Xvnc4 - Online in the Cloud

PROGRAM:

NAME

Xvnc - the X VNC server

SYNOPSIS

Xvnc [options] :display#

DESCRIPTION

Xvnc is the X VNC (Virtual Network Computing) server. It is based on a standard X server,
but it has a "virtual" screen rather than a physical one. X applications display
themselves on it as if it were a normal X display, but they can only be accessed via a VNC
viewer - see vncviewer(1).

So Xvnc is really two servers in one. To the applications it is an X server, and to the
remote VNC users it is a VNC server. By convention we have arranged that the VNC server
display number will be the same as the X server display number, which means you can use
eg. snoopy:2 to refer to display 2 on machine "snoopy" in both the X world and the VNC
world.

The best way of starting Xvnc is via the vncserver script. This sets up the environment
appropriately and runs some X applications to get you going. See the manual page for
vncserver(1) for more information.

OPTIONS

Xvnc takes lots of options - running Xvnc -help gives a list. Many of these are standard
X server options, which are described in the Xserver(1) manual page. In addition to
options which can only be set via the command-line, there are also "parameters" which can
be set both via the command-line and through the vncconfig(1) program.

-geometry widthxheight
Specify the size of the desktop to be created. Default is 1024x768.

-depth depth
Specify the pixel depth in bits of the desktop to be created. Default is 16, other
possible values are 8, 15, and 24 - anything else is likely to cause strange
behaviour by applications.

-pixelformat format
Specify pixel format for server to use (BGRnnn or RGBnnn). The default for depth 8
is BGR233 (meaning the most significant two bits represent blue, the next three
green, and the least significant three represent red), the default for depth 16 is
RGB565 and for depth 24 is RGB888.

-cc 3 As an alternative to the default TrueColor visual, this allows you to run an Xvnc
server with a PseudoColor visual (i.e. one which uses a colour map or palette),
which can be useful for running some old X applications which only work on such a
display. Values other than 3 (PseudoColor) and 4 (TrueColor) for the -cc option
may result in strange behaviour, and PseudoColor desktops must be 8 bits deep (i.e.
-depth 8).

-inetd This significantly changes Xvnc's behaviour so that it can be launched from inetd.
See the section below on usage with inetd.

-help List all the options and parameters

PARAMETERS

VNC parameters can be set both via the command-line and through the vncconfig(1) program,
and with a VNC-enabled XFree86 server via Options entries in the XF86Config file.

Parameters can be turned on with -param or off with -param=0. Parameters which take a
value can be specified as -param value. Other valid forms are param=value -param=value
--param=value. Parameter names are case-insensitive.

-desktop desktop-name
Each desktop has a name which may be displayed by the viewer. It defaults to "x11".

-rfbport port
Specifies the TCP port on which Xvnc listens for connections from viewers (the
protocol used in VNC is called RFB - "remote framebuffer"). The default is 5900
plus the display number.

-rfbwait time, -ClientWaitTimeMillis time

Time in milliseconds to wait for a viewer which is blocking Xvnc. This is
necessary because Xvnc is single-threaded and sometimes blocks until the viewer has
finished sending or receiving a message - note that this does not mean an update
will be aborted after this time. Default is 20000 (20 seconds).

-httpd directory
Run a mini-HTTP server which serves files from the given directory. Normally the
directory will contain the classes for the Java viewer. In addition, files with a
.vnc extension will have certain substitutions made so that a single installation
of the Java VNC viewer can be served by separate instances of Xvnc.

-httpPort port
Specifies the port on which the mini-HTTP server runs. Default is 5800 plus the
display number.

-rfbauth passwd-file, -PasswordFile passwd-file
Specifies the file containing the password used to authenticate viewers. The file
is accessed each time a connection comes in, so it can be changed on the fly via
vncpasswd(1).

-deferUpdate time
Xvnc uses a "deferred update" mechanism which enhances performance in many cases.
After any change to the framebuffer, Xvnc waits for this number of milliseconds
(default 40) before sending an update to any waiting clients. This means that more
changes tend to get coalesced together in a single update. Setting it to 0 results
in the same behaviour as earlier versions of Xvnc, where the first change to the
framebuffer causes an immediate update to any waiting clients.

-SendCutText
Send clipboard changes to clients (default is on). Note that you must also run
vncconfig(1) to get the clipboard to work.

-AcceptCutText
Accept clipboard updates from clients (default is on). Note that you must also run
vncconfig(1) to get the clipboard to work.

