diff options
| author | runge <runge> | 2004-08-04 03:20:36 +0000 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | runge <runge> | 2004-08-04 03:20:36 +0000 |
| commit | 6460243eafd6de91863136b74cf42e7e89597921 (patch) | |
| tree | 7e3803e513c9a9309004c5092d9f2e0d23b0a3a3 | |
| parent | 2c668dea01e80aa55c5fd803c633b16845c649d9 (diff) | |
| download | libtdevnc-6460243eafd6de91863136b74cf42e7e89597921.tar.gz libtdevnc-6460243eafd6de91863136b74cf42e7e89597921.zip | |
fix XKBlib.h detection on *BSD, x11vnc: manpage and README
| -rw-r--r-- | x11vnc/README | 2720 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | x11vnc/x11vnc.1 | 661 |
2 files changed, 3381 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/x11vnc/README b/x11vnc/README new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1f58f24 --- /dev/null +++ b/x11vnc/README @@ -0,0 +1,2720 @@ + +x11vnc README file Date: Tue Aug 3 21:54:01 EDT 2004 + +The following information is taken from these URLs: + + http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html + http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/x11vnc_opts.html + +they contain the most up to date info. + +======================================================================= +http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html: + + _________________________________________________________________ + +x11vnc: a VNC server for real X displays (to [1]FAQ) (to [2]downloads) +(to [3]building) + + x11vnc allows one to remotely view and interact with real X displays + (i.e. a display corresponding to a physical monitor, keyboard, and + mouse) with any VNC viewer. In this way it plays the role for Unix/X11 + that WinVNC plays for Windows. + + I wrote x11vnc because x0rfbserver was basically impossible to build + on Solaris and had poor performance. The primary x0rfbserver build + problems centered around esoteric C++ toolkits. x11vnc is written in + plain C and uses only standard libraries. I also added a few + enhancements to improve the interactive response, add esoteric + features, etc. + + Background: + + VNC is a very useful network graphics protocol in the spirit of X, + however, unlike X, the viewing-end is very simple and maintains no + state. It is a remote framebuffer (RFB) protocol . + + Some VNC links: + * [4]http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/ + * [5]http://www.realvnc.com + * [6]http://www.tightvnc.com + + For Unix, the VNC implementation includes a virtual X11 server Xvnc + (usually launched via the vncserver command) that is not associated + with a real display, but provides a "fake" one X11 clients (xterm, + mozilla, etc.) can attach to. A remote user then connects to Xvnc via + the VNC client vncviewer from anywhere on the network to view and + interact with the whole virtual X11 desktop. + + The VNC protocol is in most cases better suited for remote connections + with low bandwidth and high latency than is the X11 protocol. Also, + with no state maintained the viewing-end can crash, be rebooted, or + relocated and the applications and desktop continue running. Not so + with X11. + + So the standard Xvnc program is very useful, I use it for things like: + * desktop conferencing with other users (e.g. codereviews). + * long running apps/tasks I want to be able to view from many + places. + * Motif, GNOME, and similar applications that would yield very poor + performance over a high latency link. + + However, sometimes one wants to connect to a real X11 display (i.e. + one attached to a physical monitor, keyboard, and mouse: a Workstation + or a SunRay session) from far away. Maybe you want to close down an + application cleanly rather than using kill, or want to work a bit in + an already running application, or would like to help a distant + colleague solve a problem with their desktop. This is where x11vnc is + useful. + _________________________________________________________________ + + How to use x11vnc: + + In this example let's assume the remote machine with the X display you + wish to view is far-away.east:0 and the workstation you are presently + working at is sitting-here.west. + + Step 0. Download x11vnc ([7]see below) and have it available to run + (e.g. via PATH) on far-away.east. Similarly, have a VNC viewer (e.g. + vncviewer) ready to run on sitting-here.west. + + Step 1. By some means log in to far-away.east and get a command shell + running there. You can use ssh, rlogin, telnet, or any other method to + do this. x11vnc needs to be run on the same machine the X server + process is running on (because MIT-SHM shared memory is used to poll + the X11 framebuffer). + + Step 2. In that far-away.east shell (with command prompt "far-away>" + in this example) run x11vnc directed at the far-away.east X session: + + far-away> x11vnc -display :0 + + You could have also set the environment variable DISPLAY=:0 to achieve + the same thing. This step attaches x11vnc to the far-away.east:0 X + display (no viewer clients yet). + + There will then be much chatter printed out from x11vnc, until it + finally says something like: + . + . + 13/05/2004 14:59:54 Autoprobing selected port 5900 + 13/05/2004 14:59:54 screen setup finished. + 13/05/2004 14:59:54 The VNC desktop is far-away:0 + PORT=5900 + + which means all is OK, and we are ready for the final step. + + Step 3. At the place where you are sitting (sitting-here.west in this + example) you now want to run a VNC viewer program. There are VNC + viewers for Unix, Windows, MacOS, Java-enabled web browsers, and even + for PDA's like the Palm Pilot! You can use any of them to connect to + x11vnc (see the above VNC links on how to obtain a viewer for your + platform. For Solaris, vncviewer is available in the [8]Companion CD + package SFWvnc ). + + In this example we'll use the Unix vncviewer program on sitting-here + by typing the following command in a second terminal window: + + sitting-here> vncviewer far-away.east:0 + + That should pop up a viewer window on sitting-here.west showing and + allowing interaction with the far-away.east:0 X11 desktop. Pretty + nifty! When finished, exit the viewer: the remote x11vnc process will + shutdown automatically (or you can use the -forever [9]option to have + it wait for additional viewer connections). + + Desktop Sharing: The above more or less assumed nobody was sitting at + the workstation display far-away.east:0. This is often the case: a + user wants to access her workstation remotely. Another usage pattern + has the user sitting at far-away.east:0 and invites one or more other + people to view and interact with his desktop. Perhaps the user gives a + demo or presentation this way (using the telephone for vocal + communication). A "Remote Help Desk" mode would be similar: a + technician remotely connects to the user's desktop to interactively + solve a problem the user is having. + + For these cases it should be obvious how it is done. The above steps + will work, but more easily the user sitting at far-away.east:0 simply + starts up x11vnc from a terminal window, after which the guests would + start their VNC viewers. For this usage mode the -accept popup option + discussed in the [10]FAQ below may be of use to allow the user at + far-away.east:0 to accept or reject incoming connections. + _________________________________________________________________ + + Tunnelling x11vnc via ssh: + + The above example had no security or privacy at all. When logging into + remote machines (certainly when going over the internet) it is best to + use ssh, or use a VPN. For x11vnc one can tunnel the VNC protocol + through the encrypted ssh channel. It would look something like this: + sitting-here> ssh -L 5900:localhost:5900 far-away.east 'x11vnc -display :0' + + (you will likely have to provide passwords/passphrases for the ssh + login) and then in another terminal window on sitting-here run the + command: + sitting-here> vncviewer -encodings "copyrect tight hextile" localhost:0 + + The -encodings option is very important: vncviewer will default to + "raw" encoding if it thinks the connection is to the local machine, + and so vncviewer gets tricked this way by the ssh redirection. "raw" + encoding will be extremely slow over a networked link, so you need to + force the issue with -encodings "copyrect tight ...". + + If the machine you SSH into is not the same machine with the X display + you wish to view (e.g. your company provides incoming SSH access to a + gateway machine), then you need to change the above to, e.g.: -L + 5900:otherhost:5900. Once logged in, you'll need to do a second login + (ssh or rsh) to the workstation machine 'otherhost' and then start up + x11vnc on it. + + As discussed below, there may be some problems with port 5900 being + available. If that happens, the above port and display numbers may + change a bit. However, if you "know" port 5900 will be free on the + local and remote machines, you can automate the above two steps by + using the x11vnc option -bg (forks into background after connection to + the display is set up) or using the -f option of ssh. A simple example + script, assuming no problems with port 5900 being taken on the local + or remote sides, looks like: +#!/bin/sh +# usage: x11vnc_ssh <host>:<xdisplay> +# e.g.: x11vnc_ssh snoopy.peanuts.com:0 + +host=`echo $1 | awk -F: '{print $1}'` +disp=`echo $1 | awk -F: '{print $2}'` +if [ "x$disp" = "x" ]; then disp=0; fi + +cmd="x11vnc -display :$disp -rfbauth .vnc/passwd" +enc="copyrect tight hextile zlib corre rre raw" + +ssh -f -L 5900:localhost:5900 $host "$cmd" + +for i in 1 2 3 +do + sleep 2 + if vncviewer -encodings "$enc" :0; then break; fi +done + + See also rx11vnc.pl below. + + Another method is to start the VNC viewer in listen mode "vncviewer + -listen" and have x11vnc initiate the reverse connection using the + -connect option: +#!/bin/sh +# usage: x11vnc_ssh <host>:<xdisplay> +# e.g.: x11vnc_ssh snoopy.peanuts.com:0 + +host=`echo $1 | awk -F: '{print $1}'` +disp=`echo $1 | awk -F: '{print $2}'` +if [ "x$disp" = "x" ]; then disp=0; fi + +cmd="x11vnc -display :$disp -connect localhost" # <-- new option +enc="copyrect tight hextile zlib corre rre raw" + +vncviewer -encodings "$enc" -listen & +pid=$! +ssh -R 5500:localhost:5500 $host "$cmd" +kill $pid + + A third way is specific to the TightVNC vncviewer special option -via + for gateways. The only tricky part is we need to start up x11vnc and + give it some time to start listening for connections (so we cannot use + the TightVNC default setting for VNC_VIA_CMD): +#!/bin/sh +# usage: x11vnc_ssh <host>:<xdisplay> +# e.g.: x11vnc_ssh snoopy.peanuts.com:0 + +host=`echo $1 | awk -F: '{print $1}'` +disp=`echo $1 | awk -F: '{print $2}'` +if [ "x$disp" = "x" ]; then disp=0; fi + +VNC_VIA_CMD="ssh -f -L %L:%H:%R %G x11vnc -rfbport 5900 -display :$disp; sleep +5" +export VNC_VIA_CMD + +vncviewer -via $host localhost:0 # must be TightVNC vncviewer. + + Of course if you already have the x11vnc running waiting for + connections (or have it started out of inetd(1)), you can simply use + the TightVNC vncviewer -via gateway host:port in its default mode to + provide secure ssh tunneling. + + VNC password file: Also note in the first example script that the + option "-rfbauth .vnc/passwd" provides additional protection by + requiring a VNC password for every VNC viewer that connects. The + vncpasswd or storepasswd programs, or the x11vnc [11]-storepasswd + option can be used to create the password file. x11vnc also has the + slightly less secure [12]-passwdfile and -passwd XXXXX options. + + It is up to you to tell x11vnc to use password protection, it will not + do it for you automatically. The same goes for encrypting the channel + between the viewer and x11vnc: it is up to you to use ssh, etc. + _________________________________________________________________ + + Downloading x11vnc: + + x11vnc is a contributed program to the [13]libvncserver project at + SourceForge.net. I use libvncserver for all of the VNC aspects; I + couldn't have done without it. The full source code may be found and + downloaded (either file-release tarball or CVS tree) from the above + link. As of Aug 2004, the [14]x11vnc 0.6.2 source package is released + (recommended download) . The x11vnc package is the subset of the + libvncserver package needed to build the x11vnc program. Also, you can + get a copy of my latest, bleeding edge [15]x11vnc.c file to replace + the one in the above packages or the one in the CVS tree and then + rebuild. + + See the [16]FAQ below for information about where you might obtain a + precompiled x11vnc binary from 3rd parties. + + More tools: Here is a rsh/ssh wrapper script rx11vnc that attempts to + automatically do the above Steps 1-3 for you (provided you have + rsh/ssh login permission on the machine x11vnc is to be run on). The + above example would be: rx11vnc far-away.east:0 typed into a shell on + sitting-here.west. Also included is an experimental script rx11vnc.pl + that attempts to tunnel the vnc traffic through an ssh port + redirection (and does not assume port 5900 is free). Have a look at + them to see what they do and customize as needed: + * [17]rx11vnc wrapper script + * [18]rx11vnc.pl wrapper script to tunnel traffic thru ssh + _________________________________________________________________ + + Building x11vnc: + + If your OS has libjpeg.so and libz.so in standard locations you can + build as follows (example given for the 0.6.2 release of x11vnc: + replace with the version you downloaded): +(un-tar the x11vnc+libvncserver tarball) +# gzip -dc x11vnc-0.6.2.tar.gz | tar -xvf - + +(cd to the source directory) +# cd x11vnc-0.6.2 + +(run configure and then run make) +# ./configure +# make + +(if all went OK, copy x11vnc to the desired destination, e.g. $HOME/bin) +# cp ./x11vnc/x11vnc $HOME/bin + + Or do make install, it will probably install to /usr/local/bin (run + ./configure --help for information on customizing your configuration). + You can now run it via typing "x11vnc", "x11vnc -help", "x11vnc -nap + -display :0", etc. + + Building on Solaris: Depending on your version of Solaris (or other + Unix OS), the jpeg and/or zlib libraries may be in non-standard places + (e.g. /usr/local). Note: if configure cannot find these two libraries + then TightVNC support will be disabled, and you don't want that! Here + is a build script that indicates one way to pass this information to + the libvncserver configuration: +#!/bin/sh + +# Build script for Solaris, etc, with, gcc, libjpeg and libz in +# non-standard locations. + +PATH=/path/to/gcc/bin:/usr/ccs/bin:$PATH # set to get gcc + +JPEG=/path/to/jpeg # maybe "/usr/local" or "/opt/sfw" +ZLIB=/path/to/zlib # maybe "/usr/local" or "/opt/sfw" + +# Below we assume headers in $JPEG/include and $ZLIB/include and the +# shared libraries are in $JPEG/lib and $ZLIB/lib. If your situation +# is different change the locations in the two lines below. + +CPPFLAGS="-I $JPEG/include -I $ZLIB/include" +LDFLAGS="-L $JPEG/lib -R $JPEG/lib -L $ZLIB/lib -R $ZLIB/lib" + +# These two lines may not be needed on more recent Solaris releases: +CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS -I /usr/openwin/include" +LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS -L /usr/openwin/lib -R /usr/openwin/lib" + +export PATH CPPFLAGS LDFLAGS + +./configure +make + +ls -l ./x11vnc/x11vnc + + Then do make install or copy the binary to your desired destination. + + Note that on Solaris make is /usr/ccs/bin/make, so that is why the + above puts /usr/ccs/bin in PATH. Other important build utililties are + there too: ld, ar, etc. Also, it is probably a bad idea to have + /usr/ucb in your PATH while building. + + One user had a problem where the above build script was failing + because his work environment had the ENV variable set to a script that + was resetting his PATH so that gcc could no longer be found. Make sure + you do not have any ENV or BASH_ENV in your environment doing things + like that. + + There is a build problem on Solaris 7 11/99 (update 4) where the + header file X11/extensions/XKBstr.h that X11/XKBlib.h uses was not + shipped. The x11vnc configure succeeds and sets + LIBVNCSERVER_HAVE_XKEYBOARD in rfb/rfbconfig.h but then the build of + x11vnc fails in the make. A workaround is to remove all lines + referring to LIBVNCSERVER_HAVE_XKEYBOARD in rfb/rfbconfig.h after + configure has been run. Alternatively, one could put #undef + LIBVNCSERVER_HAVE_XKEYBOARD after the rfb/rfb.h include in the + x11vnc/x11vnc.c file. We are working to fix this in the configure + script. + _________________________________________________________________ + + Some Notes: + + Network performance: Whether you are using Xvnc or x11vnc it is + always a good idea to have a solid background color instead of a + pretty background image. Each and every re-exposure of the background + must be resent over the network: better to have that background be a + solid color that compresses very well compared to a photo image. I + suggest using xsetroot, dtstyle or similar utility to set a solid + background while using x11vnc. + + I also find the [19]tightvnc encoding gives the best response for my + usage (Unix <-> Unix over cable modem). One needs a tightvnc-aware + vncviewer to take advantage of this encoding. + + TCP port issues: Notice the lines + 18/07/2003 14:36:31 Autoprobing selected port 5900 + PORT=5900 + + in the output. 