools/com.github.vmware.open_vm_tools.metainfo.xml
+       debian/patches/1020-appstream-hw-mapping.patch
+Copyright: 2024 Petter Reinholdtsen <pere@debian.org>
+License: MIT
+
 License: BSD-3
  This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by Chris Torek.
  .
@@ -164,3 +169,22 @@ License: xfree86-1.0
  author(s) shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale,
  use or other dealings in this Software without prior written authorization from
  the copyright holder(s) and author(s).
+
+License: MIT
+ Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+ of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+ in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+ to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+ copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+ furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+ .
+ The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+ copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+ .
+ THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+ IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+ FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+ AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+ LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+ OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+ SOFTWARE.
diff --git a/debian/patches/1020-appstream-hw-mapping.patch b/debian/patches/1020-appstream-hw-mapping.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6e1114c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/patches/1020-appstream-hw-mapping.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+Description: Announce package and hardware mapping using Appstream metadata XML
+Author: Petter Reinholdtsen <pere@debian.org>
+Bug-Debian: https://bugs.debian.org/837983
+Forwarded: no
+Last-Update: 2024-12-23
+---
+--- open-vm-tools-12.4.5.orig/open-vm-tools/Makefile.am
++++ open-vm-tools-12.4.5/open-vm-tools/Makefile.am
+@@ -71,6 +71,8 @@ if HAVE_UDEV
+    SUBDIRS += vmwgfxctrl
+ endif
+
++metainfodir = $(datarootdir)/metainfo
++metainfo_DATA = com.github.vmware.open_vm_tools.metainfo.xml
+
+ install-data-local:
+       $(INSTALL) -d $(DESTDIR)/etc/vmware-tools/
+--- /dev/null
++++ open-vm-tools-12.4.5/open-vm-tools/com.github.vmware.open_vm_tools.metainfo.xml
+@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
++<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
++<component>
++  <id>com.github.vmware.open-vm-tools</id>
++  <metadata_license>MIT</metadata_license>
++  <name>open-vm-tools</name>
++  <summary>Open VMware Tools for virtual machines hosted on VMware (CLI)</summary>
++  <description>
++    <p>The Open Virtual Machine Tools (open-vm-tools) project is an
++    open source implementation of VMware Tools. It is a suite of
++    virtualization utilities and drivers to improve the functionality,
++    user experience and administration of VMware virtual machines.</p>
++
++    <p>This package contains only the core user-space programs and
++    libraries.</p>
++  </description>
++  <provides>
++    <modalias>dmi:*:svnVMWare*:*</modalias>
++  </provides>
++</component>
diff --git a/debian/patches/series b/debian/patches/series
index 16610732..a2f3d1fb 100644
--- a/debian/patches/series
+++ b/debian/patches/series
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 use-debian-pam
 debian/scsi-udev-rule
+1020-appstream-hw-mapping.patch

Hi Petter,

please explain what the reason should be to have an appstream config for open-vm-tools. It maybe might sense to make the desktop package available in appstream, but as it is it just doesn't make sense what you are proposing.


Bernd

25.01.2025 07:30:14 Petter Reinholdtsen <pere@hungry.com>:

[Bernd Zeimetz]
mapping, like isenkram-lookup and isenkram-pkginstall, will list the
package when running inside a VMWare machine.  My secondary motivation
is to get rid of the hardcoded list of hardware-package mappings
included in the isenkram-cli package to ensure the information is
available for any tool in Debian looking for the mapping in AppStream,
not only the isenkram tool.

You might find <URL: http://www.hungry.com/~pere/blog/tags/isenkram/ >
in iluminating introduction to the concept.