-AcceptPointerEvents
Accept pointer press and release events from clients (default is on).

-AcceptKeyEvents
Accept key press and release events from clients (default is on).

-DisconnectClients
Disconnect existing clients if an incoming connection is non-shared (default is
on). If DisconnectClients is false, then a new non-shared connection will be
refused while there is a client active. When combined with NeverShared this means
only one client is allowed at a time.

-NeverShared
Never treat incoming connections as shared, regardless of the client-specified
setting (default is off).

-AlwaysShared
Always treat incoming connections as shared, regardless of the client-specified
setting (default is off).

-Protocol3.3
Always use protocol version 3.3 for backwards compatibility with badly-behaved
clients (default is off).

-CompareFB
Perform pixel comparison on framebuffer to reduce unnecessary updates (default is
on).

-SecurityTypes sec-types
Specify which security schemes to use separated by commas. At present only "None"
and "VncAuth" are supported. The default is "VncAuth" - note that if you want a
server which does not require a password, you must set this parameter to "None".

-IdleTimeout seconds
The number of seconds after which an idle VNC connection will be dropped (default
is 3600 i.e. an hour).

-QueryConnect
Prompts the user of the desktop to explicitly accept or reject incoming
connections. This is most useful when using the vnc.so module or x0vncserver(1)
program to access an existing X desktop via VNC.

The vncconfig(1) program must be running on the desktop in order for QueryConnect
to be supported by the vnc.so(1) module or Xvnc(1) program. The x0vncserver(1)
program does not require vncconfig(1) to be running.

-localhost
Only allow connections from the same machine. Useful if you use SSH and want to
stop non-SSH connections from any other hosts. See the guide to using VNC with SSH
on the web site.

-log logname:dest:level
Configures the debug log settings. dest can currently be stderr or stdout, and
level is between 0 and 100, 100 meaning most verbose output. logname is usually *
meaning all, but you can target a specific source file if you know the name of its
"LogWriter". Default is *:stderr:30.

-RemapKeys mapping
Sets up a keyboard mapping. mapping is a comma-separated string of character
mappings, each of the form char->char, or char<>char, where char is a hexadecimal
keysym. For example, to exchange the " and @ symbols you would specify the
following:

RemapKeys=0x22<>0x40

USAGE WITH INETD

By configuring the inetd(1) service appropriately, Xvnc can be launched on demand when a
connection comes in, rather than having to be started manually. When given the -inetd
option, instead of listening for TCP connections on a given port it uses its standard
input and standard output. There are two modes controlled by the wait/nowait entry in the
inetd.conf file.

In the nowait mode, Xvnc uses its standard input and output directly as the connection to
a viewer. It never has a listening socket, so cannot accept further connections from
viewers (it can however connect out to listening viewers by use of the vncconfig program).
Further viewer connections to the same TCP port result in inetd spawning off a new Xvnc to
deal with each connection. When the connection to the viewer dies, the Xvnc and any
associated X clients die. This behaviour is most useful when combined with the XDMCP
options -query and -once. An typical example in inetd.conf might be (all on one line):

5950 stream tcp nowait nobody /usr/local/bin/Xvnc Xvnc -inetd -query localhost -once
securitytypes=none

In this example a viewer connection to :50 will result in a new Xvnc for that connection
which should display the standard XDM login screen on that machine. Because the user
needs to login via XDM, it is usually OK to accept connections without a VNC password in
this case.

In the wait mode, when the first connection comes in, inetd gives the listening socket to
Xvnc. This means that for a given TCP port, there is only ever one Xvnc at a time.
Further viewer connections to the same port are accepted by the same Xvnc in the normal
way. Even when the original connection is broken, the Xvnc will continue to run. If this
is used with the XDMCP options -query and -once, the Xvnc and associated X clients will
die when the user logs out of the X session in the normal way. It is important to use a
VNC password in this case. A typical entry in inetd.conf might be:

5951 stream tcp wait james /usr/local/bin/Xvnc Xvnc -inetd -query localhost
-once passwordFile=/home/james/.vnc/passwd

In fact typically, you would have one entry for each user who uses VNC regularly, each of
whom has their own dedicated TCP port which they use. In this example, when user "james"
connects to :51, he enters his VNC password, then gets the XDM login screen where he logs
in in the normal way. However, unlike the previous example, if he disconnects, the
session remains persistent, and when he reconnects he will get the same session back
again. When he logs out of the X session, the Xvnc will die, but of course a new one will
be created automatically the next time he connects.

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