5900 is the default VNC listening port (just like 6000 + is X11's default listening port). Had port 5900 been taken by some + other application, x11vnc would have next tried 5901. That would mean + the viewer command above should be changed to vncviewer + far-away.east:1. You can force the issue with the -rfbport NNNN + option. + + Options: x11vnc has (far too) many features that may be activated + via its [20]command line options. Useful options are -nap to use fewer + resources (it sleeps more between polls when activity is low) and + -rfbauth passwd-file to use VNC password protection (the vncpasswd or + storepasswd programs, or the x11vnc [21]-storepasswd option can be + used to create the password file). + + Algorithm: How does x11vnc do it? Rather brute-forcedly: it + continuously polls the X11 framebuffer for changes using + XShmGetImage(). When changes are discovered, it instructs libvncserver + which rectangular regions of the framebuffer have changed, and + libvncserver compresses the changes and sends them off to any + connected VNC viewers. A number of applications do similar things, + such as x0rfbserver, krfb, x0vncserver. x11vnc uses a 32 x 32 pixel + tile model (the desktop is decomposed into ~1000 such tiles), where + changed tiles are found by pseudo-randomly polling 1 pixel tall + horizontal scanlines. This is a surprisingly effective algorithm for + finding changed regions. For keyboard and mouse user input the XTEST + extension is used to pass the input events to the X server. To detect + XBell "beeps" the XKEYBOARD extension is used. + + Barbershop mirrors effect: What if x11vnc is started up, and + vncviewer is then started up on the same machine and displayed on the + same display x11vnc is polling? One might "accidentally" do this when + first testing out the programs. You get an interesting "feedback" + effect where vncviewer images keep popping up each one contained in + the previous one and slightly shifted a bit by the window manager + decorations. There will be an even more interesting effect if -scale + is used. Also, if the XKEYBOARD is supported and the XBell "beeps" + once, you get an infinite loop of beeps going off. Although all of + this is mildly exciting it is not much use: you will normally run and + display the viewer on a different machine! + + SunRay notes: You can run x11vnc on your (connected or disconnected) + [22]SunRay session (Please remember to use -nap and maybe -wait 200 to + avoid being a resource hog! It also helps a bit to have a solid + background color). You have to know the name of the machine your + SunRay session X server is running on. You also need to know the X11 + DISPLAY number for the session: on a SunRay it could be a large + number, e.g. :137, since there are many people with X sessions (Xsun + processes) on the same machine. If you don't know it, you can get it + by running who(1) in a shell on the SunRay server and looking for the + dtlocal entry with your username (and if you don't even know which + server machine has your session, you could login to all possible ones + looking at the who output for your username...). + + SunRay Gotcha: Note that even though your SunRay X11 DISPLAY is + something like :137, x11vnc still tries for port 5900 as its listening + if it can get it, in which case the VNC display (i.e. the information + you supply to the VNC viewer) is something like sunray-server:0 + (note the :0 corresponding to port 5900, it is not :137). If it cannot + get 5900, it tries for 5901, and so on. You can also try to force the + port (and thereby the VNC display) using the -rfbport NNNN option. + + Limitations: + + * Due to the polling nature, some activities (opaque window moves, + scrolling), can be pretty choppy/ragged and others (exposures of + large areas) slow. Experiment with interacting a bit differently + than you normally do to minimize the effects (e.g. do fullpage + paging rather than line-by-line scrolling, and move windows in a + single, quick motion). Work is in progress to attempt to speed + things up using the copyrect encoding and other things, but they + will likely only speed up certain activities, not all. + * A rate limiting factor for x11vnc performance is that video + hardware is optimized for writing, not reading (x11vnc reads the + video framebuffer for the screen image data). The difference can + be a factor of 10-50, and it usually takes about 0.5-1 sec to read + in the whole video hardware framebuffer (5MB for 1280x1024 at + depth 24). So whenever activity changes most of the screen there + is a delay of this length while x11vnc reads the changed regions + in. To get a sense of the read and write speeds of your video + card, you can run the benchmarks like: x11perf -getimage500, + x11perf -putimage500, x11perf -shmput500 and for XFree86 displays + with direct graphics access the dga command (press "b" to run the + benchmark and then after a few seconds press "q" to quit). + On XFree86 it is actually possible to increase the framebuffer + read speed considerably (5-50 times) by using the Shadow + Framebuffer (a copy of the framebuffer is kept in main memory and + this can be read much more quickly). To do this one puts the line + Option "ShadowFB" "true" (and depending on video card driver, + Option "NoAccel" "true" may be needed too) in the Device section + of the /etc/X11/XF86Config file. Note that this disables 2D + acceleration at the physical display and so likely defeats the + purpose. Nevertheless this could be handy in some circumstances, + e.g. if the speed at the physical display was tolerable. + Unfortunately it does not seem shadowfb can't be turned on and off + dynamically... + * Somewhat surprisingly, the X11 mouse (cursor) shape is write-only + and cannot be queried from the X server. So in x11vnc the cursor + shape stays fixed at an arrow. (see the -mouseX option, however, + for a partial hack for the root window). + * Audio from applications is of course not redirected (separate + redirectors do exist, e.g. esd). The XBell() "beeps" will work if + the X server supports the XKEYBOARD extension. (Note that on + Solaris XKEYBOARD is disabled by default. Passing +kb to Xsun + enables it). + * Occasionally a patch of tiles will not get updated correctly. + Evidently a timing related bug and difficult to reproduce... + * Using -threads can expose some bugs in libvncserver. + + Please feel free to [23]contact me if you have any questions, + problems, or comments about x11vnc, etc. + _________________________________________________________________ + + x11vnc FAQ: + + [24]Q-1: I can't get x11vnc to start up. It says "XOpenDisplay failed + ((null))" or "Xlib: connection to ":0.0" refused by server". What do I + need to do? + + [25]Q-2: I can't get x11vnc and/or libvncserver to compile. + + [26]Q-3: Where can I get a precompiled x11vnc binary for my Operating + System? + + [27]Q-4: How can I see all of x11vnc's command line options and + documentation on how to use them? + + [28]Q-5: I don't like typing arcane command line options every time I + start x11vnc. What can I do? Is there a config file? + + [29]Q-6: Why does x11vnc exit as soon as the VNC viewer disconnects? + And why doesn't it allow more than one VNC viewer to connect at the + same time? + + [30]Q-7: I have two separate machine displays in front of me, one + Windows the other X11: can I use x11vnc in combination with Win2VNC in + dual-screen mode to pass the keystrokes and mouse motions to the X11 + display? + + [31]Q-8: I am running Win2VNC on my windows machine and trying to + create a dual-screen mode with my second display by running x11vnc + -nofb. Whenever I initiate the connection Win2VNC quickly disconnects + and x11vnc says something like: rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: read: + Connection reset by peer + + [32]Q-9: The X display I run x11vnc on is only 8bpp PseudoColor (only + 256 distinct colors). x11vnc starts out OK, but after a while the + colors are incorrect in certain windows. + + [33]Q-10: Color problems: I have an X display that has nice + "overlay-like" visuals of multiple color depths. E.g. there are both + depth 8 and 24 visuals available. Why are some of the colors messed up + in x11vnc? + + [34]Q-11: How do I figure out the window id to supply to the -id + windowid option? + + [35]Q-12: Why don't menus or other transient windows come up when I am + using the -id windowid option to view a single application window? + + [36]Q-13: Can I use x11vnc to view and interact with an Xterminal + (e.g. NCD) that is not running UNIX and so x11vnc cannot be run on it + directly? + + [37]Q-14: Can I make x11vnc more quiet and also go into the background + after starting up? + + [38]Q-15: Can I limit which machines incoming VNC clients can connect + from? + + [39]Q-16: How do I build x11vnc/libvncserver with libwrap + (tcp_wrappers) support? + + [40]Q-17: Can I prompt the user at the local X display whether the + incoming VNC client should be accepted or not? Can I decide to make + some clients view-only? How about running an arbitrary program to make + the decisions? + + [41]Q-18: How do I create a VNC password for use with x11vnc? + + [42]Q-19: How can I tunnel my connection to x11vnc via an encrypted + SSH channel between two Unix machines? + + [43]Q-20: How can I tunnel my connection to x11vnc via an encrypted + SSH channel from Windows using an SSH client like Putty? + + [44]Q-21: Does x11vnc support Unix usernames and passwords? Can I + further limit the set of Unix usernames who can connect to the VNC + desktop? + + [45]Q-22: Can I have two passwords for VNC viewers, one for full + access and the other for view-only access to the display? + + [46]Q-23: I use a screen-lock when I leave my workstation (e.g. + xscreensaver or xlock). When I remotely access my workstation desktop + via x11vnc I can unlock the desktop fine, but I am worried people will + see my activities on the physical monitor. What can I do to prevent + this, or at least make it more difficult? + + [47]Q-24: Can I have x11vnc automatically lock the screen when I + disconnect the VNC viewer? + + [48]Q-25: Are reverse connections (i.e. the VNC server connecting to + the VNC viewer) using "vncviewer -listen" and vncconnect(1) supported? + + [49]Q-26: Sometimes when a VNC viewer dies abruptly, x11vnc also dies + with the error message like: "Broken pipe". I'm using the -forever + mode and I want x11vnc to keep running. + + [50]Q-27: How can I use x11vnc to connect to an X login screen like + xdm, GNOME gdmgreeter, KDE kdm, or CDE dtlogin? + + [51]Q-28: Can I run x11vnc out of inetd(1)? + + [52]Q-29: How do I make x11vnc work with the Java VNC viewer applet in + a web browser? + + [53]Q-30: Why isn't the mouse cursor shape (the little icon shape + where the mouse pointer is) correct as I move from window to window? + + [54]Q-31: Why does the mouse arrow just stay in one corner in my + vncviewer, whereas my cursor (that does move) is just a dot? + + [55]Q-32: Can I take advantage of the TightVNC extension to the VNC + protocol where Cursor Positions Updates are sent back to all connected + clients (i.e. passive viewers can see the mouse cursor being moved + around by another viewer)? + + [56]Q-33: Is it possible to swap the mouse buttons (e.g. left-handed + operation), or arbitrarily remap them? How about mapping button clicks + to keystrokes, e.g. to partially emulate Mouse wheel scrolling? + + [57]Q-34: When I drag windows around with the mouse or scroll up and + down things really bog down (unless I do the drag in a single, quick + motion). Is there anything to do to improve things? + + [58]Q-35: I have lots of memory, but why does x11vnc fail with + shmget: No space left on device or Minor opcode of failed + request: 1 (X_ShmAttach)? + + [59]Q-36: How can I make x11vnc use less system resources? + + [60]Q-37: How can I make x11vnc use MORE system resources? + + [61]Q-38: I use x11vnc over a slow link with high latency (i.e. dialup + modem), is there anything I can do to speed things up? + + [62]Q-39: How can I get my AltGr and Shift modifiers to work between + keyboards for different languages? + + [63]Q-40: When I try to type a "<" (i.e. less than) instead I get ">" + (i.e. greater than)! Strangely, typing ">" works OK!! + + [64]Q-41: I'm using an "international" keyboard (e.g. German "de", or + Danish "dk") and the -modtweak mode works well if the VNC viewer is + run on a Unix/Linux machine with a similar keyboard. But if I run the + VNC viewer on Unix/Linux with a different keyboard (e.g. "us") or + Windows with any keyboard, I can't type some keys like: "@", "$", "<", + ">", etc. How can I fix this? + + [65]Q-42: When typing I sometimes get double, triple, or more of my + keystrokes repeated. I'm sure I only typed them once, what can I do? + + [66]Q-43: The machine where I run x11vnc has an AltGr key, but the + local machine where I run the VNC viewer does not. Is there a way I + can map a local unused key to send an AltGr? How about a Compose key + as well? + + [67]Q-44: I have a Sun machine I run x11vnc on. Its Sun keyboard has + just one Alt key labelled "Alt" and two Meta keys labelled with little + diamonds. The machine where I run the VNC viewer only has Alt keys. + How can I send a Meta keypress? (e.g. emacs needs this) + + [68]Q-45: Can I map a keystroke to a mouse button click on the remote + machine? + + [69]Q-46: The remote display is larger (in number of pixels) than the + local display I am running the vncviewer on. I don't like the + vncviewer scrollbars, what I can do? + + [70]Q-47: Does x11vnc support server-side framebuffer scaling? (E.g. + to make the desktop smaller). + + [71]Q-48: Does x11vnc work with Xinerama? (i.e. multiple monitors + joined together to form one big, single screen). + + [72]Q-49: Can I use x11vnc on a multi-headed display that is not + Xinerama (i.e. separate screens :0.0, :0.1, ... for each monitor)? + + [73]Q-50: Why is the view in my VNC viewer completely black? Or why is + everything flashing around randomly? + + [74]Q-51: I use Linux Virtual Consoles (VC's) to implement 'Fast User + Switching' between users' sessions (e.g. Betty is on Ctrl-Alt-F7, + Bobby is on Ctrl-Alt-F8, and Sid is on Ctrl-Alt-F1: they use those + keystrokes to switch between their sessions). How come the view in a + VNC viewer connecting to x11vnc is either completely black or + otherwise all messed up unless the X session x11vnc is attached to is + in the active VC? + + [75]Q-52: Does the Clipboard/Selection get transferred between the + vncviewer and the X display? + + [76]Q-53: Why don't I hear the "Beeps" in my X session (e.g. when + typing tput bel in an xterm)? + + [77]Q-54: I am using x11vnc where my local machine has "popup/hidden + taskbars" (e.g. GNOME or MacOS X) and the remote display where x11vnc + runs also has "popup/hidden taskbars" (e.g. GNOME). When I move the + mouse to the edge of the screen where the popups happen, the taskbars + interfere and fight with each other in strange ways. What can I do? + _________________________________________________________________ + + Q-1: I can't get x11vnc to start up. It says "XOpenDisplay failed + ((null))" or "Xlib: connection to ":0.0" refused by server". What do I + need to do? + + For the former error, you need to specify the X display to connect to + (it also needs to be on the same machine x11vnc is to run on). Set + your DISPLAY environment variable or use the -display option to + specify it. Nearly always the correct value will be ":0" + + For the latter error, you need to set up the X11 permissions. See the + xauth(1), Xsecurity(1), and xhost(1) man pages. For example, you may + need to set your XAUTHORITY environment variable to point to the + correct cookie file (e.g. /home/joe/.Xauthority or + /var/lib/xdm/authdir/authfiles/A:0-nRySEi), or simply be sure you run + x11vnc as the correct user (i.e. the user who owns the X session you + wish to view). Less safe, but if the owner of the X session runs xhost + +localhost one should be able to attach x11vnc to the session (from + the same machine). + + We have been informed that some recent Linux distribution display + managers set XAUTHORITY to random local filenames, e.g.: + /tmp/.gdmHaVtYy. So logging in as the correct user may not be + enough... you need to dig out where they have hidden the + MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE. The -e option to ps(1) may help, e.g.: ps wwwweaux | + tr ' ' '\n' | grep XAUTHORITY | sort -u + + Note: use of Display Manager (gdm, kdm, ...) auth cookie files (i.e. + from /var/..., /tmp/..., or elsewhere) may require modification via + xauth(1) to correctly include the display x11vnc refers to (e.g. xauth + -f cookie.file add :0 . 45be51ae2ce9dfbacd882ab3ef8e96b1, where + 45be51... was found from an xauth -f /var/... list) or other reasons. + See xauth(1) manpage for full details on how to transfer an + MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE between machines and displays. + + To test out your X11 permissions, set DISPLAY and type xclock in the + same place you will be typing (or otherwise running) x11vnc. If a + little clock comes up on the display, that means the X11 permissions + are OK. To test your X11 permissions when logged into the display + machine remotely, use xdpyinfo (if you see the informational output + about the display you know it connected to the X server successfully). + Important: if you cannot get your X11 permissions so that the xclock + or xdpyinfo tests work, x11vnc also will not work (all of these X + clients must be able to connect to the X server to function). + + Q-2: I can't get x11vnc and/or libvncserver to compile. + + Make sure you have all of the required -devel packages installed. + These include X11/XFree86, libjpeg, libz, ... + + After running the libvncserver configure, carefully examine the output + and the messages in the config.log file looking for missing + components. If the configure output looks like: + checking how to run the C preprocessor... gcc -E + checking for X... no + checking for XkbSelectEvents in -lX11... no + checking for XineramaQueryScreens in -lXinerama... no + checking for XTestFakeKeyEvent in -lXtst... no + + there is quite a bit wrong with the build environment. Hopefully + simply adding -devel packages will fix it. + + For Debian the list seems to be: + gcc + make + libc6-dev + libjpeg62-dev + libx11-dev + libxext-dev + libxtst-dev + x-dev + xlibs-static-dev + zlib1g-dev + + For Redhat the list seems to be: + gcc + make + glibc-devel + libjpeg-devel + XFree86-devel + zlib-devel + + Q-3: Where can I get a precompiled x11vnc binary for my Operating + System? + + Hopefully the [78]build steps above and [79]FAQ provide enough info + for a painless compile for most environments. Please report problems + with the x11vnc configure, make, etc. on your system (if your system + is known to compile other GNU packages successfully). + + There are precompiled x11vnc binaries made by other groups available + at the following locations: + Debian: [80]http://packages.debian.org/x11vnc + + Slackware: [81]http://www.linuxpackages.net/ Redhat/Fedora: + [82]http://dag.wieers.com/packages/x11vnc/ wwexptools: + [83]http://www.bell-labs.com/project/wwexptools/packages.html The last + one, wwexptools, provides a variety of Unix binaries (Linux, Solaris, + HP-UX, Irix, ...) with the intent of being compatible on a wide range + of OS releases. Find x11vnc at that link and select 'download info'. + If any of the above binaries don't work and building x11vnc on your OS + fails, and all else fails, you can contact me as I occasionally have a + test binary I could give you. + + As a general note, the x11vnc program is simple enough you don't + really need to install a package: the binary will in most cases work + as is and from any location (as long as your system libraries are not + too old, etc). So, for Linux distributions that are not one of the + above, the x11vnc binary from the above packages has a good chance of + working. You can "install" it by just copying the x11vnc binary to the + desired directory in your PATH. Tip on extracting files from a Debian + package: extract the archive via a command like: ar x + x11vnc_0.6-2_i386.deb and then you can find the binary in the + resulting data.tar.gz tar file. Also, rpm2cpio(1) is useful in + extracting files from rpm packages. + + Q-4: How can I see all of x11vnc's command line options and + documentation on how to use them? + + Run: x11vnc -help The output is listed [84]here as well. + + Q-5: I don't like typing arcane command line options every time I + start x11vnc. What can I do? Is there a config file? + + You could create a shell script that calls x11vnc with your options: +#!