Kernel 5.4-rc1 is out – a day later than usual, and brief details are here: http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1909.3/04895.html

My tests with VMware and NVIDIA revealed some odd errors/warning relating to kernel symbols..

With the latest NVIDIA (435.21) I got the following:

# make
make[1]: Entering directory '/usr/src/linux-5.4-rc1'
The Module.symvers file is missing, or does not contain any
symbols exported from the kernel. This could cause the NVIDIA
kernel modules to be built against a configuration that does
not accurately reflect the actual target kernel.
The Module.symvers file check can be disabled by setting the
environment variable IGNORE_MISSING_MODULE_SYMVERS to 1.
make[2]: *** [/home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-435.21/kernel/Kbuild:181: module_symvers_sanity_check] Error 1
make[1]: *** [Makefile:1670: /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-435.21/kernel] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/src/linux-5.4-rc1'
make: *** [Makefile:81: modules] Error 2
– But… the file does exist:
# ll /usr/src/linux-5.4-rc1/Module.symvers
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 889339 Sep 30 14:47 /usr/src/linux-5.4-rc1/Module.symvers

To get the compile working:
# export IGNORE_MISSING_MODULE_SYMVERS=1
# make
make[1]: Entering directory '/usr/src/linux-5.4-rc1'
CONFTEST: hash__remap_4k_pfn
CONFTEST: set_pages_uc
CONFTEST: list_is_first
CONFTEST: set_memory_uc
CONFTEST: set_memory_array_uc
CONFTEST: acquire_console_sem
..................
but then:
.............
SYMLINK /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-435.21/kernel/nvidia-modeset/nv-modeset-kernel.o
LD [M] /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-435.21/kernel/nvidia-modeset.o
CC [M] /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-435.21/kernel/nvidia-drm/nvidia-drm.o
CC [M] /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-435.21/kernel/nvidia-drm/nvidia-drm-drv.o
/home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-435.21/kernel/nvidia-drm/nvidia-drm-drv.c:662:44: error: ‘DRIVER_PRIME’ undeclared here (not in a function); did you mean ‘DRIVER_PCI_DMA’?
662 | .driver_features = DRIVER_GEM | DRIVER_PRIME | DRIVER_RENDER,
| ^~~~~~~~~~~~
| DRIVER_PCI_DMA
make[2]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:266: /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-435.21/kernel/nvidia-drm/nvidia-drm-drv.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [Makefile:1670: /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-435.21/kernel] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/src/linux-5.4-rc1'
make: *** [Makefile:81: modules] Error 2

So – more investigation is needed here..

With VMware 15.5.0, there is a 5.4 patched version of vmmon/vmnet at https://github.com/mkubecek/vmware-host-modules/tree/tmp/workstation-15.5.0-k5.4
I applied these, and the vmmon/vmnet compile completed, but with some odd warnings (output truncated):
.....................
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol alloc_pages_current from namespace uptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol kmalloc_caches from namespace nterruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol __kmalloc from namespace ock_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol up_read from namespace _lock_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol __put_devmap_managed_page from namespace e, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol vmalloc from namespace _lock_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol schedule_hrtimeout from namespace ruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol gdt_page from namespace lock_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol vm_node_stat from namespace _interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol init_timer_key from namespace nterruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol vfree from namespace ex_lock_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol __get_user_1 from namespace _interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol tsc_khz from namespace _lock_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol cpu_number from namespace ck_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol vmemmap_base from namespace _interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol kthread_create_on_node from namespace ible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol jiffies from namespace _lock_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol down_read from namespace ock_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol vm_zone_stat from namespace _interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol _copy_to_user from namespace interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol misc_register from namespace interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol del_timer_sync from namespace nterruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol memset from namespace x_lock_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol __default_kernel_pte_mask from namespace e, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol vmalloc_to_pfn from namespace nterruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol current_task from namespace _interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol printk from namespace x_lock_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol kthread_stop from namespace _interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol _totalram_pages from namespace terruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol ktime_get_raw_ts64 from namespace ruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol vmap from namespace tex_lock_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol _cond_resched from namespace interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol __x86_indirect_thunk_rbx from namespace le, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol down from namespace tex_lock_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol mod_timer from namespace ock_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol poll_freewait from namespace interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol add_timer from namespace ock_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol up_write from namespace lock_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol down_write from namespace ck_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol fput from namespace tex_lock_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol poll_initwait from namespace interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol page_offset_base from namespace erruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol kmem_cache_alloc from namespace erruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol __free_pages from namespace _interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol smp_call_function from namespace rruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol ioremap_nocache from namespace terruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol cpu_khz from namespace _lock_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol __get_free_pages from namespace erruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol __stack_chk_fail from namespace erruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol schedule_timeout from namespace erruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol schedule from namespace lock_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol __x86_indirect_thunk_rax from namespace le, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol wake_up_process from namespace terruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol msleep_interruptible from namespace ptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol _raw_spin_lock from namespace nterruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol vsnprintf from namespace ock_interruptible, but does not import it.
WARNING: module vmmon uses symbol free_pages from namespace ck_interruptible, but does not import it.
...etc, etc ..........
– and with similar warnings for vmnet..
Despite this, the modules install, and #vmare seems to work OK? (tested with Win7 guest).

I did think that this might be a kernel config problem at my end, but installed the pre-compiled Fedora (Rawhide) kernel version – 5.4.0-0.rc0.git6.1.fc32.x86_64 – and got similar results.

So.. more investigation needed!

Robert Gadsdon. September 30th 2019.