Basic process, not annotated
apt-get install binutils cpp gcc make psmisc linux-headers-$(uname -r)
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/
tar -C /tmp -zxvf /mnt/VMwareTools-x.x.x.tar.gz
umount /mnt
ln -sf /usr/bin/gcc-4.1 /usr/bin/gcc
cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-install.pl
ln -sf /usr/bin/gcc-4.3 /usr/bin/gcc
reboot
For details, see the source from this blog.