/bin/sh +# +# filename: X11vnc (i.e. not "x11vnc") +# It resides in a directory in $PATH. "chmod 755 X11vnc" has been run on it. +# +x11vnc -nap -wait 50 -localhost -rfbauth $HOME/.vnc/passwd -display :0 $* + + a similar thing can be via aliases in your shell (bash, tcsh, csh, + etc..). + + Or as of Jun/2004 in the libvncserver CVS you can use the simple + $HOME/.x11vncrc config file support. If that file exists, each line is + taken as a command line option. E.g. the above would be: +# this is a comment in my ~/.x11vncrc file +nap +wait 50 # comment to the end of the line +-localhost # note: the leading "-" is optional. +rfbauth /home/fred/.vnc/passwd +display :0 + + At some point this config file support will be expanded. + + Q-6: Why does x11vnc exit as soon as the VNC viewer disconnects? And + why doesn't it allow more than one VNC viewer to connect at the same + time? + + These defaults are simple safety measures to avoid someone unknowingly + leaving his X11 desktop exposed (to the internet, say) for long + periods of time. Use the -forever option (aka -many) to have x11vnc + wait for more connections after the first client disconnects. Use the + -shared option to have x11vnc allow multiple clients to connect + simultaneously. + + Recommended additional safety measures include using ssh (see above) + or a VPN to authenticate and encrypt the viewer connections or to at + least use the -rfbauth passwd-file [85]option to use VNC password + protection. + + Q-7: I have two separate machine displays in front of me, one Windows + the other X11: can I use x11vnc in combination with Win2VNC in + dual-screen mode to pass the keystrokes and mouse motions to the X11 + display? + + Yes, for best response start up x11vnc with the "-nofb" option + (disables framebuffer polling, and does other optimizations) on the + secondary display (X11). Then start up Win2VNC on the primary display + (Windows) referring it to the secondary display. + + This will also work X11 to X11 using [86]x2vnc, however you would + probably just want to avoid VNC and use x2x for that. + + For reference, here are some links to Win2VNC-like programs for + multiple monitor setups: + * [87]Original Win2VNC + * [88]Enhanced Win2VNC and [89]sourceforge link + * [90]x2vnc + * [91]x2x also [92]here + * [93]zvnc (MorphOS) + + All of them (except x2x) will work with x11vnc. + + Q-8: I am running Win2VNC on my windows machine and trying to create a + dual-screen mode with my second display by running x11vnc -nofb. + Whenever I initiate the connection Win2VNC quickly disconnects and + x11vnc says something like: rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: read: + Connection reset by peer + + Is the default visual of the X display you run x11vnc on low color + (e.g. 8bpp PseudoColor)? (you can run xdpyinfo to check). There seems + to be a bug in Win2VNC in that it cannot deal correctly with colormaps + (PseudoColor is the most common example of a visual with a colormap). + + If so, there are a couple options. 1) Can you set the default visual + on your display to be depth 24 TrueColor? Sun machines often have 8+24 + overlay visuals, and you can make the default visual depth 24 + TrueColor (see fbconfig(1) and Xsun(1)). 2) As of Feb/2004, in the + libvncserver CVS, x11vnc has the -visual option to allow you to force + the framebuffer visual to whatever you want. This option provides a + convenient workaround for the Win2VNC bug: + x11vnc -nofb -visual TrueColor -display :0 ... + + So the visual will be set to 8bpp TrueColor and Win2VNC can handle + this. Since Win2VNC does not use the framebuffer there should be no + problems in doing this. + + Q-9: The X display I run x11vnc on is only 8bpp PseudoColor (only 256 + distinct colors). x11vnc starts out OK, but after a while the colors + are incorrect in certain windows. + + Use the -flashcmap to have x11vnc watch for changes in the colormap, + and propagate those changes back to connected clients. This can be + slow. The incorrect colors often happens if an application installs + its own private colormap when the mouse is in its window. netscape + -install is a well-known historical example of this. + + Q-10: Color problems: I have an X display that has nice "overlay-like" + visuals of multiple color depths. E.g. there are both depth 8 and 24 + visuals available. Why are some of the colors messed up in x11vnc? + + First off, try the (rather slow) -flashcmap option just to be sure + your color problem isn't simply due to x11vnc not following the + changing 256 element colormap. The -notruecolor option has also been + known to resolve some color problems on 8bpp displays. + + If that doesn't help, run xdpyinfo to see what the default visual is. + Does it have a depth of 8? If it does, can you possibly re-configure + your X server to make the depth 24 visual the default? If you can do + it, this will save you a lot of grief WRT colors and x11vnc (and for + general usage too). I do this on an old Sparcstation 20 with SX + graphics + xinit -- -dev /dev/fb defclass TrueColor defdepth 24 + + and it works nicely (to log into console from the dtlogin window, + select "Options -> Command Line Login", then login and enter the above + command). A more permanent and convenient option is to put a line + like: +:0 Local local_uid@console root /usr/openwin/bin/Xsun -dev /dev/fb defclass Tr +ueColor defdepth 24 + + in /etc/dt/config/Xservers (see /usr/dt/config/Xservers). + + Still not working? Run xwininfo on the application with the messed up + colors to verify that the depth of its visual is different from the + default visual depth (gotten from xdpyinfo). One possible workaround + in this case is to use the -id option to point x11vnc at the + application window itself. If the application is complicated this may + not be acceptable, and may even crash x11vnc (but not the + application). + + It is theoretically possible to solve this problem (see xwd(1) for + example), but it does not seem trivial or sufficiently fast for x11vnc + to be able to do. + + Q-11: How do I figure out the window id to supply to the -id windowid + option? + + Run the xwininfo program in a terminal. It will ask you to click on + the desired application window. After clicking, it will print out much + information, including the window id. + + Note that some VNC viewers will have problems rendering screens that + have a width that is not a multiple of 4. Try to manually adjust the + window width before starting x11vnc -id .... + + Q-12: Why don't menus or other transient windows come up when I am + using the -id windowid option to view a single application window? + + This is related to the behavior of the XGetImage(3X11) and + XShmGetImage() interfaces regarding backingstore, saveunders, etc. The + way the image is retrieved depends on some aspects of how the X server + maintains the display image data and whether other windows are + clipping or obscuring it. See the XGetImage man page for more details. + + If things are not working and you still want to do the single window + polling, feel free to ask for a version of x11vnc that has an + experimental -sid windowid option ("shifted" windowid). x11vnc is + known to crash under both -id and -sid, so both modes are still + experimental. + + Q-13: Can I use x11vnc to view and interact with an Xterminal (e.g. + NCD) that is not running UNIX and so x11vnc cannot be run on it + directly? + + You can, but it will likely be very wasteful of network bandwidth + since you will be polling the X display over the network as opposed to + over the local hardware. To do this, run x11vnc on a UNIX machine as + close as possible network-wise to the Xterminal machine. Use the + -display to point the display to that of the Xterminal (you'll of + course need basic X11 permission to do that) and also supply the + -noshm option (this enables the polling over the network). + + The response will likely be sluggish. This mode is not recommended + except for "quick checks" of hard to get to X servers. Use something + like -wait 150 to cut down on the polling rate. You may also need + -flipbyteorder if the colors get messed up due to endian byte order + differences. + + Q-14: Can I make x11vnc more quiet and also go into the background + after starting up? + + Use the -q and -bg options, respectively. (also: -quiet is an alias + for -q) + + Note that under -bg the stderr messages will be lost unless you use + the "-o logfile" option. + + Q-15: Can I limit which machines incoming VNC clients can connect + from? + + Yes, look at the -allow and -localhost options to limit connections by + IP address. E.g. + x11vnc -allow 192.168.0.1,192.168.0.2 + + for those two hosts or + x11vnc -allow 192.168.0. + + for a subnet. Note that -localhost is the same as "-allow 127.0.0.1" + + For more control, build libvncserver with libwrap support + (tcp_wrappers) and then use /etc/hosts.allow. + + Q-16: How do I build x11vnc/libvncserver with libwrap (tcp_wrappers) + support? + + Here is one way to pass this information to the configure script: + env CPPFLAGS=-DUSE_LIBWRAP LDFLAGS=-lwrap ./configure + + then run make as usual. This requires libwrap and its development + package (tcpd.h) to be installed on the build machine. + + The resulting x11vnc then uses libwrap/tcp_wrappers for connections. + The service name you will use in /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny + is "vnc", e.g.: + vnc: 192.168.100.3 .example.com + + Note that if you run x11vnc out of [94]inetd you do not need to build + x11vnc with libwrap support because the /usr/sbin/tcpd reference in + /etc/inetd.conf handles the tcp_wrappers stuff. + + Q-17: Can I prompt the user at the local X display whether the + incoming VNC client should be accepted or not? Can I decide to make + some clients view-only? How about running an arbitrary program to make + the decisions? + + Yes, look at the "-accept command" option, it allows you to specify an + external command that is run for each new client. (use quotes around + the command if it contains spaces, etc.). If the external command + returns 0 the client is accepted, otherwise the client is rejected. + See below how to also accept clients view-only. + + The external command will have the RFB_CLIENT_IP environment variable + set to the client's numerical IP address, RFB_CLIENT_PORT its port + number. Similarly for RFB_SERVER_IP and RFB_SERVER_PORT to allow + identification of the tcp virtual circuit. DISPLAY will be set to that + of the X11 display being polled. Also, RFB_X11VNC_PID is set to the + x11vnc process id (e.g. in case you decided to kill it), RFB_CLIENT_ID + will be an id number, and RFB_CLIENT_COUNT the number of other clients + currently connected. + + As a special case, "-accept popup" will instruct x11vnc to create its + own simple popup window. To accept the client press "y" or click mouse + on the "Yes" button. To reject the client press "n" or click mouse on + the "No" button. To accept the client View-only, press "v" or click + mouse on the "View" button. If the -viewonly option has been supplied, + the "View" action will not be present: the whole display is view only + in that case. + + The popup window times out after 120 seconds, to change this behavior + use "-accept popup:N" where N is the number of seconds (use 0 for no + timeout). More tricks: "-accept popupmouse" will only take mouse click + responses, while "-accept popupkey" will only take keystroke responses + (popup takes both). After any of the 3 popup keywords you can supply a + position of the window: +N+M, (the default is to center the window) + e.g. -accept popupmouse+10+10. + + Also as a special case "-accept xmessage" will run the xmessage(1) + program to prompt the user whether the client should be accepted or + not. This requires that you have xmessage installed and available via + PATH. In case it is not already on your system, the xmessage program + is available at [95]ftp://ftp.x.org/ + + To include view-only decisions for the external commands, prefix the + command something like this: "yes:0,no:*,view:3 mycommand ..." This + associates the three actions: yes(accept), no(reject), and + view(accept-view-only), with the numerical return codes. Use "*" + instead of a number to set the default action (e.g. in case the + external command returns an unexpected return code). + + Here is an example -accept script called accept_or_lock. It uses + xmessage and xlock (replace with your screen lock command, maybe it is + "xscreensaver-command -lock", or kdesktop_lock, or "dtaction + LockDisplay"). It will prompt the user at the X display whether to + accept, reject, or accept view-only the client, but if the prompt + times out after 60 seconds the screen is locked and the VNC client is + accepted. This allows the remote access when no one is at the display. +#!/bin/sh +# +# accept_or_lock: prompt user at X display whether to accept an incoming +# VNC connection. If timeout expires, screen is locked +# and the VNC viewer is accepted (allows remote access +# when no one is sitting at the display). +# +# usage: x11vnc ... -forever -accept 'yes:0,no:*,view:4 accept_or_lock' +# +xmessage -buttons yes:2,no:3,view-only:4 -center \ + -timeout 60 "x11vnc: accept connection from $RFB_CLIENT_IP?" +rc=$? +if [ $rc = 0 ]; then + xlock & + sleep 5 + exit 0 +elif [ $rc = 2 ]; then + exit 0 +elif [ $rc = 4 ]; then + exit 4 +fi +exit 1 + + Stefan Radman has written a nice dtksh script [96]dtVncPopup for use + in CDE environments to do the same sort of thing. Information on how + to use it is found at the top of the file. He encourages you to + provide feedback to him to help improve the script. + + Note that in all cases x11vnc will block while the external command or + popup is being run, so attached clients will not receive screen + updates, etc during this period. (use of -threads may or may not alter + this behavior). + + To run a command when a client disconnects, use the "-gone command" + option. This is for the user's convenience only: the return code of + the command is not interpreted by x11vnc. The same environment + variables are set as in "-accept command" + + Q-18: How do I create a VNC password for use with x11vnc? + + You may already have one in $HOME/.vnc/passwd if you have used, say, + the vncserver program from the regular RealVNC or TightVNC packages + (i.e. launching the Xvnc server). Otherwise, you could use the + vncpasswd(1) program from those packages. The libvncserver package + also comes with a simple program: storepasswd in the examples + directory. And as of Jun/2004 in the libvncserver CVS x11vnc supports + the -storepasswd "pass" "file" option, which is the the same + functionality of storepasswd. Be sure to quote the "pass" if it + contains shell meta characters, spaces, etc. + + You then use the password via the x11vnc option: -rfbauth filename + + Compared to vncpasswd(1) the latter two methods are a somewhat unsafe + because the password is specified on the command line and so someone + may see it by using ps(1) or looking over your shoulder. Also watch + out for the command winding up in your shell's history file (history + -c is often a way to clear it). + + x11vnc also has the [97]-passwdfile and -passwd/-viewpasswd plain text + (i.e. not obscured like the -rfbauth VNC passwords) password options. + + Q-19: How can I tunnel my connection to x11vnc via an encrypted SSH + channel between two Unix machines? + + See the description earlier on this page on [98]how to tunnel VNC via + SSH from Unix to Unix. A number of ways are described along with some + issues you may encounter. + + Other secure encrypted methods exists, e.g. stunnel. + + Q-20: How can I tunnel my connection to x11vnc via an encrypted SSH + channel from Windows using an SSH client like Putty? + + [99]Above we described how to tunnel VNC via SSH from Unix to Unix. To + do this from Windows using Putty it would go something like this: + * In the Putty dialog window under 'Session' enter the hostname or + IP number of the Unix machine with display to be viewed. + * Make sure the SSH protocol is selected and the server port is + correct. + * Under 'Connections/SSH/Tunnels' Add a Local connection with + 'Source port: 5900' and 'Destination: localhost:5900' + * Log into the remote machine by pressing 'Open' and supplying + username, password, etc. + * In that SSH shell, start up x11vnc by typing the command: x11vnc + -display :0 plus any other desired options. + * Finally, start up your VNC Viewer in Windows and enter + 'localhost:0' as the VNC server. + + You can keep all of the settings in a Putty 'Saved Session'. Also, + once everything is working, you can consider putting x11vnc -display + :0 (plus other cmdline options) in the 'Remote command' Putty setting + under 'Connections/SSH'. It is likely possible to script the whole + process in a BAT file including launching the VNC viewer by using the + plink Putty utility. Send us the script if you get that working. + + For extra protection feel free to run x11vnc with the -localhost and + -rfbauth/-passwdfile options. + + If the machine you SSH into via Putty is not the same machine with the + X display you wish to view (e.g. your company provides incoming SSH + access to a gateway machine), then you need to change the above Putty + dialog setting to: 'Destination: otherhost:5900', Once logged in, + you'll need to do a second login (ssh or rsh) to the workstation + machine 'otherhost' and then start up x11vnc on it. + + As discussed [100]above another option is to first start the VNC + viewer in "listen" mode, and then launch x11vnc with the "-connection + localhost" option to establish the reverse connection. In this case a + Remote port redirection (not Local) is needed for port 5500 instead of + 5900 (i.e. 