Testing an early pre-release version of Kernel 6.9-rc (March 16th) and – so far – the latest NVIDIA 550.54.14 compiles OK, but (patched) VMware vmnet 17.5.1 does not:
……..
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-1kunqP/vmnet-only/smac.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-1kunqP/vmnet-only/vnetEvent.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-1kunqP/vmnet-only/vnetUserListener.o
In file included from ./include/linux/spinlock.h:305,
from ./include/linux/sched.h:2138,
from /tmp/modconfig-1kunqP/vmnet-only/bridge.c:25:
/tmp/modconfig-1kunqP/vmnet-only/bridge.c: In function ‘VNetBridgeReceiveFromVNet’:
/tmp/modconfig-1kunqP/vmnet-only/vmnetInt.h:44:39: error: ‘dev_base_lock’ undeclared (first use in this function); did you mean ‘device_lock’?
44 | #define dev_lock_list() read_lock(&dev_base_lock)
| ^~~~~~~~~~~~~
./include/linux/rwlock.h:56:48: note: in definition of macro ‘read_lock’
56 | #define read_lock(lock) _raw_read_lock(lock)
| ^~~~
/tmp/modconfig-1kunqP/vmnet-only/bridge.c:587:4: note: in expansion of macro ‘dev_lock_list’
587 | dev_lock_list();
| ^~~~~~~~~~~~~
/tmp/modconfig-1kunqP/vmnet-only/vmnetInt.h:44:39: note: each undeclared identifier is reported only once for each function it appears in
44 | #define dev_lock_list() read_lock(&dev_base_lock)
| ^~~~~~~~~~~~~
./include/linux/rwlock.h:56:48: note: in definition of macro ‘read_lock’
56 | #define read_lock(lock) _raw_read_lock(lock)
| ^~~~
/tmp/modconfig-1kunqP/vmnet-only/bridge.c:587:4: note: in expansion of macro ‘dev_lock_list’
587 | dev_lock_list();
| ^~~~~~~~~~~~~
/tmp/modconfig-1kunqP/vmnet-only/bridge.c: In function ‘VNetBridgeUp’:
/tmp/modconfig-1kunqP/vmnet-only/vmnetInt.h:44:39: error: ‘dev_base_lock’ undeclared (first use in this function); did you mean ‘device_lock’?
44 | #define dev_lock_list() read_lock(&dev_base_lock)
| ^~~~~~~~~~~~~
./include/linux/rwlock.h:56:48: note: in definition of macro ‘read_lock’
56 | #define read_lock(lock) _raw_read_lock(lock)
| ^~~~
/tmp/modconfig-1kunqP/vmnet-only/bridge.c:902:4: note: in expansion of macro ‘dev_lock_list’
902 | dev_lock_list();
| ^~~~~~~~~~~~~
make[3]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:243: /tmp/modconfig-1kunqP/vmnet-only/bridge.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** [/usr/src/linux-6.9-rc000/Makefile:1912: /tmp/modconfig-1kunqP/vmnet-only] Error 2
make[1]: *** [Makefile:240: __sub-make] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/src/linux-6.9-rc000'
make: *** [Makefile:117: vmnet.ko] Error 2
make: Leaving directory '/tmp/modconfig-1kunqP/vmnet-only'
Unable to install all modules. See log for details.

Of course, there are many more changes before -rc1 in a weeks time, so things may change..

Robert Gadsdon.  March 17th 2024.