jcs.org
vmware userland helper
1vmwh
2Copyright (c) 2010-2011 joshua stein <jcs@jcs.org>
3
4Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
5purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
6copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
7
8THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
9WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
10MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
11ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
12WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
13ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
14OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
15
16--
17
18vmwh is a vmware helper for x11, developed on openbsd to run in userland
19alongside the vmt(4) vmware kernel driver[1] and, optionally, the vmmouse xorg
20driver (unless the -m option is used, in which case vmwh handles mouse position
21synchronization itself). it currently requires xclip to do the x11 clipboard
22manipulation.
23
24it detects when the mouse cursor switches back to the host ("ungrabs") and
25sends the guest's x11 clipboard data (read from xclip) to the host through the
26vmware backdoor[2], which gets put onto the host's clipboard.
27
28it then detects when the mouse cursor switches back to the guest ("grabs") and
29replaces the x11 clipboard contents (via xclip) with the host's, which is read
30through the vmware backdoor.
31
32
33
341. vmwh does not interface with the kernel or the vmmouse driver in any way, so
35 it may work on other operating systems. it is developed on amd64 and has
36 been tested on i386.
37
382. https://sites.google.com/site/chitchatvmback/backdoor