'Source port: 5500' and 'Destination: localhost:5500' for + a Remote connection). + + Q-21: Does x11vnc support Unix usernames and passwords? Can I further + limit the set of Unix usernames who can connect to the VNC desktop? + + Until the VNC protocol and libvncserver support this things will be + approximate at best. Hopefully, it will not be too long to wait for + such support. + + One approximate method involves starting x11vnc with the -localhost + option. This basically requires the viewer user to log into the + workstation where x11vnc is running via their Unix username and + password, and then somehow set up a port redirection of his vncviewer + connection to make it appear to emanate from the local machine. As + discussed above, ssh is useful for this: ssh -l username -L + 5900:localhost:5900 hostname ... See the ssh wrapper scripts mentioned + [101]elsewhere on this page. Of course a malicious user could allow + other users to get in through his channel, but that is a problem with + every method. Another thing to watch out for is a malicious user on + the viewer side (where ssh is running) trying to sneak in through the + ssh port redirection. + + Regarding limiting the set of Unix usernames who can connect, the + traditional way would be to further require a VNC password to supplied + (-rfbauth, -passwd, etc). A scheme that avoids a second password + involves using the -accept option that runs a program to examine the + connection information to determine which user is connecting from the + local machine. For example, the program could use the ident service on + the local machine (normally ident should not be trusted over the + network, but on the local machine it should be accurate: otherwise + root has been compromised and so there are more serious problems!). An + example script passed in via -accept scriptname that deduces the Unix + username and limits who can be accepted might look something like + this: +#!/bin/sh +if [ "$RFB_CLIENT_IP" != "127.0.0.1" -o "$RFB_SERVER_IP" != "127.0.0.1" ]; then + exit 1 # something fishy... reject it. +fi +user=`echo "$RFB_CLIENT_PORT, $RFB_SERVER_PORT" | nc -w 1 $RFB_CLIENT_IP 113 \ + | grep 'USERID.*UNIX' | head -1 | sed -e 's/[\r ]//g' | awk -F: '{print + $4}'` + +for okuser in fred barney wilma betty +do + if [ "X$user" = "X$okuser" ]; then + exit 0 # accept it + fi +done +exit 1 # reject it + + For this to work with ssh port redirection, the ssh option + UsePrivilegeSeparation must be enabled. + + Q-22: Can I have two passwords for VNC viewers, one for full access + and the other for view-only access to the display? + + Yes, as of May/2004 in the libvncserver CVS there is the -viewpasswd + option to supply the view-only password. Note the full-access password + option -passwd must be supplied at the same time. E.g.: -passwd sword + -viewpasswd fish. + + To avoid specifying the passwords on the command line (where they + could be observed via the ps(1) command by any user) you can use the + -passwdfile option to specify a file containing plain text passwords. + Presumably this file is readable only by you, and ideally it is + located on the machine x11vnc is run on (to avoid being snooped on + over the network). The first line of this file is the full-access + password. If there is a second line in the file and it is non-blank, + it is taken as the view-only password. + + View-only passwords currently do not work for the -rfbauth password + option (standard VNC password storing mechanism). FWIW, note that + although the output (usually placed in $HOME/.vnc/passwd) by the + vncpasswd or storepasswd programs (or from x11vnc -storepasswd) looks + encrypted they are really just obscured to avoid "casual" password + stealing. It takes almost no skill to figure out how to extract the + plain text passwords from $HOME/.vnc/passwd since it is very + straight-forward to work out what to do from the VNC source code. + + Q-23: I use a screen-lock when I leave my workstation (e.g. + xscreensaver or xlock). When I remotely access my workstation desktop + via x11vnc I can unlock the desktop fine, but I am worried people will + see my activities on the physical monitor. What can I do to prevent + this, or at least make it more difficult? + + Probably most work environments would respect your privacy if you + powered off the monitor. Also remember if people have physical access + to your workstation they basically can do anything they want with it + (e.g. install a backdoor for later use, etc). + + In any event, as of Jun/2004 there is an experimental utility to make + it more difficult for nosey people to see your x11vnc activities. The + source for it is [102]blockdpy.c The idea behind it is simple (but + obviously not bulletproof): when a VNC client attaches to x11vnc put + the display monitor in the DPMS "off" state, if the DPMS state ever + changes immediately start up the screen-lock program. The x11vnc user + will notice something is happening and think about what to do next + (while the screen is in a locked state). + + This works (or at least has a chance of working) because if the + intruder moves the mouse or presses a key on the keyboard, the monitor + wakes up out of the DPMS off state, and this induces the screen lock + program to activate as soon as possible. Of course there are cracks in + this, the eavesdropper could detach your monitor and insert a non-DPMS + one, and there are race conditions. As mentioned above this is not + bulletproof. A really robust solution would likely require X server + and perhaps even video hardware support. + + The blockdpy utility is launched by the -accept option and told to + exit via the -gone option (the vnc client user should obviously + re-lock the screen before disconnecting!). Instructions can be found + in the source code for the utility at the above link. + + Q-24: Can I have x11vnc automatically lock the screen when I + disconnect the VNC viewer? + + Yes, a user mentions he uses the -gone option under CDE to run a + screen lock program: + x11vnc -display :0.0 -forever -gone 'dtaction LockDisplay' + + Other possibilities are: + x11vnc -display :0.0 -forever -gone 'xscreensaver-command -lock' + x11vnc -display :0.0 -forever -gone 'kdesktop_lock' + x11vnc -display :0.0 -forever -gone 'xlock &' + + Q-25: Are reverse connections (i.e. the VNC server connecting to the + VNC viewer) using "vncviewer -listen" and vncconnect(1) supported? + + As of Mar/2004 in the libvncserver CVS x11vnc supports reverse + connections. On Unix one starts the VNC viewer in listen mode: + vncviewer -listen, and then startus up x11vnc with the -connect + option. To connect immediately at x11vnc startup time use the + "-connect host:port" option (use commas for a list of hosts to connect + to). The ":port" is optional (default is 5500). If a file is specified + instead: -connect /path/to/some/file then that file is checked + periodically (about once a second) for new hosts to connect to. + + To use the vncconnect(1) program (from the core VNC package at + www.realvnc.com) specify the -vncconnect option to x11vnc. + vncconnect(1) must be pointed to the same X11 DISPLAY as x11vnc (since + it uses X properties to communicate with x11vnc). If you do not have + or do not want to get the vncconnect(1) program, the following script + (named "Vncconnect") may work if your xprop(1) supports the -set + option: +#!/bin/sh +# usage: Vncconnect <host> +# Vncconnect <host:port> +# note: not all xprop(1) support -set. +# +xprop -root -f VNC_CONNECT 8s -set VNC_CONNECT "$1" + + Q-26: Sometimes when a VNC viewer dies abruptly, x11vnc also dies with + the error message like: "Broken pipe". I'm using the -forever mode and + I want x11vnc to keep running. + + As of Jan/2004 in the libvncserver CVS the SIGPIPE signal is ignored. + So if a viewer client terminates abruptly, libvncserver will notice on + the next I/O operation and will close the connection and continue on. + + Currently (Apr/2004) the above fix only works for BSD signal systems + (Linux, FreeBSD, ...) For SYSV systems there is a workaround in my + [103]x11vnc.c file. It also has an option -sigpipe exit to have x11vnc + clean up and exit upon receiving SIGPIPE. + + Q-27: How can I use x11vnc to connect to an X login screen like xdm, + GNOME gdmgreeter, KDE kdm, or CDE dtlogin? + + One time only. If the X login screen is running and you just want to + connect to it once: + + On Linux it seems it is possible to do this by just adjusting the + XAUTHORITY to point to the MIT-COOKIE auth file while running x11vnc + as root, e.g. for the gnome display manager, gdm: + env XAUTHORITY=/var/gdm/:0.Xauth x11vnc -display :0 + + or equivalently with newer x11vnc: + x11vnc -auth /var/gdm/:0.Xauth -display :0 + + There will be a similar thing for xdm using however a different auth + directory path (perhaps something like + /var/lib/xdm/authdir/authfiles/A:0-XQvaJk for xdm or + /var/lib/kdm/A:0-crWk72 for kdm, where the random characters in + basename will vary a bit). + + Another place to look for the auth file is via ps(1) output for the X + server process to find any -auth argument. + + gdm seems to have an annoying setting that causes x11vnc (and any + other X clients) to be killed after the user logs in. Setting + KillInitClients=false in /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf may avoid this. + + For dtlogin in addition to the above sort of trick (the auth file + should be in /var/dt), you'll also need to add something like + Dtlogin*grabServer:False to the Xconfig file (/etc/dt/config/Xconfig + or /usr/dt/config/Xconfig on Solaris). Then restart dtlogin, e.g.: + /etc/init.d/dtlogin stop; /etc/init.d/dtlogin start or reboot. + + Continuously. Have x11vnc reattach each time the X server is + restarted (i.e. after each logout): + + To make x11vnc always attached to the the X server (please consider + the security implications of this!) including the login screen you + will need to add a command to the display manager startup script. The + name of the script file depends on desktop used and seem to be: + GNOME /etc/X11/gdm/PreSession/Default + KDE /etc/kde*/kdm/Xsetup + XDM /etc/X11/xdm/Xsetup + CDE /etc/dt/config/Xsetup + + although the exact location can depend on operating system and + distribution. See the documentation for your display manager: gdm(1), + kdm(1), xdm(1), dtlogin(1) for additional details. The above + Dtlogin*grabServer:False step will be needed for dtlogin here as well. + There may also be display number specific scripts: e.g. Xsetup_0 vs. + Xsetup. + + In any event, the line you will add to the script will look something + like: + /usr/local/bin/x11vnc -rfbauth /path/to/my/vnc/passwd -forever -bg + + where you should customize the exact command to your needs. You may + want to redirect the x11vnc output to a separate log file for + debugging. In that case replace the -bg above with something like: + 1>> /var/tmp/x11vnc.log 2>&1 & + + (or use the "-o logfile" option). + + If you do not want to deal with the display manager startup scripts, + here is a kludgey script that can be run manually or out of a boot + file like rc.local. [104]x11vnc_loop It will need some local + customization before running. Because the XAUTHORITY auth file must be + guessed by this script, use of the display manager script above is + preferred. + + Xterminals: Note that if the display machine is a traditional + Xterminal (where the X server runs on the Xterminal box, but all of + the X client applications run on a central server), the login display + manager, and hence the auth files, are on the central server and not + on the Xterminal where the X server and x11vnc processes are running. + Somehow the MIT-COOKIE auth file data must be copied to the Xterminal + (e.g. via ssh, possibly using xauth nextract). You can use xauth -f + cookie.file list to test the contents of the cookie in a file + "cookie.file" + + Note: use of Display Manager (gdm, kdm, ...) auth cookie files (i.e. + from /var/..., /tmp/..., or elsewhere) may require modification via + xauth(1) to correctly include the display x11vnc refers to (e.g. xauth + -f cookie.file add :0 . 45be51ae2ce9dfbacd882ab3ef8e96b1, where + 45be51... was found from an xauth -f /var/... list) or other reasons. + See xauth(1) manpage for full details on how to transfer an + MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE between machines and displays. + + Q-28: Can I run x11vnc out of inetd(1)? + + Yes, perhaps a line something like this in /etc/inetd.conf will do it + for you: + + 5900 stream tcp nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/local/bin/x11vnc_sh + + where the shell script /usr/local/bin/x11vnc_sh looks something like + (you'll need to customize to your settings). +#!/bin/sh +XAUTHORITY=/home/fred/.Xauthority; export XAUTHORITY +/usr/local/bin/x11vnc -inetd -display :0 -rfbauth /home/fred/.vnc/passwd 2>> /t +mp/x11vnc_sh.log + + Note that you must redirect the standard error output to a log file or + /dev/null for proper operation via inetd (otherwise the standard error + also goes to the VNC vncviewer, and that confuses it greatly). If you + do not use a wrapper script as above but rather call x11vnc directly + in /etc/inetd.conf and do not redirect stderr, then you must specify + the -q (aka -quiet) option: /usr/local/bin/x11vnc -q -inetd ... or use + the -o logfile to collect the output in a file. The wrapper script + with stderr redirection to a log file is the recommended method + because the errors and warnings printed out are very useful in + troubleshooting problems. + + Note also the need to set XAUTHORITY to point to the MIT-COOKIE auth + file to get permission to connect to the X display (the x11vnc -auth + option could also have been used). See the x11vnc_loop file in the + previous question for more ideas on what that auth file may be, etc. + + On Solaris you cannot have the bare number 5900 in /etc/inetd.conf, + you'll need to replace it with a word like x11vnc an then put + something like x11vnc 5900/tcp in /etc/services. + + Be sure to look at your /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny settings + to limit the machines that can connect to this service (your + desktop!). For the above example with /etc/hosts.allow: + x11vnc_sh : 123.45.67.89 + + A really safe way to do things is to limit the above inetd to + localhost only (via /etc/hosts.allow) and use ssh to tunnel the + incoming connection. Using inetd for this prevents there being a tiny + window of opportunity between x11vnc starting up and your vncviewer + connecting to it. Always use a VNC password to further protect against + unwanted access. + + Q-29: How do I make x11vnc work with the Java VNC viewer applet in a + web browser? + + To have x11vnc serve up a Java VNC viewer applet to any web browsers + that connect to it, run x11vnc with this option: + -httpdir /path/to/the/java/classes/dir + + (this directory will contain the files index.vnc and, for example, + VncViewer.jar) Note that libvncserver contains the TightVNC Java + classes jar file for your convenience. (it is the file + classes/VncViewer.jar in the source tree). + + You will see output something like this: + 14/05/2004 11:13:56 Autoprobing selected port 5900 + 14/05/2004 11:13:56 Listening for HTTP connections on TCP port 5800 + 14/05/2004 11:13:56 URL http://walnut:5800 + 14/05/2004 11:13:56 screen setup finished. + 14/05/2004 11:13:56 The VNC desktop is walnut:0 + PORT=5900 + + then you can connect to that URL with any Java enabled browser. Feel + free to customize the default index.vnc file in the classes directory. + + Note that if you wanted to, you could also start the Java viewer + entirely from the viewer-side by having the jar file there and using + either the java or appletviewer commands to run the program. + + Q-30: Why isn't the mouse cursor shape (the little icon shape where + the mouse pointer is) correct as I move from window to window? + + As mentioned above, the X11 mouse cursor shape (i.e. little picture: + an arrow, X, I-beam, resizer, etc) is one of the few write-only + objects in X11. That is, an application can tell the X server what the + cursor shape should be when the pointer is in a given window, but a + program (like x11vnc) unfortunately cannot read this information. I + believe this is because the cursor shape is often downloaded to the + graphics hardware (video card), but I could be mistaken. + + A simple kludge is provided by the -mouseX option that changes the + cursor when the mouse is on the root background (or any window has the + same cursor as the root background). Note that desktops like GNOME or + KDE often cover up the root background, so this won't work for those + cases. + + It should be possible to apply some heuristics where x11vnc tries to + build up a table of cursors for the windows it sees, perhaps using a + user supplied hints file, but that has not been explored yet. + + Q-31: Why does the mouse arrow just stay in one corner in my + vncviewer, whereas my cursor (that does move) is just a dot? + + This default takes advantage of a [105]tightvnc extension that allows + specifying a cursor shape for the local VNC viewer. You may disable it + with the -nocursor option to x11vnc if your viewer does not have this + extension. + + Q-32: Can I take advantage of the TightVNC extension to the VNC + protocol where Cursor Positions Updates are sent back to all connected + clients (i.e. passive viewers can see the mouse cursor being moved + around by another viewer)? + + Use the -cursorpos option when starting x11vnc. A VNC viewer must + support the Cursor Positions Updates for the user to see the mouse + motions (the TightVNC viewers support this). + + Q-33: Is it possible to swap the mouse buttons (e.g. left-handed + operation), or arbitrarily remap them? How about mapping button clicks + to keystrokes, e.g. to partially emulate Mouse wheel scrolling? + + You can remap the mouse buttons via something like: -buttonmap 13-31 + (or perhaps 12-21). Also, note that xmodmap(1) lets you directly + adjust the X server's button mappings, but in some circumstances it + might be more desirable to have x11vnc do it. + + One user had an X server with only one mouse button(!) and was able to + map all of the VNC client mouse buttons to it via: -buttonmap 123-111. + + Note that the -debug_pointer option prints out much info for every + mouse/pointer event. + + To map mouse button clicks to keystrokes you can use the alternate + format where the keystrokes are enclosed between colons like this + :<KeySym>: in place of the mouse button digit. For a sequence of + keysyms separate them with "+" signs. Button clicks can also be + included in the sequence via the fake keysyms Button1, etc. + + As an example, suppose the VNC viewer machine has a mouse wheel (these + generate button 4 and 5 events), but the machine that x11vnc is run on + only has the 3 regular buttons. In normal operation x11vnc will + discard the button 4 and 5 events. However, either of the following + button maps could possibly be of use emulating the mouse wheel events + in this case: + -buttonmap 12345-123:Prior::Next: + -buttonmap 12345-123:Up+Up+Up::Down+Down+Down: + + Exactly what keystroke "scrolling" events they should be bound to + depends on one's taste. If this method is too approximate, one could + consider not using -buttonmap but rather configuring the X server to + think it has a mouse with 5 buttons even though the physical mouse + does not. + + Note that when a keysym-mapped mouse button is clicked down this + immediately generates the key-press and key-release events (for each + keysym