You and I evidently have different interpretations of what 'broken' means. I've gotten used to apt-get install foo doing everything necessary to get a package working after being issued. This includes modules for kernel video drivers, but that is on Ubuntu. Perhaps Ubuntu has a different theory on this point than Debian, or maybe their GUI does something differently to make the experience more integrated.
In any case, by running module-assistant I was able to get open-vm-tools working, and this thread helped me to figure that out. I'll make a mental note to run it again when the kernel changes. Thanks for maintaining the package. It's always decidedly easier to do things the right way with maintained packages. --J.
