Knowledge Base

This warning is commonly seen on 64-bit Red Hat Linux hosts. If you choose to ignore the warning, VMware products continue to work correctly. The remainder of this article describes the situation that leads to the warning, and what you can do if you want to eliminate the warning.

On 64-bit hosts, Red Hat supplies a 64-bit build of the GTK+ version 1 library. This library can be used with various graphical UI applications, depending on compatibility.

Current VMware products use the 32-bit GTK+ version 1 library. Since that is not available by default on a 64-bit Red Hat host, a VMware product may substitute a private copy of the 32-bit GTK+ version 1 library that is automatically installed with the product for compatibility.

However, the private copy of the library does not include theme engines. To get a theme engine, the VMware product reads the .gtkrc file on the host. On a 32-bit host, this file normally points to a theme with a 32-bit engine; on a 64-bit Red Hat host, this file points to the Bluecurve theme, which has a 64-bit engine installed by default. This is incompatible with the 32-bit GTK+ library, which leads to the warning that the libbluecurve.so file is missing.

There are two fairly simple ways to eliminate the warning.

• Remove the .gtkrc file from your home directory on the host.

  Note: This causes all applications based on GTK+ to use the default theme. Any settings stored in ~/.gtkrc (or in files that it includes) may revert to defaults. If you regularly use custom styles in your other applications, you may prefer the second solution.

• Contact Red Hat for a 32-bit Bluecurve theme engine compatible with GTK+ version 1, or locate the Bluecurve theme on the Web. (Bluecurve is found in the redhat-artwork RPM.) Installing a compatible Bluecurve theme allows VMware Workstation or the VMware Console to use the default Bluecurve theme specified by the .gtkrc file.

  If, in your case, the warning message refers to a theme other than Bluecurve, you need to locate and install a 32-bit engine for that theme, compatible with GTK+ version 1.