in turn if the mapping has a sequence of keysyms). When the + mouse button goes back up nothing is generated. + + If you include modifier keys like Shift_L instead of key-press + immediately followed by key-release the state of the modifier key is + toggled (however the initial state of the modifier key is ignored). So + to map the right button to type my name 'Karl Runge' I could use this: + -buttonmap 3-:Shift_L+k+Shift_L+a+r+l+space+Shift_L+r+Shift_L+u+n+g+e: + + (yes, this is getting a little silly). + + Q-34: When I drag windows around with the mouse or scroll up and down + things really bog down (unless I do the drag in a single, quick + motion). Is there anything to do to improve things? + + As of Jan/2004 there are some improvements in the libvncserver CVS + tree. The default should now be much better than before and dragging + small windows around should no longer be a huge pain. If for some + reason these changes make matters worse, you can go back to the old + way via the -old_pointer option. + + Also added was the -nodragging option that disables all screen updates + while dragging with the mouse (i.e. mouse motion with a button held + down). This gives the snappiest response, but might be undesired in + some circumstances when you want to see the visual feedback while + dragging (e.g. menu traversal or text selection). + + Q-35: I have lots of memory, but why does x11vnc fail with shmget: + No space left on device or Minor opcode of failed request: 1 + (X_ShmAttach)? + + It is not a matter of free memory, but rather free shared memory (shm) + slots, also known as shm segments. This often occurs on a public + Solaris machine using the default of only 100 slots. You (or the owner + or root) can clean them out with ipcrm(1). x11vnc tries hard to + release its slots, but it, and other programs, are not always able to + (e.g. if kill -9'd). + + Sometimes x11vnc will notice the problem with shm segments and tries + to get by with fewer, only giving a warning like this: + 19/03/2004 10:10:58 shmat(tile_row) failed. + shmat: Too many open files + 19/03/2004 10:10:58 error creating tile-row shm for len=4 + 19/03/2004 10:10:58 reverting to single_copytile mode + + Here is a shell script [106]shm_clear to list and prompt for removal + of your unattached shm segments (attached ones are skipped). I use it + while debugging x11vnc (I use shm_clear -y to assume "yes" for each + prompt). If x11vnc is regularly not cleaning up its shm segments, + please contact me so we can work to improve the situation. + + Longer term, on Solaris you can put something like this in + /etc/system: + set shmsys:shminfo_shmmax = 0x2000000 + set shmsys:shminfo_shmmni = 0x1000 + + to sweep the problem under the rug (4096 slots). On Linux, examine + /proc/sys/kernel/shmmni; you can modify the value by writing to that + file. + + Things are even more tight on Solaris 8 and earlier, there is a + default maximum number of shm segments per process of 6. The error is + the X server (not x11vnc) being unable to attach to the segments, and + looks something like this: + 30/04/2004 14:04:26 Got connection from client 192.168.1.23 + 30/04/2004 14:04:26 other clients: + X Error of failed request: BadAccess (attempt to access private resource den +ied) + Major opcode of failed request: 131 (MIT-SHM) + Minor opcode of failed request: 1 (X_ShmAttach) + Serial number of failed request: 14 + Current serial number in output stream: 17 + + This tight limit on Solaris 8 can be increased via: + set shmsys:shminfo_shmseg = 100 + + in /etc/system. See the next paragraph for more workarounds. + + To minimize the number of shm segments used by x11vnc try using the + -onetile option (corresponds to only 3 shm segments used, and adding + -fs 1.0 knocks it down to 2). If you are having much trouble with shm + segments, consider disabling shm completely via the -noshm option. + Performance will be somewhat degraded but when done over local machine + sockets it should be acceptable (see an [107]earlier question + discussing -noshm). + + Q-36: How can I make x11vnc use less system resources? + + The -nap and "-wait n" (where n is the sleep between polls in + milliseconds, the default is 30 or so) option are good places to + start. Reducing the X server bits per pixel depth (e.g. to 16bpp or + even 8bpp) will further decrease memory I/O and network I/O. Using the + -onetile option will use less memory and use fewer shared memory slots + (add -fs 1.0 for one less slot). + + Q-37: How can I make x11vnc use MORE system resources? + + You can try -threads and dial down the wait time (e.g. -wait 1) and + possibly dial down -defer as well. Note that if you try to increase + the "frame rate" too much you can bog down the server end with the + extra work it needs to do compressing the framebuffer data, etc. + + That said, it is possible to "stream" video via x11vnc if the video + window is small enough. E.g. a 256x192 xawtv TV capture window (using + the x11vnc -id option) can be streamed over a LAN or wireless at a + reasonable frame rate. + + Q-38: I use x11vnc over a slow link with high latency (i.e. dialup + modem), is there anything I can do to speed things up? + + Some things you might want to experiment with (most of which will help + performance on faster links as well): + + X server/session parameters: + * Configure the X server bits per pixel to 16bpp or even 8bpp. + (reduces amount of data needed to be sent) + * Use a smaller desktop size (e.g. 1024x768 instead of 1280x1024) + * Make sure the desktop background is a solid color (the background + is resent every time it is re-exposed) + * Configure your window manager or desktop "theme" to not use fancy + images, shading, and gradients for the window decorations, etc. + Disable Opaque moves, resizes, and animations. + * Avoid small scrolls of large windows using the Arrow keys or + scrollbar. Try to use PageUp/PageDown instead. + * On XFree86 turn on the Shadow Framebuffer to speed up reading. + (Option "ShadowFB" "true", and possibly Option "NoAccel" "true" as + well, in the Device section of /etc/X11/XF86Config) This disables + 2D acceleration on the physical display and so is probably not + worth it, but could be of use in some situations. + + VNC viewer parameters: + * Use a [108]TightVNC enabled viewer! + * Make sure the tight encoding is being used (look at vncviewer and + x11vnc outputs) + * Request 8 bits per pixel using -bgr233 (up to 4X speedup over + depth 24 TrueColor (32bpp), but colors will be off) + * The -depth option is similar to -bgr233 in reducing the requested + number of bits per pixel. + * Try increasing the TightVNC -compresslevel (compresses more on + server side before sending, but uses more CPU) + * Try reducing the TightVNC -quality (increases JPEG compression, + but is lossy) + * Try other VNC encodings via -encodings (tight is probably fastest, + but you should check) + * On the machine where vncviewer is run, make sure Backing Store is + enabled (XFree86 disables it by default causing re-exposures of + vncviewer to be very slow) + + x11vnc parameters: + * Try using -nodragging (no screen updates when dragging mouse, but + sometimes you miss visual feedback) + * Try the -progressive pixelheight mode with the block pixelheight + 100 or so (delays sending vertical blocks since they may change + while viewer is receiving earlier ones) + * Set -fs 1.0 (disables fullscreen updates) + * Enable server-side scaling via -scale m/n to make the VNC + frambuffer smaller. (less data needs to be sent, but image may not + be sharp and requires extra resources on the server end, may + actually slow down transfers of text due to poorer compression) + * Try increasing -wait or -defer (reduces the maximum "frame rate", + but won't help much for large screen changes) + * If you just want to watch one (simple) window use -id (cuts down + extraneous polling and updates, but can be buggy or insufficient) + * Set -nosel (disables all clipboard selection exchange) + * Do not use -mouse or -mouseX (repainting the remote mouse takes + resources and round trips) + + Q-39: How can I get my AltGr and Shift modifiers to work between + keyboards for different languages? + + The option -modtweak should be of some use for this. It is a mode that + monitors the state of the Shift and AltGr Modifiers and tries to + deduce the correct keycode to send, possibly by sending fake modifier + key presses and releases in addition to the actual keystroke. + + Update: As of Jul/2004 in the libvncserver CVS, -modtweak is now the + default (use -nomodtweak to get the old behavior). This was done + because it was noticed on newer XFree86 setups even on bland "us" + keyboards like "pc104 us" XFree86 included a "ghost" key with both "<" + and ">" it. This key does not exist on the keyboard (see [109]this FAQ + for more info). Without -modtweak there was then an ambiguity in the + reverse map keysym => keycode, making it so the "<" symbol could not + be typed. + + Also see the [110]FAQ about the -xkb option for a more powerful method + of modifier tweaking for use on X servers with the XKEYBOARD + extension. + + When trying to resolve keyboard mapping problems, that the + -debug_keyboard option prints out much info for every keystroke and so + can be useful debugging things. + + Q-40: When I try to type a "<" (i.e. less than) instead I get ">" + (i.e. greater than)! Strangely, typing ">" works OK!! + + Does your keyboard have a single key with both "<" and ">" on it? Even + if it doesn't, your X server may think your keyboard has such a key + (e.g. pc105 in the XF86Config file when it should be something else, + say pc104). + + The problem here is that on the Xserver where x11vnc is run there are + two keycodes that correspond to the "<" keysym. Run something like + this to see: + + xmodmap -pk | egrep -i 'KeyCode|less|greater' + There are 4 KeySyms per KeyCode; KeyCodes range from 8 to 255. + KeyCode Keysym (Keysym) ... + 59 0x002c (comma) 0x003c (less) + 60 0x002e (period) 0x003e (greater) + 94 0x003c (less) 0x003e (greater) + + That keycode 94 is the special key with both "<" and ">". When x11vnc + receives the "<" keysym over the wire from the remote VNC client, it + unfortunately maps it to keycode 94 instead of 59, and sends 94 to the + X server. Since Shift is down (i.e. you are Shifting the comma key), + the X server interprets this as Shifted-94, which is ">". + + A workaround in the X server configuration is to "deaden" that special + key: + + xmodmap -e "keycode 94 = " + + However, one user said he had to do this: + + xmodmap -e "keycode 94 = 0x002c 0x003c" + + (If the numerical values are different for your setup, substitute the + ones that correspond to your display. The above xmodmap scheme can + often be used to work around other ambiguous keysym to keycode + mappings). + + Alternatively, here are some x11vnc options to try to work around the + problem: + -modtweak + + and + -remap less-comma + + These are convenient in that they do not modify the actual X server + settings. The former is a mode that monitors the state of the Shift + and AltGr modifiers and tries to deduce the correct keycode sequence + to send. The latter is an immediate remapping of the keysym less to + the keysym comma when it comes in from a client (so when Shift is down + the comma press will yield "<"). + + See also the [111]FAQ about the -xkb option as a possible workaround + using the XKEYBOARD extension. Note that of Jul/2004 in the + libvncserver CVS the -modtweak option is now that default. + + Note that the -debug_keyboard option prints out much info for every + keystroke to aid debugging keyboard problems. + + Q-41: I'm using an "international" keyboard (e.g. German "de", or + Danish "dk") and the -modtweak mode works well if the VNC viewer is + run on a Unix/Linux machine with a similar keyboard. But if I run the + VNC viewer on Unix/Linux with a different keyboard (e.g. "us") or + Windows with any keyboard, I can't type some keys like: "@", "$", "<", + ">", etc. How can I fix this? + + The problem with Windows is it does not seem to handle AltGr well. It + seems to fake it up by sending Control_L+Alt_R to applications. The + Windows VNC viewer sends those two down keystrokes out on the wire to + the VNC server, but when the user types the next key to get, e.g., "@" + the Windows VNC viewer sends events bringing the up the + Control_L+Alt_R keys, and then sends the "@" keysym by itself. + + The Unix/Linux VNC viewer on a "us" keyboard does a similar thing + since "@" is the Shift of the "2" key. The keysyms Shift and "@" are + sent to the VNC server. + + In both cases no AltGr is sent to the VNC server, but we know AltGr is + needed on the physical international keyboard to type a "@". + + This all worked fine with x11vnc running with the -modtweak option (it + figures out how to adjust the Modifier keys (Shift or AltGr) to get + the "@"). However it fails under recent versions of XFree86 (and the + X.org fork). These run the XKEYBOARD extension by default and make + heavy use of it to handle international keyboards. + + To make a long story short, on these newer XFree86 setups the + traditional X keymap lookup x11vnc uses is no longer accurate. x11vnc + can't find the keysym "@" anywhere in the keymapping! (even though it + is in the XKEYBOARD extended keymapping). + + How to Solve: As of Jul/2004 in the libvncserver CVS x11vnc has two + changes: + * -modtweak (tweak Modifier keys) is now the default (use + -nomodtweak to go back to the old way) + * there is a new option -xkb to use the XKEYBOARD extension API to + do the Modifier key tweaking. + + The -xkb option seems to fix all of the missing keys: "@", "<", ">", + etc.: it is recommended that you try it if you have this sort of + problem. Let us know if there are any remaining problems (see the next + paragraph for some known problems). If you specify the -debug_keyboard + (aka -dk) option twice you will get a huge amount of keystroke + debugging output (send it along with any problems you report). + + Known problems: + * One user had to disable a "ghost" Mode_switch key that was causing + problems under -xkb. His physical AltGr key was bound to + ISO_Level3_Shift (which seems to be the XKEYBOARD way of doing + things), while there was a ghost key Mode_switch (which seems to + be obsolete) in the mapping as well. Both of these keysyms were + bound to Mod5 and x11vnc was unfortunately choosing Mode_switch. + From the x11vnc -xkb -dk -dk output it was noted that Mode_switch + was attached to keycode 93 while ISO_Level3_Shift was attached to + keycode 113. The keycode skipping option was used to disable the + ghost key: -skip_keycodes 93 + * In implementing -xkb we noticed that some keys were still not + getting through, e.g. "~" and "^". This is not really an XKEYBOARD + problem. What was happening was the VNC viewer was sending the + keysyms asciitilde and asciicircum to x11vnc, but on the X server + with the international keyboard those keysyms were not mapped to + any keys. So x11vnc had to skip them. + The way these characters are typically entered on international + keyboards is by "dead" (aka "mute") keys. E.g. to enter "~" at the + physical display the keysym dead_tilde is pressed and released + (this usually involves holding AltGr down while another key is + pressed) and then space is pressed. (this can also be used get + characters with the "~" symbol on top, e.g. "ã" by typing "a" + instead of space). + What to do? In general the VNC protocol has not really solved this + problem: what should be done if the VNC viewer sends a keysym not + recognized by the VNC server side? Workarounds can possibly be + created using the -remap x11vnc option: + -remap asciitilde-dead_tilde,asciicircum-dead_circumflex + etc. Use -remap filename if the list is long. Please send us your + workarounds for this problem on your keyboard. Perhaps we can have + x11vnc adjust automatically at some point. + * To complement the above workaround using the -remap, an option + -add_keysyms was added. This option instructs x11vnc to bind any + unknown Keysyms coming in from VNC viewers to unused Keycodes in + the X server. This modifies the global state of the X server. When + x11vnc exits it removes the extra keymappings it created. Note + that the -remap mappings are applied first, right when the Keysym + is received from a VNC viewer, and only after that would + -add_keysyms, or anything else, come into play. + + Q-42: When typing I sometimes get double, triple, or more of my + keystrokes repeated. I'm sure I only typed them once, what can I do? + + This may be due to an interplay between your X server's key autorepeat + delay and the extra time delays caused by x11vnc processing. + + Short answer: disable key autorepeating by running the command "xset r + off" on the Xserver where x11vnc is run (restore via "xset r on") or + use the new (Jul/2004) -norepeat x11vnc option. You will still have + autorepeating because that is taken care of on your VNC viewer side. + + Details: suppose you press a key DOWN and it generates changes in + large regions of the screen. The CPU and I/O work x11vnc does for the + large screen change could be longer than your X server's key + autorepeat delay. x11vnc may not get to processing the key UP event + until after the screen work is completed. The X server believes the + key has been held down all this time, and applies its autorepeat + rules. + + Even without inducing changes in large regions of the screen, this + problem could arise when accessing x11vnc via a dialup modem or + otherwise high latency link (e.g. > 250 ms latency). + + Look at the output of "xset q" for the "auto repeat delay" setting. Is + it low (e.g. < 500 ms)? If you increase it to a very large delay, e.g. + "xset r rate 1500" or turn off autorepeat completely: "xset r off", + does the problem go away? + + We are looking into a good way to fix this, but in the meantime as a + workaround try to use xset r rate N for large enough delay N or xset r + off to get rid of the problem. Also, as of Jul/2004 in the + libvncserver CVS there is the -norepeat option to automatically + disable autorepeating in the X server whenever VNC viewers are + attached. Note that the VNC viewer side of the connection will (nearly + always) do its own autorepeating so there is no big loss here, unless + someone is also working at the physical display and misses his + autorepeating. + + Q-43: The machine where I run x11vnc has an AltGr key, but the local + machine where I run the VNC viewer does not. Is there a way I can map + a local unused key to send an AltGr? How about a Compose key as well? + + Something like "-remap Super_R-Mode_switch" x11vnc option may work. + Note that Super_R is the "Right Windoze(tm) Flaggie" key; you may want + to choose another. The -debug_keyboard option comes in handy in + finding keysym names (so does xev(1)). + + For Compose how about "-remap Menu-Multi_key" (note that Multi_key is + the official name for Compose) To do both at the same time: "-remap + Super_R-Mode_switch,Menu-Multi_key" or use "-remap filename" to + specify remappings from a file. + + Q-44: I have a Sun machine I run x11vnc on. Its Sun keyboard has just + one Alt key labelled "Alt" and two Meta keys labelled with little + diamonds. The machine where I run the VNC viewer only has Alt keys. + How can I send a Meta keypress? (e.g. emacs needs this) + + Here are a couple ideas. The first one is to simply use xmodmap(1) to + adjust the Sun X server. Perhaps xmodmap -e "keysym Alt_L = Meta_L + Alt_L" will do the trick. (there are other ways to do it, one user + used: xmodmap -e "keycode 26 = Meta_L" for his setup). + + Since xmodmap(1) modifies the X server mappings you may not want to do + this (because it affects local work on that machine). Something like + the -remap Alt_L-Meta_L to x11vnc may be sufficient for ones needs, + and does not modify the X server environment. Note that you cannot + send Alt_L in this case, maybe -remap Super_L-Meta_L would be a better + choice. + + Q-45: Can I map a keystroke to a mouse button click on the remote + machine? + + This can be done directly in some X servers using AccessX and + Pointer_EnableKeys, but is a bit awkward. It may be more convenient to + have x11vnc do the remapping. This can be done via the -remap option + using the fake "keysyms" Button1, Button2, etc. as the "to" keys (i.e. + the ones after the "-") + + As an example, consider a laptop that has a touchpad with only two + buttons. It is difficult to do a middle button "paste" because (using + XFree86 Emulate3Buttons) you have to click both buttons on the touch + pad at the same time. This remapping: + -remap Super_R-Button2 + + maps the Super_R "flag" key press to the Button2 click, thereby making + pasting a bit easier. + + Note that once the key goes down, the button down and button up events + are generated immediately on the x11vnc side. When the key is released + (i.e. goes up) no events are generated. + + Q-46: The remote display is larger (in number of pixels) than the + local display I am running the vncviewer on. I don't like the + vncviewer scrollbars, what I can do? + + vncviewer has a option (usually accessible via F8 key or -fullscreen + option) for vncviewer to run in full screen, where it will + automatically scroll when the mouse is near the edge of the current + view. For quick scrolling, also make sure Backing Store is enabled on + the machine vncviewer is run on. (XFree86 disables it by default for + some reason, add Option "backingstore" to XF86Config on the vncviewer + side). + + BTW, contact me if you are having problems with vncviewer in + fullscreen mode with your window manager (i.e. no keyboard response). + I have a workaround for vncviewer using XGrabServer(). + + There may also be scaling viewers out there (e.g. TightVNC on Windows) + that automatically shrink or expand the remote framebuffer to fit the + local display. Especially for hand-held devices. See also [112]this + FAQ + + Q-47: Does x11vnc support server-side framebuffer scaling? (E.g. to + make the desktop smaller). + + As of Jun/2004 in the libvncserver CVS x11vnc provides basic + server-side scaling. It is a global scaling of the desktop, not a + per-client setting. To enable it use the "-scale fraction" option. + "fraction" can either be a floating point number (e.g. -scale 0.5) or + the alternative m/n fraction notation (e.g. -scale 2/3). + + The current implementation is experimental in that it still needs to + be optimized and there are some painting errors (evidently only with + fraction > 1; which is probably the less interesting case). Extra + resources (CPU, memory I/O, and memory) are required to do the + scaling. If the machine is slow where x11vnc is run with scaling + enabled, the interactive response can be unacceptable. OTOH, if run + with scaling on a fast machine the performance degradation is usually + not a big issue or even noticeable. + + If you just want a quick, rough "thumbnail" of the display you can + append ":nb" to the fraction to turn on "no blending" mode. E.g.: + "-scale 1/3:nb" Fonts will be difficult to read, but the larger + features will be recognizable. BTW, "no blending" mode is forced on + when scaling 8bpp PseudoColor displays (because blending an indexed + colormap is a bad idea and leads to random colors). + + In general for a scaled display if you are using a TightVNC viewer you + may want to turn off jpeg encoding (e.g. vncviewer -nojpeg host:0). + There appears to be a noise enhancement effect, especially for regions + containing font/text: the scaling can introduce some pixel artifacts + that evidently causes the TightVNC to incorrectly detect the regions + as image data and thereby introduce additional pixel artifacts due to + the lossiness of the jpeg compression algorithm. Experiment to see if + -nojpeg improves the readability of text when using -scale to shrink + the display size. Also note that scaling may actually slow down the + transfer of text regions because after being scaled they do not + compress as well. + + Another issue is that it appears VNC viewers require the screen width + to be a multiple of 4. When scaling x11vnc will round the width to the + nearest multiple of 4. To disable this use the ":n4" sub option (like + ":nb" in the previous paragraph; to specify both use a comma: + ":nb,n4", etc.) + + If one desires per-client scaling for something like 1:1 from a + workstation and 1:2 from a smaller device (e.g. handheld), currently + the only option is to run two (or more) x11vnc processes with + different scalings listening on separate ports (-rfbport option, + etc.). + + Q-48: Does x11vnc work with Xinerama? (i.e. multiple monitors joined + together to form one big, single screen). + + Yes, it should generally work because it simply polls the big + effective screen. If the viewing-end monitor is not as big as the + remote Xinerama display, then the vncviewer scrollbars, etc, will have + to be used to pan across the large area. + + There are a couple potential issues however. If the screen is not + rectangular (e.g. 1280x1024 and 1024x768 monitors joined together), + then there will be "non-existent" areas on the screen. The X server + will return "garbage" image data for these areas and so they may be + distracting to the viewer. The -blackout x11vnc option allows you to + blacken-out rectangles by specifying their WxH+X+Y geometries. If your + system has the libXinerama library, the -xinerama x11vnc option can be + used to have it automatically determine the rectangles to be blackened + out. (Note on 8bpp PseudoColor displays the fill color may not be + black). + + Some users have reported that the mouse does not behave properly for + their Xinerama display: i.e. the mouse cannot be moved to all regions + of the large display. If this happens try using the -xwarppointer + option. This instructs x11vnc to fake mouse pointer motions using the + XWarpPointer function instead of the XTestFakeMotionEvent XTEST + function. (This may be due to a bug in the X server for XTEST when + Xinerama is enabled). + + Q-49: Can I use x11vnc on a multi-headed display that is not Xinerama + (i.e. separate screens :0.0, :0.1, ... for each monitor)? + + You can, but it is a little bit awkward: you must start separate + x11vnc processes for each screen, and on the viewing end start up + separate VNC viewer processes connecting to them. e.g. on the remote + end: + x11vnc -display :0.0 -bg -q -rfbport 5900 + x11vnc -display :0.1 -bg -q -rfbport 5901 + + (this could be automated in the display manager Xsetup for example) + and then on the local machine where you are sitting: + vncviewer somehost:0 & + vncviewer somehost:1 & + + Note: if you are running on Solaris 8 or earlier you can easily hit up + against the maximum of 6 shm segments per process (for Xsun in this + case) from running multiple x11vnc processes. You should modify + /etc/system as mentioned in another [113]FAQ to increase the limit. It + is probably also a good idea to run with the -onetile option in this + case (to limit each x11vnc to 3 shm segments), or even -noshm to use + no shm segments. + + Q-50: Why is the view in my VNC viewer completely black? Or why is + everything flashing around randomly? + + See the next FAQ for a possible explanation. + + Q-51: I use Linux Virtual Consoles (VC's) to implement 'Fast User + Switching' between users' sessions (e.g. Betty is on Ctrl-Alt-F7, + Bobby is on Ctrl-Alt-F8, and Sid is on Ctrl-Alt-F1: they use those + keystrokes to switch between their sessions). How come the view in a + VNC viewer connecting to x11vnc is either completely black or + otherwise all messed up unless the X session x11vnc is attached to is + in the active VC? + + This seems to have to do with how applications (the X server processes + in this case) must "play nicely" if they are not on the active VC. + That is, they should not read from the keyboard or mouse or manage the + video display unless they have the active VC. Given that it appears + the XGetImage() call must ultimately retrieve the framebuffer data + from the video hardware itself, it would make sense x11vnc's polling + wouldn't work unless the X session had active control of the VC. + + There does not seem to be an easy way to work around this. Even xwd(1) + doesn't work in this case (try it). Something would need to be done at + a lower level, say in the XFree86 X server. Also, using the XFree86 + Shadow Framebuffer (a copy of the video framebuffer is kept in main + memory) does not appear to fix the problem. + + If no one is sitting at the workstation and you just want to remotely + switch the VC over to the one associated with your X session (so + x11vnc can poll it), one can use the switchto(1) command, e.g. + switchto 7 for VC #7. + + Q-52: Does the Clipboard/Selection get transferred between the + vncviewer and the X display? + + As of Jan/2004 in the libvncserver CVS x11vnc supports the "CutText" + part of the rfb protocol. Furthermore, x11vnc is able to hold the + PRIMARY selection (Xvnc does not seem to do this). If you don't want + the Clipboard/Selection exchanged use the -nosel option. If you don't + want the PRIMARY selection to be polled for changes use the -noprimary + option. + + Q-53: Why don't I hear the "Beeps" in my X session (e.g. when typing + tput bel in an xterm)? + + As of Dec/2003 in the libvncserver CVS "Beep" XBell events are tracked + by default. The X server must support the XKEYBOARD extension (this is + not on by default in Solaris, see Xserver(1) for how to turn it on), + and so you won't hear them if the extension is not present. + + If you don't want to hear the beeps use the -nobell option. If you + want to hear the audio from the remote applications, consider trying a + redirector such as esd. + + Q-54: I am using x11vnc where my local machine has "popup/hidden + taskbars" (e.g. GNOME or MacOS X) and the remote display where x11vnc + runs also has "popup/hidden taskbars" (e.g. GNOME). When I move the + mouse to the edge of the screen where the popups happen, the taskbars + interfere and fight with each other in strange ways. What can I do? + + No useful answer so far. Is there a way to temporarily disable one or + both of these magic desktop taskbars? + +References + + 1. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#faq + 2. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#downloading + 3. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#building + 4. http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/ + 5. http://www.realvnc.com/ + 6. http://www.tightvnc.com/ + 7. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#downloading + 8. http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/freeware/ + 9. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/x11vnc_opts.html + 10. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#accept + 11. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#passwd + 12. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#passwdfile + 13. http://sourceforge.net/projects/libvncserver/ + 14. http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=32584&package_id=119006&release_id=257442 + 15. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/x11vnc.c + 16. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#binaries + 17. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/rx11vnc + 18. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/rx11vnc.pl + 19. http://www.tightvnc.com/ + 20. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/x11vnc_opts.html + 21. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#passwd + 22. http://wwws.sun.com/sunray/index.html + 23. mailto:xvml@karlrunge.com + 24. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-1 + 25. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-2 + 26. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-3 + 27. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-4 + 28. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-5 + 29. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-6 + 30. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-7 + 31. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-8 + 32. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-9 + 33. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-10 + 34. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-11 + 35. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-12 + 36. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-13 + 37. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-14 + 38. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-15 + 39. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-16 + 40. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-17 + 41. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-18 + 42. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-19 + 43. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-20 + 44. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-21 + 45. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-22 + 46. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-23 + 47. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-24 + 48. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-25 + 49. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-26 + 50. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-27 + 51. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-28 + 52. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-29 + 53. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-30 + 54. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-31 + 55. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-32 + 56. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-33 + 57. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-34 + 58. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-35 + 59. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-36 + 60. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-37 + 61. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-38 + 62. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-39 + 63. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-40 + 64. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-41 + 65. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-42 + 66. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-43 + 67. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-44 + 68. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-45 + 69. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-46 + 70. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-47 + 71. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-48 + 72. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-49 + 73. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-50 + 74. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-51 + 75. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-52 + 76. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-53 + 77. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#FAQ-54 + 78. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#building + 79. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#buildfaq + 80. http://packages.debian.org/x11vnc + 81. http://www.linuxpackages.net/search_view.php?by=name&name=x11vnc + 82. http://dag.wieers.com/packages/x11vnc/ + 83. http://www.bell-labs.com/project/wwexptools/packages.html + 84. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/x11vnc_opts.html + 85. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#passwd + 86. http://fredrik.hubbe.net/x2vnc.html + 87. http://www.hubbe.net/~hubbe/win2vnc.html + 88. http://www.deboer.gmxhome.de/ + 89. http://sourceforge.net/projects/win2vnc/ + 90. http://fredrik.hubbe.net/x2vnc.html + 91. http://freshmeat.net/projects/x2x/ + 92. http://ftp.digital.com/pub/Digital/SRC/x2x/ + 93. http://zapek.com/software/zvnc/ + 94. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#inetd + 95. ftp://ftp.x.org/ + 96. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/dtVncPopup + 97. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#passwdfile + 98. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#tunnelling + 99. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#tunnelling + 100. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#tunnelling + 101. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#tunnelling + 102. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/blockdpy.c + 103. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/x11vnc.c + 104. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/x11vnc_loop + 105. http://www.tightvnc.com/ + 106. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/shm_clear + 107. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#noshm + 108. http://www.tightvnc.com/ + 109. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#greaterless + 110. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#xkbmodtweak + 111. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#xkbmodtweak + 112. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#scaling + 113. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html#solshm + + +======================================================================= +http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/x11vnc_opts.html: + + _________________________________________________________________ + +x11vnc: a VNC server for real X displays + + Here are all of x11vnc command line options: +% x11vnc -help + +x11vnc: allow VNC connections to real X11 displays. 0.6.2 lastmod: 2004-07-31 + +Typical usage is: + + Run this command in a shell on the remote machine "far-host" + with X session you wish to view: + + x11vnc -display :0 + + Then run this in another window on the machine you are sitting at: + + vncviewer far-host:0 + +Once x11vnc establishes connections with the X11 server and starts +listening as a VNC server it will print out a string: PORT=XXXX where +XXXX is typically 5900 (the default VNC port). One would next run something +like this on the local machine: "vncviewer host:N" where N is XXXX - 5900, +i.e. usually "vncviewer host:0" + +By default x11vnc will not allow the screen to be shared and it will +exit as soon as a client disconnects. See -shared and -forever below +to override these protections. + +For additional info see: http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/ + and http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/#faq + + +Rudimentary config file support: if the file $HOME/.x11vncrc exists then each +line in it is treated as a single command line option. Disable with -norc. +For each option name, the leading character "-" is not required. E.g. a +line that is either "nap" or "-nap" may be used and are equivalent. +Likewise "wait 100" or "-wait 100" are acceptable and equivalent lines. +The "#" character comments out to the end of the line in the usual way. +Leading and trailing whitespace is trimmed off. Lines may be continued with +a "\" as the last character of a line (it becomes a space character). + +Options: + +-display disp X11 server display to connect to, usually :0. The X + server process must be running on same machine and + support MIT-SHM. Equivalent to setting the DISPLAY + environment variable to "disp". +-auth file Set the X authority file to be "file", equivalent to + setting the XAUTHORITY environment varirable to "file" + before startup. See Xsecurity(7), xauth(1) man pages. + +-id windowid Show the window corresponding to <windowid> not the + entire display. Warning: bugs! new toplevels missed!... +-flashcmap In 8bpp indexed color, let the installed colormap flash + as the pointer moves from window to window (slow). +-notruecolor Force 8bpp indexed color even if it looks like TrueColor +. +-visual n Experimental option: probably does not do what you + think. It simply *forces* the visual used for the + framebuffer; this may be a bad thing... It is useful for + testing and for some workarounds. n may be a decimal + number, or 0x hex. Run xdpyinfo(1) for the values. + One may also use "TrueColor", etc. see <X11/X.h> + for a list. If the string ends in ":m" for better + or for worse the visual depth is forced to be m. + +-scale fraction Scale the framebuffer by factor "fraction". Values + less than 1 shrink the fb. Note: image may not be sharp + and response may be slower. If "fraction" contains + a decimal point "." it is taken as a floating point + number, alternatively the notation "m/n" may be used + to denote fractions, e.g. -scale 2/3. + + Scaling Options: can be added after fraction via ":", + to supply multiple ":" options use commas. + If you just want a quick, rough scaling without + blending, append ":nb" to "fraction" (e.g. -scale + 1/3:nb). For compatibility with vncviewers the scaled + width is adjusted to be a multiple of 4, to disable + this use ":n4". More esoteric options: ":in" use + interpolation scheme even when shrinking, ":pad", + pad scaled width and height to be multiples of scaling + denominator (e.g. 3 for 2/3). + +-viewonly All VNC clients can only watch (default off). +-shared VNC display is shared (default off). +-once Exit after the first successfully connected viewer + disconnects, opposite of -forever. This is the Default. +-forever Keep listening for more connections rather than exiting + as soon as the first client(s) disconnect. Same as -many +-connect string For use with "vncviewer -listen" reverse connections. + If string has the form "host" or "host:port" + the connection is made once at startup. Use commas + for a list of host's and host:port's. If string + contains "/" it is instead interpreted as a file to + periodically check for new hosts. The first line is + read and then the file is truncated. +-vncconnect Monitor the VNC_CONNECT X property set by the standard + VNC program vncconnect(1). When the property is set + to host or host:port establish a reverse connection. + Using xprop(1) instead of vncconnect may work, see FAQ. +-inetd Launched by inetd(1): stdio instead of listening socket. + Note: if you are not redirecting stderr to a log file + (via shell 2> or -o option) you must also specify the + -q option. + +-allow addr1[,addr2..] Only allow client connections from IP addresses matching + the comma separated list of numerical addresses. + Can be a prefix, e.g. "192.168.100." to match a + simple subnet, for more control build libvncserver + with libwrap support. If the list contains a "/" + it instead is a interpreted as a file containing + addresses or prefixes that is re-read each time a new + client connects. Lines can be commented out with the + "#" character in the usual way. +-localhost Same as -allow 127.0.0.1 +-viewpasswd string Supply a 2nd password for view-only logins. The -passwd + (full-access) password must also be supplied. +-passwdfile filename Specify libvncserver -passwd via the first line of + the file "filename" instead of via command line. + If a second non blank line exists in the file it is + taken as a view-only password (i.e. -viewpasswd) Note: + this is a simple plaintext passwd, see also -rfbauth + and -storepasswd below. +-storepasswd pass file Store password "pass" as the VNC password in the + file "file". Once the password is stored the + program exits. Use the password via "-rfbauth file" +-accept string Run a command (possibly to prompt the user at the + X11 display) to decide whether an incoming client + should be allowed to connect or not. "string" is + an external command run via system(3) or some special + cases described below. Be sure to quote "string" + if it contains spaces, etc. If the external command + returns 0 the client is accepted, otherwise the client + is rejected. See below for an extension to accept a + client view-only. + + Environment: The RFB_CLIENT_IP environment variable will + be set to the incoming client IP number and the port + in RFB_CLIENT_PORT (or -1 if unavailable). Similarly, + RFB_SERVER_IP and RFB_SERVER_PORT (the x11vnc side + of the connection), are set to allow identification + of the tcp virtual circuit. The x11vnc process + id will be in RFB_X11VNC_PID, a client id number in + RFB_CLIENT_ID, and the number of other connected clients + in RFB_CLIENT_COUNT. + + If "string" is "popup" then a builtin popup window + is used. The popup will time out after 120 seconds, + use "popup:N" to modify the timeout to N seconds + (use 0 for no timeout) + + If "string" is "xmessage" then an xmessage(1) + invocation is used for the command. + + Both "popup" and "xmessage" will present an option + for accepting the client "View-Only" (the client + can only watch). This option will not be presented if + -viewonly has been specified, in which case the entire + display is view only. + + If the user supplied command is prefixed with something + like "yes:0,no:*,view:3 mycommand ..." then this + associates the numerical command return code with + the actions: accept, reject, and accept-view-only, + respectively. Use "*" instead of a number to indicate + the default action (in case the command returns an + unexpected value). E.g. "no:*" is a good choice. + + Note that x11vnc blocks while the external command or + or popup is running (other clients may see no updates + during this period). + + More -accept tricks: use "popupmouse" to only allow + mouse clicks in the builtin popup to be recognized. + Similarly use "popupkey" to only recognize keystroke + responses. All 3 of the popup keywords can be followed + by +N+M to supply a position for the popup window. + The default is to center the popup window. +-gone string As -accept string, except to run a user supplied command + when a client goes away (disconnects). Unlike -accept, + the command return code is not interpreted by x11vnc. + +-noshm Do not use the MIT-SHM extension for the polling. + Remote displays can be polled this way: be careful this + can use large amounts of network bandwidth. This is + also of use if the local machine has a limited number + of shm segments and -onetile is not sufficient. +-flipbyteorder Sometimes needed if remotely polled host has different + endianness. Ignored unless -noshm is set. +-onetile Do not use the new copy_tiles() framebuffer mechanism, + just use 1 shm tile for polling. Same as -old_copytile. + Limits shm segments used to 3. + +-blackout string Black out rectangles on the screen. string is a comma + separated list of WxH+X+Y type geometries for each rect. +-xinerama If your screen is composed of multiple monitors + glued together via XINERAMA, and that screen is + non-rectangular this option will try to guess the areas + to black out (if your system has libXinerama). + +-o logfile Write stderr messages to file "logfile" instead of + to the terminal. Same as -logfile "file". +-rc filename Use "filename" instead of $HOME/.x11vncrc for rc file. +-norc Do not process any .x11vncrc file for options. +-h, -help Print this help text. +-V, -version Print program version (last modification date). + +-q Be quiet by printing less informational output to + stderr. Same as -quiet. +-bg Go into the background after screen setup. Messages to + stderr are lost unless -o logfile is used. Something + like this could be useful in a script: + port=`ssh $host "x11vnc -display :0 -bg" | grep PORT` + port=`echo "$port" | sed -e 's/PORT=//'` + port=`expr $port - 5900` + vncviewer $host:$port + +-modtweak Option -modtweak automatically tries to adjust the AltGr +-nomodtweak and Shift modifiers for differing language keyboards + between client and host. Otherwise, only a single key + press/release of a Keycode is simulated (i.e. ignoring + the state of the modifiers: this usually works for + identical keyboards). Also useful in resolving cases + where a Keysym is bound to multiple keys (e.g. "<" + ">" + and "," + "<" keys). Default: -modtweak +-xkb When in modtweak mode, use the XKEYBOARD extension + (if it exists) to do the modifier tweaking. +-skip_keycodes string Skip keycodes not on your keyboard but your X server + thinks exist. Currently only applies to -xkb mode. + "string" is a comma separated list of decimal + keycodes. Use this option to help x11vnc in the reverse + problem it tries to solve: Keysym -> Keycode(s) when + ambiguities exist. E.g. -skip_keycodes 94,114 +-add_keysyms If a Keysym is received from a VNC viewer and + that Keysym does not exist in the X server, then + add the Keysym to the X server's keyboard mapping. + Added Keysyms will be removed when exiting. +-clear_mods At startup and exit clear the modifier keys by sending + KeyRelease for each one. The Lock modifiers are skipped. + Used to clear the state if the display was accidentally + left with any pressed down. +-clear_keys As -clear_mods, except try to release any pressed key. + Note that this option and -clear_mods can interfere + with a person typing at the physical keyboard. +-remap string Read Keysym remappings from file named "string". + Format is one pair of Keysyms per line (can be name + or hex value) separated by a space. If no file named + "string" exists, it is instead interpreted as this + form: key1-key2,key3-key4,... See <X11/keysymdef.h> + header file for a list of Keysym names, or use + xev(1). To map a key to a button click, use the + fake Keysyms "Button1", ..., etc. + E.g. -remap Super_R-Button2 +-norepeat Option -norepeat disables X server key auto repeat +-repeat when VNC clients are connected. This works around a + repeating keystrokes bug (triggered by long processing + delays between key down and key up client events: + either from large screen changes or high latency). + Note: your VNC viewer side will likely do autorepeating, + so this is no loss unless someone is simultaneously at + the real X display. Default: -repeat + +-nofb Ignore video framebuffer: only process keyboard and + pointer. Intended for use with Win2VNC and x2vnc + dual-monitor setups. +-nobell Do not watch for XBell events. (no beeps will be heard) + Note: XBell monitoring requires the XKEYBOARD extension. +-nosel Do not manage exchange of X selection/cutbuffer between + VNC viewers and the X server. +-noprimary Do not poll the PRIMARY selection for changes to send + back to clients. (PRIMARY is still set on received + changes, however). + +-nocursor Do not have the VNC viewer show a local cursor. +-mouse Draw a 2nd cursor at the current X pointer position. +-mouseX As -mouse, but also draw an "X" when pointer is on + root background. +-X Shorthand for -mouseX -nocursor. +-xwarppointer Move the pointer with XWarpPointer() instead of XTEST + (try as a workaround if pointer behaves poorly, e.g. + on touchscreens or other non-standard setups). +-cursorpos Option -cursorpos enables sending the X cursor position +-nocursorpos back to all vnc clients that support the TightVNC + CursorPosUpdates extension. Default: -cursorpos +-buttonmap string String to remap mouse buttons. Format: IJK-LMN, this + maps buttons I -> L, etc., e.g. -buttonmap 13-31 + + Button presses can also be mapped to keystrokes: replace + a button digit on the right of the dash with :<sym>: + or :<sym1>+<sym2>: etc. for multiple keys. For example, + if the viewing machine has a mouse-wheel (buttons 4 5) + but the x11vnc side does not, these will do scrolls: + -buttonmap 12345-123:Prior::Next: + -buttonmap 12345-123:Up+Up+Up::Down+Down+Down: + + See <X11/keysymdef.h> header file for a list of Keysyms, + or use the xev(1) program. Note: mapping of button + clicks to Keysyms may not work if -modtweak or -xkb is + needed for the Keysym. + + If you include a modifier like "Shift_L" the + modifier's up/down state is toggled, e.g. to send + "The" use :Shift_L+t+Shift_L+h+e: (the 1st one is + shift down and the 2nd one is shift up). (note: the + initial state of the modifier is ignored and not reset) + To include button events use "Button1", ... etc. + +-nodragging Do not update the display during mouse dragging events + (mouse motion with a button held down). Greatly + improves response on slow setups, but you lose all + visual feedback for drags, text selection, and some + menu traversals. +-old_pointer Do not use the new pointer input handling mechanisms. + See check_input() and pointer() in source file for + details. +-input_skip n For the old pointer handling when non-threaded: try to + read n user input events before scanning display. n < 0 + means to act as though there is always user input. + +-debug_pointer Print debugging output for every pointer event. +-debug_keyboard Print debugging output for every keyboard event. + Same as -dp and -dk, respectively. Use multiple + times for more output. + +-defer time Time in ms to wait for updates before sending to client + [rfbDeferUpdateTime] Default: 30 +-wait time Time in ms to pause between screen polls. Used to cut + down on load. Default: 30 +-nap Monitor activity and if low take longer naps between + polls to really cut down load when idle. Default: off + +-sigpipe string Broken pipe (SIGPIPE) handling. "string" can be + "ignore" or "exit". For "ignore" libvncserver + will handle the abrupt loss of a client and continue, + for "exit" x11vnc will cleanup and exit at the 1st + broken connection. Default: "ignore". +-threads Whether or not to use the threaded libvncserver +-nothreads algorithm [rfbRunEventLoop] if libpthread is available + Default: -nothreads + +-fs f If the fraction of changed tiles in a poll is greater + than f, the whole screen is updated. Default: 0.75 +-gaps n Heuristic to fill in gaps in rows or cols of n or + less tiles. Used to improve text paging. Default: 4 +-grow n Heuristic to grow islands of changed tiles n or wider + by checking the tile near the boundary. Default: 3 +-fuzz n Tolerance in pixels to mark a tiles edges as changed. + Default: 2 + + +These options are passed to libvncserver: + +-rfbport port TCP port for RFB protocol +-rfbwait time max time in ms to wait for RFB client +-rfbauth passwd-file use authentication on RFB protocol + (use 'storepasswd' to create a password file) +-passwd plain-password use authentication + (use plain-password as password, USE AT YOUR RISK) +-deferupdate time time in ms to defer updates (default 40) +-desktop name VNC desktop name (default "LibVNCServer") +-alwaysshared always treat new clients as shared +-nevershared never treat new clients as shared +-dontdisconnect don't disconnect existing clients when a new non-shared + connection comes in (refuse new connection instead) +-httpdir dir-path enable http server using dir-path home +-httpport portnum use portnum for http connection +-enablehttpproxy enable http proxy support +-progressive height enable progressive updating for slow links + + Pretty wild huh? [1]Contact me if you have any questions or problems. + + Personally, I use: +x11vnc -rfbauth $HOME/.vnc/passwd -nap -flashcmap -cursorpos -norepeat + + (the -flashcmap only matters on old 8-bit X displays) + + [2]Back to main x11vnc page + +References + + 1. mailto:xvml@karlrunge.com + 2. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/index.html diff --git a/x11vnc/x11vnc.1 b/x11vnc/x11vnc.1 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f88ae22 --- /dev/null +++ b/x11vnc/x11vnc.1 @@ -0,0 +1,661 @@ +.\" This file was automatically generated from x11vnc -help output. +.TH X11VNC "1" "August 2004" "x11vnc " "User Commands" +.SH NAME +x11vnc - allow VNC connections to real X11 displays + version: 0.6.2, lastmod: 2004-07-31 +.SH SYNOPSIS +.B x11vnc +[OPTION]... +.SH DESCRIPTION +.PP +Typical usage is: +.IP +Run this command in a shell on the remote machine "far-host" +with X session you wish to view: +.IP +x11vnc -display :0 +.IP +Then run this in another window on the machine you are sitting at: +.IP +vncviewer far-host:0 +.PP +Once x11vnc establishes connections with the X11 server and starts +listening as a VNC server it will print out a string: PORT=XXXX where +XXXX is typically 5900 (the default VNC port). One would next run something +like this on the local machine: "vncviewer host:N" where N is XXXX - 5900, +i.e. usually "vncviewer host:0" +.PP +By default x11vnc will not allow the screen to be shared and it will +exit as soon as a client disconnects. See \fB-shared\fR and \fB-forever\fR below +to override these protections. +.PP +For additional info see: http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/ +and http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/#faq +.PP +Rudimentary config file support: if the file $HOME/.x11vncrc exists then each +line in it is treated as a single command line option. Disable with \fB-norc.