vmware/open-vm-tools
Official repository of VMware open-vm-tools project observed · 2026-08-28
Health v2 · maintenance only
78/100
- Activity 82
- Release rhythm 60
- Longevity 100
Flags: no_license
How is this computed?
round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-03. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.
- gap_med: 105.0
- age_days: 4513
- days_rel: 111
- days_push: 111
- n_releases_24m: 7
Adoption not part of the score
2657 stars · 470 forks observed · 2026-08-28
What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-30, confidence not recorded
open-vm-tools is VMware's open-source implementation of VMware Tools, a suite of services, plugins, and kernel modules that improve management and user interaction of VMware guest virtual machines. It enables power operations, guest-host file operations, heartbeat monitoring, time sync, clipboard sharing, and statistics collection for Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD guests.
Use cases
- install vmware tools on linux vm
- graceful shutdown of vmware guest from host
- sync clock between vmware host and guest
- copy paste between vmware guest and host
- collect guest vm statistics in vSphere
- quiesce guest filesystem for consistent snapshots
- enable heartbeat monitoring for vSphere HA
When to choose
- running Linux or FreeBSD guests on VMware ESXi, Workstation, or Fusion and needing host-guest integration
- managing a vSphere fleet that requires guest heartbeat, customization, and power automation
- you want the open-source, distribution-packaged alternative to the proprietary VMware Tools installer
When to avoid
- running VMs on non-VMware hypervisors like KVM, VirtualBox, or Hyper-V
- you need fully open-source Linux kernel drivers - those are already upstreamed into the Linux kernel
- Windows guests, which should use the official VMware Tools installer instead
Facets
library · maturity stable
monitoring auth file-system developer-tools operating-systems self-hosted windows bsd cpp c vmware virtualization guest-tools vsphere kernel-modules hypervisor devops linux macos
5 sources
- readme: https://github.com/vmware/open-vm-tools · fetched 2026-08-28 · a3da94be2e39
- homepage: http://sourceforge.net/projects/open-vm-tools/ · fetched 2026-08-29 · 35f7853e59c0
- site_page: https://sourceforge.net/about · fetched 2026-08-29 · 47a5f3730d75
- site_page: https://sourceforge.net/p/forge/documentation/Docs%20Home · fetched 2026-08-29 · 3cca19403dfa
- site_page: https://sourceforge.net/about/leadership · fetched 2026-08-29 · bfffa8fdd816
Member repositories
| Repository | Role | Health v2 |
|---|---|---|
| vmware/open-vm-tools | main | 78 |
For agents
markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="vmware/open-vm-tools")
Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem