I want to have remote desktops in to openSUSE systems. I currently use x11vnc to do this from other Linux computers. Connecting to an existing session as well as letting the session be shared are needed. x11vnc does this fine. We use the default display :0 for this. Recently (after leap 42.3 some time), it seems that x11vnc or X requires that one provide an authorization file to access the desktop. It is specified to x11vnc via the -auth option. This would generally not be a problem. Except finding the file to use is a bit of a hack. Where the files is located depends on, it seems, which display manager one is using. When using kdm, for example, the file(s) are in /var/lib/kdm/AuthFiles/. Other dms put them elsewhere. Which brings me to my real question. I start x11vnc via xinetd. In that context, I would like how to know what authorization file to use for display 0. That is the one we usually connect to and share. Initially, I had just edited the xinetd file with the name of the new authorization file, which is made each time the display manager starts. This was not nice. So I thought I might just use a wild card to get the name of the file in /var/lib/kdm/AuthFiles/ as there was only one. We only use display :0. Today, on a couple systems, I suddenly find more than one authorization file. I have no idea why. So the wild card thing will not be a real solution. How are others solving this? To be honest, I don't really want the auth thing. I would be quite happy to just disable it all together. But if that is not possible, how best to find out in an automated way (i.e., in a shell script) which auth file to specify to x11vnc? I am quite flexible in solutions. I'm not married to x11vnc.It just has been working fine. -- Roger Oberholtzer
On Tue, 9 Feb 2021 10:30:37 +0100
Roger Oberholtzer
I want to have remote desktops in to openSUSE systems. I currently use x11vnc to do this from other Linux computers. Connecting to an existing session as well as letting the session be shared are needed. x11vnc does this fine. We use the default display :0 for this.
Recently (after leap 42.3 some time), it seems that x11vnc or X requires that one provide an authorization file to access the desktop. It is specified to x11vnc via the -auth option.
This would generally not be a problem. Except finding the file to use is a bit of a hack. Where the files is located depends on, it seems, which display manager one is using. When using kdm, for example, the file(s) are in /var/lib/kdm/AuthFiles/. Other dms put them elsewhere.
Which brings me to my real question. I start x11vnc via xinetd. In that context, I would like how to know what authorization file to use for display 0. That is the one we usually connect to and share. Initially, I had just edited the xinetd file with the name of the new authorization file, which is made each time the display manager starts. This was not nice. So I thought I might just use a wild card to get the name of the file in /var/lib/kdm/AuthFiles/ as there was only one. We only use display :0. Today, on a couple systems, I suddenly find more than one authorization file. I have no idea why. So the wild card thing will not be a real solution.
How are others solving this? To be honest, I don't really want the auth thing. I would be quite happy to just disable it all together. But if that is not possible, how best to find out in an automated way (i.e., in a shell script) which auth file to specify to x11vnc?
I am quite flexible in solutions. I'm not married to x11vnc.It just has been working fine.
Don't use any of this technology but https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/x11vnc hints that maybe -auth guess might be relevant and man x11vnc provides more details to try.
On Tue, Feb 9, 2021 at 1:06 PM Dave Howorth
Don't use any of this technology but https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/x11vnc hints that maybe -auth guess might be relevant and man x11vnc provides more details to try.
I tried that, even setting the display to :0. It said that it failed. Maybe kdm is keeping the auth file somewhere other than where it looks? -- Roger Oberholtzer
On 2021-02-09 4:30 a.m., Roger Oberholtzer wrote:
I am quite flexible in solutions. I'm not married to x11vnc.It just has been working fine.
I use NoMachine. https://www.nomachine.com
On 2/9/21 7:35 AM, James Knott wrote:
On 2021-02-09 4:30 a.m., Roger Oberholtzer wrote:
I am quite flexible in solutions. I'm not married to x11vnc.It just has been working fine.
I use NoMachine.
I've worked with nomachine in the past but always come back to tigervnc and just port-forward over ssh. I haven't use x11vnc in quite a while so I can't comment there. tigervnc-server and tigervnc (client) should be in the iso repo for all distros (at least since there was a tightvnc that is now tigervnc if I recall correctly) Anyway, it has been tiger since at least 42.3. -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
I'm using x0vncserver, which is available in package xorg-x11-Xvnc. With vncpasswd command you can create a password file ($HOME/.vnc/passwd by default). Then I have a script in ~/.config/autostart-scripts/vnc.sh: #!/bin/bash exec x0vncserver -PasswordFile ~/.vnc/passwd And that's it. KDE automatically executes it on startup (other DE might as well, IDK). When connecting with vncviewer you're asked for password, that was set up in the first step. If you want no security at all (NOT RECOMMENDED!!!) you can use x0vncserver -SecurityTypes None
On Thu, Feb 11, 2021 at 9:45 PM Adam Mizerski
I'm using x0vncserver, which is available in package xorg-x11-Xvnc.
With vncpasswd command you can create a password file ($HOME/.vnc/passwd by default).
Then I have a script in ~/.config/autostart-scripts/vnc.sh: #!/bin/bash exec x0vncserver -PasswordFile ~/.vnc/passwd
And that's it. KDE automatically executes it on startup (other DE might as well, IDK). When connecting with vncviewer you're asked for password, that was set up in the first step.
If you want no security at all (NOT RECOMMENDED!!!) you can use x0vncserver -SecurityTypes None
The vnc password is also used by x11vnc. That controls access to x11vnc itself. The part I have a problem with is access to the authorization file that allows access by x11vnc to the X11 server controlling the display. I don't really need that security in the X server. I would be ok disabling it so it is not needed. -- Roger Oberholtzer
participants (6)
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Adam Mizerski -
Andrei Borzenkov -
Dave Howorth -
David C. Rankin -
James Knott -
Roger Oberholtzer