\fR +For each option name, the leading character "-" is not required. E.g. a +line that is either "nap" or "-nap" may be used and are equivalent. +Likewise "wait 100" or "-wait 100" are acceptable and equivalent lines. +The "#" character comments out to the end of the line in the usual way. +Leading and trailing whitespace is trimmed off. Lines may be continued with +a "\\" as the last character of a line (it becomes a space character). +.PP +.SH OPTIONS + +.PP +\fB-display\fR \fIdisp\fR +.IP +X11 server display to connect to, usually :0. The X +server process must be running on same machine and +support MIT-SHM. Equivalent to setting the DISPLAY +environment variable to \fIdisp\fR. +.PP +\fB-auth\fR \fIfile\fR +.IP +Set the X authority file to be \fIfile\fR, equivalent to +setting the XAUTHORITY environment varirable to \fIfile\fR +before startup. See +.IR Xsecurity (7) +, +.IR xauth (1) +man pages. +.PP +\fB-id\fR \fIwindowid\fR +.IP +Show the window corresponding to \fIwindowid\fR not the +entire display. Warning: bugs! new toplevels missed!... +.PP +\fB-sid\fR \fIwindowid\fR +.IP +As \fB-id,\fR but instead of using the window directly it +shifts a root view to it: shows saveUnders menus, etc. +.PP +\fB-flashcmap\fR +.IP +In 8bpp indexed color, let the installed colormap flash +as the pointer moves from window to window (slow). +.PP +\fB-notruecolor\fR +.IP +Force 8bpp indexed color even if it looks like TrueColor. +.PP +\fB-visual\fR \fIn\fR +.IP +Experimental option: probably does not do what you +think. It simply *forces* the visual used for the +framebuffer; this may be a bad thing... It is useful for +testing and for some workarounds. n may be a decimal +number, or 0x hex. Run +.IR xdpyinfo (1) +for the values. +One may also use "TrueColor", etc. see <X11/X.h> +for a list. If the string ends in ":m" for better +or for worse the visual depth is forced to be m. +.PP +\fB-scale\fR \fIfraction\fR +.IP +Scale the framebuffer by factor \fIfraction\fR. Values +less than 1 shrink the fb. Note: image may not be sharp +and response may be slower. If \fIfraction\fR contains +a decimal point "." it is taken as a floating point +number, alternatively the notation "m/n" may be used +to denote fractions, e.g. \fB-scale\fR 2/3. +.IP +Scaling Options: can be added after \fIfraction\fR via +":", to supply multiple ":" options use commas. +If you just want a quick, rough scaling without +blending, append ":nb" to \fIfraction\fR (e.g. \fB-scale\fR +1/3:nb). For compatibility with vncviewers the scaled +width is adjusted to be a multiple of 4, to disable +this use ":n4". More esoteric options: ":in" use +interpolation scheme even when shrinking, ":pad", +pad scaled width and height to be multiples of scaling +denominator (e.g. 3 for 2/3). +.PP +\fB-viewonly\fR +.IP +All VNC clients can only watch (default off). +.PP +\fB-shared\fR +.IP +VNC display is shared (default off). +.PP +\fB-once\fR +.IP +Exit after the first successfully connected viewer +disconnects, opposite of \fB-forever.\fR This is the Default. +.PP +\fB-forever\fR +.IP +Keep listening for more connections rather than exiting +as soon as the first client(s) disconnect. Same as \fB-many\fR +.PP +\fB-connect\fR \fIstring\fR +.IP +For use with "vncviewer -listen" reverse connections. +If \fIstring\fR has the form "host" or "host:port" +the connection is made once at startup. Use commas +for a list of host's and host:port's. If \fIstring\fR +contains "/" it is instead interpreted as a file to +periodically check for new hosts. The first line is +read and then the file is truncated. +.PP +\fB-vncconnect\fR +.IP +Monitor the VNC_CONNECT X property set by the standard +VNC program +.IR vncconnect (1) +. When the property is set +to host or host:port establish a reverse connection. +Using +.IR xprop (1) +instead of vncconnect may work, see FAQ. +.PP +\fB-inetd\fR +.IP +Launched by +.IR inetd (1) +: stdio instead of listening socket. +Note: if you are not redirecting stderr to a log file +(via shell 2> or \fB-o\fR option) you must also specify the +\fB-q\fR option. +.PP +\fB-allow\fR \fIaddr1[,addr2..]\fR +.IP +Only allow client connections from IP addresses matching +the comma separated list of numerical addresses. +Can be a prefix, e.g. "192.168.100." to match a +simple subnet, for more control build libvncserver +with libwrap support. If the list contains a "/" +it instead is a interpreted as a file containing +addresses or prefixes that is re-read each time a new +client connects. Lines can be commented out with the +"#" character in the usual way. +.PP +\fB-localhost\fR +.IP +Same as \fB-allow\fR 127.0.0.1 +.PP +\fB-viewpasswd\fR \fIstring\fR +.IP +Supply a 2nd password for view-only logins. The \fB-passwd\fR +(full-access) password must also be supplied. +.PP +\fB-passwdfile\fR \fIfilename\fR +.IP +Specify libvncserver \fB-passwd\fR via the first line of +the file \fIfilename\fR instead of via command line. +If a second non blank line exists in the file it is +taken as a view-only password (i.e. \fB-viewpasswd)\fR Note: +this is a simple plaintext passwd, see also \fB-rfbauth\fR +and \fB-storepasswd\fR below. +.PP +\fB-storepasswd\fR \fIpass\fR \fIfile\fR +.IP +Store password \fIpass\fR as the VNC password in the +file \fIfile\fR. Once the password is stored the +program exits. Use the password via "-rfbauth file" +.PP +\fB-accept\fR \fIstring\fR +.IP +Run a command (possibly to prompt the user at the +X11 display) to decide whether an incoming client +should be allowed to connect or not. \fIstring\fR is +an external command run via +.IR system (3) +or some special +cases described below. Be sure to quote \fIstring\fR +if it contains spaces, etc. If the external command +returns 0 the client is accepted, otherwise the client +is rejected. See below for an extension to accept a +client view-only. +.IP +Environment: The RFB_CLIENT_IP environment variable will +be set to the incoming client IP number and the port +in RFB_CLIENT_PORT (or -1 if unavailable). Similarly, +RFB_SERVER_IP and RFB_SERVER_PORT (the x11vnc side +of the connection), are set to allow identification +of the tcp virtual circuit. The x11vnc process +id will be in RFB_X11VNC_PID, a client id number in +RFB_CLIENT_ID, and the number of other connected clients +in RFB_CLIENT_COUNT. +.IP +If \fIstring\fR is "popup" then a builtin popup window +is used. The popup will time out after 120 seconds, +use "popup:N" to modify the timeout to N seconds +(use 0 for no timeout) +.IP +If \fIstring\fR is "xmessage" then an +.IR xmessage (1) +invocation is used for the command. +.IP +Both "popup" and "xmessage" will present an option +for accepting the client "View-Only" (the client +can only watch). This option will not be presented if +\fB-viewonly\fR has been specified, in which case the entire +display is view only. +.IP +If the user supplied command is prefixed with something +like "yes:0,no:*,view:3 mycommand ..." then this +associates the numerical command return code with +the actions: accept, reject, and accept-view-only, +respectively. Use "*" instead of a number to indicate +the default action (in case the command returns an +unexpected value). E.g. "no:*" is a good choice. +.IP +Note that x11vnc blocks while the external command or +or popup is running (other clients may see no updates +during this period). +.IP +More \fB-accept\fR tricks: use "popupmouse" to only allow +mouse clicks in the builtin popup to be recognized. +Similarly use "popupkey" to only recognize keystroke +responses. All 3 of the popup keywords can be followed +by +N+M to supply a position for the popup window. +The default is to center the popup window. +.PP +\fB-gone\fR \fIstring\fR +.IP +As \fB-accept,\fR except to run a user supplied command when +a client goes away (disconnects). Unlike \fB-accept,\fR +the command return code is not interpreted by x11vnc. +.PP +\fB-noshm\fR +.IP +Do not use the MIT-SHM extension for the polling. +Remote displays can be polled this way: be careful this +can use large amounts of network bandwidth. This is +also of use if the local machine has a limited number +of shm segments and \fB-onetile\fR is not sufficient. +.PP +\fB-flipbyteorder\fR +.IP +Sometimes needed if remotely polled host has different +endianness. Ignored unless \fB-noshm\fR is set. +.PP +\fB-onetile\fR +.IP +Do not use the new copy_tiles() framebuffer mechanism, +just use 1 shm tile for polling. Same as \fB-old_copytile.\fR +Limits shm segments used to 3. +.PP +\fB-blackout\fR \fIstring\fR +.IP +Black out rectangles on the screen. \fIstring\fR is a +comma separated list of WxH+X+Y type geometries for +each rectangle. +.PP +\fB-xinerama\fR +.IP +If your screen is composed of multiple monitors +glued together via XINERAMA, and that screen is +non-rectangular this option will try to guess the areas +to black out (if your system has libXinerama). +.PP +\fB-o\fR \fIlogfile\fR +.IP +Write stderr messages to file \fIlogfile\fR instead of +to the terminal. Same as \fB-logfile\fR "file". +.PP +\fB-rc\fR \fIfilename\fR +.IP +Use \fIfilename\fR instead of $HOME/.x11vncrc for rc file. +.PP +\fB-norc\fR +.IP +Do not process any .x11vncrc file for options. +.PP +\fB-h,\fR \fB-help\fR +.IP +Print this help text. +.PP +\fB-V,\fR \fB-version\fR +.IP +Print program version (last modification date). +.PP +\fB-q\fR +.IP +Be quiet by printing less informational output to +stderr. Same as \fB-quiet.\fR +.PP +\fB-bg\fR +.IP +Go into the background after screen setup. Messages to +stderr are lost unless \fB-o\fR logfile is used. Something +like this could be useful in a script: +.IP +port=`ssh $host "x11vnc -display :0 -bg" | grep PORT` +.IP +port=`echo "$port" | sed -e 's/PORT=//'` +.IP +port=`expr $port - 5900` +.IP +vncviewer $host:$port +.PP +\fB-modtweak,\fR \fB-nomodtweak\fR +.IP +Option \fB-modtweak\fR automatically tries to adjust the AltGr +and Shift modifiers for differing language keyboards +between client and host. Otherwise, only a single key +press/release of a Keycode is simulated (i.e. ignoring +the state of the modifiers: this usually works for +identical keyboards). Also useful in resolving cases +where a Keysym is bound to multiple keys (e.g. "<" + ">" +and "," + "<" keys). Default: \fB-modtweak\fR +.PP +\fB-xkb\fR +.IP +When in modtweak mode, use the XKEYBOARD extension +(if it exists) to do the modifier tweaking. +.PP +\fB-skip_keycodes\fR \fIstring\fR +.IP +Skip keycodes not on your keyboard but your X server +thinks exist. Currently only applies to \fB-xkb\fR mode. +\fIstring\fR is a comma separated list of decimal +keycodes. Use this option to help x11vnc in the reverse +problem it tries to solve: Keysym -> Keycode(s) when +ambiguities exist. E.g. \fB-skip_keycodes\fR 94,114 +.PP +\fB-add_keysyms\fR +.IP +If a Keysym is received from a VNC viewer and +that Keysym does not exist in the X server, then +add the Keysym to the X server's keyboard mapping. +Added Keysyms will be removed when exiting. +.PP +\fB-clear_mods\fR +.IP +At startup and exit clear the modifier keys by sending +KeyRelease for each one. The Lock modifiers are skipped. +Used to clear the state if the display was accidentally +left with any pressed down. +.PP +\fB-clear_keys\fR +.IP +As \fB-clear_mods,\fR except try to release any pressed key. +Note that this option and \fB-clear_mods\fR can interfere +with a person typing at the physical keyboard. +.PP +\fB-remap\fR \fIstring\fR +.IP +Read Keysym remappings from file named \fIstring\fR. +Format is one pair of Keysyms per line (can be name +or hex value) separated by a space. If no file named +\fIstring\fR exists, it is instead interpreted as this +form: key1-key2,key3-key4,... See <X11/keysymdef.h> +header file for a list of Keysym names, or use +.IR xev (1) +. To map a key to a button click, use the +fake Keysyms "Button1", ..., etc. +E.g. \fB-remap\fR Super_R-Button2 +.PP +\fB-norepeat,\fR \fB-repeat\fR +.IP +Option \fB-norepeat\fR disables X server key auto repeat +when VNC clients are connected. This works around a +repeating keystrokes bug (triggered by long processing +delays between key down and key up client events: +either from large screen changes or high latency). +Note: your VNC viewer side will likely do autorepeating, +so this is no loss unless someone is simultaneously at +the real X display. Default: \fB-repeat\fR +.PP +\fB-nofb\fR +.IP +Ignore video framebuffer: only process keyboard and +pointer. Intended for use with Win2VNC and x2vnc +dual-monitor setups. +.PP +\fB-nobell\fR +.IP +Do not watch for XBell events. (no beeps will be heard) +Note: XBell monitoring requires the XKEYBOARD extension. +.PP +\fB-nosel\fR +.IP +Do not manage exchange of X selection/cutbuffer between +VNC viewers and the X server. +.PP +\fB-noprimary\fR +.IP +Do not poll the PRIMARY selection for changes to send +back to clients. (PRIMARY is still set on received +changes, however). +.PP +\fB-nocursor\fR +.IP +Do not have the VNC viewer show a local cursor. +.PP +\fB-mouse\fR +.IP +Draw a 2nd cursor at the current X pointer position. +.PP +\fB-mouseX\fR +.IP +As \fB-mouse,\fR but also draw an "X" when pointer is on +root background. +.PP +\fB-X\fR +.IP +Shorthand for \fB-mouseX\fR \fB-nocursor.\fR +.PP +\fB-xwarppointer\fR +.IP +Move the pointer with XWarpPointer() instead of XTEST +(try as a workaround if pointer behaves poorly, e.g. +on touchscreens or other non-standard setups). +.PP +\fB-cursorpos,\fR \fB-nocursorpos\fR +.IP +Option \fB-cursorpos\fR enables sending the X cursor position +back to all vnc clients that support the TightVNC +CursorPosUpdates extension. Default: \fB-cursorpos\fR +.PP +\fB-buttonmap\fR \fIstring\fR +.IP +String to remap mouse buttons. Format: IJK-LMN, this +maps buttons I -> L, etc., e.g. \fB-buttonmap\fR 13-31 +.IP +Button presses can also be mapped to keystrokes: replace +a button digit on the right of the dash with :<sym>: +or :<sym1>+<sym2>: etc. for multiple keys. For example, +if the viewing machine has a mouse-wheel (buttons 4 5) +but the x11vnc side does not, these will do scrolls: +.IP +\fB-buttonmap\fR 12345-123:Prior::Next: +.IP +\fB-buttonmap\fR 12345-123:Up+Up+Up::Down+Down+Down: +.IP +See <X11/keysymdef.h> header file for a list of Keysyms, +or use the +.IR xev (1) +program. Note: mapping of button +clicks to Keysyms may not work if \fB-modtweak\fR or \fB-xkb\fR is +needed for the Keysym. +.IP +If you include a modifier like "Shift_L" the +modifier's up/down state is toggled, e.g. to send +"The" use :Shift_L+t+Shift_L+h+e: (the 1st one is +shift down and the 2nd one is shift up). (note: the +initial state of the modifier is ignored and not reset) +To include button events use "Button1", ... etc. +.PP +\fB-nodragging\fR +.IP +Do not update the display during mouse dragging events +(mouse motion with a button held down). Greatly +improves response on slow setups, but you lose all +visual feedback for drags, text selection, and some +menu traversals. +.PP +\fB-old_pointer\fR +.IP +Do not use the new pointer input handling mechanisms. +See check_input() and pointer() in source file for +details. +.PP +\fB-input_skip\fR \fIn\fR +.IP +For the old pointer handling when non-threaded: try to +read n user input events before scanning display. n < 0 +means to act as though there is always user input. +.PP +\fB-debug_pointer\fR +.IP +Print debugging output for every pointer event. +.PP +\fB-debug_keyboard\fR +.IP +Print debugging output for every keyboard event. +.PP +Same as \fB-dp\fR and \fB-dk,\fR respectively. Use multiple +times for more output. +.PP +\fB-defer\fR \fItime\fR +.IP +Time in ms to wait for updates before sending to client +[rfbDeferUpdateTime] Default: 30 +.PP +\fB-wait\fR \fItime\fR +.IP +Time in ms to pause between screen polls. Used to cut +down on load. Default: 30 +.PP +\fB-nap\fR +.IP +Monitor activity and if low take longer naps between +polls to really cut down load when idle. Default: off +.PP +\fB-sigpipe\fR \fIstring\fR +.IP +Broken pipe (SIGPIPE) handling. \fIstring\fR can be +"ignore" or "exit". For "ignore" libvncserver +will handle the abrupt loss of a client and continue, +for "exit" x11vnc will cleanup and exit at the 1st +broken connection. Default: "ignore". +.PP +\fB-threads,\fR \fB-nothreads\fR +.IP +Whether or not to use the threaded libvncserver +algorithm [rfbRunEventLoop] if libpthread is available +Default: \fB-nothreads\fR +.PP +\fB-fs\fR \fIf\fR +.IP +If the fraction of changed tiles in a poll is greater +than f, the whole screen is updated. Default: 0.75 +.PP +\fB-gaps\fR \fIn\fR +.IP +Heuristic to fill in gaps in rows or cols of n or +less tiles. Used to improve text paging. Default: 4 +.PP +\fB-grow\fR \fIn\fR +.IP +Heuristic to grow islands of changed tiles n or wider +by checking the tile near the boundary. Default: 3 +.PP +\fB-fuzz\fR \fIn\fR +.IP +Tolerance in pixels to mark a tiles edges as changed. +Default: 2 +.PP +These options are passed to libvncserver: +.PP +\fB-rfbport\fR \fIport\fR +.IP +TCP port for RFB protocol +.PP +\fB-rfbwait\fR \fItime\fR +.IP +max time in ms to wait for RFB client +.PP +\fB-rfbauth\fR \fIpasswd-file\fR +.IP +use authentication on RFB protocol +(use 'storepasswd' to create a password file) +.PP +\fB-passwd\fR \fIplain-password\fR +.IP +use authentication +(use plain-password as password, USE AT YOUR RISK) +.PP +\fB-deferupdate\fR \fItime\fR +.IP +time in ms to defer updates (default 40) +.PP +\fB-desktop\fR \fIname\fR +.IP +VNC desktop name (default "LibVNCServer") +.PP +\fB-alwaysshared\fR +.IP +always treat new clients as shared +.PP +\fB-nevershared\fR +.IP +never treat new clients as shared +.PP +\fB-dontdisconnect\fR +.IP +don't disconnect existing clients when a new non-shared +connection comes in (refuse new connection instead) +.PP +\fB-httpdir\fR \fIdir-path\fR +.IP +enable http server using dir-path home +.PP +\fB-httpport\fR \fIportnum\fR +.IP +use portnum for http connection +.PP +\fB-enablehttpproxy\fR +.IP +enable http proxy support +.PP +\fB-progressive\fR \fIheight\fR +.IP +enable progressive updating for slow links +.SH "FILES" +.IR $HOME/.x11vncrc , +.IR $HOME/.Xauthority +.SH "ENVIRONMENT" +.IR DISPLAY , +.IR XAUTHORITY , +.IR HOME +.PP +The following are set for the auxiliary commands +run by \fB-accept\fR and \fB-gone\fR: +.PP +.IR RFB_CLIENT_IP , +.IR RFB_CLIENT_PORT , +.IR RFB_SERVER_IP , +.IR RFB_SERVER_PORT , +.IR RFB_X11VNC_PID , +.IR RFB_CLIENT_ID , +.IR RFB_CLIENT_COUNT +.SH "SEE ALSO" +.IR vncviewer (1), +.IR vncpasswd (1), +.IR vncconnect (1), +.IR vncserver (1), +.IR Xvnc (1), +.IR inetd (1), +.IR xev (1), +.IR xmodmap (1), +.IR Xserver (1), +.IR xauth (1), +.IR xhost (1), +.IR Xsecurity (7), +.IR xmessage (1), +.IR ipcrm (1), +.IR http://www.tightvnc.com , +.IR http://www.realvnc.com , +.IR http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/ +.SH AUTHORS +x11vnc was written by Karl J. Runge <runge@karlrunge.com>, +it is part of the LibVNCServer project <http://sf.net/projects/libvncserver>. +This manual page is based one the one written by Ludovic Drolez +<ldrolez@debian.org>, for the Debian project (both may be used by others). |