Next Generation Remote Display
NX is an exciting new technology for remote display. It provides near local speed application responsiveness over high latency, low bandwidth links. The core libraries for NX are provided by NoMachine under the GPL. FreeNX is a GPL implementation of the NX Server and NX Client Components.
News
FreeNX 0.7.3 "Priscilla One Year Edition" Released - Sunday, 18/08/08 - [Download]
18.08.2008 FreeNX 0.7.3 "Priscilla One Year Edition"
* Opened the 0.7.3 development.
* Added logging of failed authentication attempts
to auth.log via syslog (3). This can be disabled by
setting ENABLE_LOG_FAILED_LOGINS="0".
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Added -nolisten tcp to nxagent invocation.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de, idea by pappy- (Gentoo))
* Used bash for all tasks as 'sh' might be not what we want
on standard ubuntu.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de, thx to tan (IRC))
* Finally fixed mv not working for failed or terminated
sessions.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de, Terje Andersen )
* Added patch from 2005 to enable reconnect to 24-bit display via
32-bit or vice versa. Oops :)
(Sunil )
* Added 3.2.0 as a backend version for nxloadconfig.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Added configuration key ENABLE_SOURCE_BASH_PROFILE for toggling of
sourcing ~/.bash_profile.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Added /usr/bin/xauth as default key and used /usr/X11R6/bin/xauth as
fallback.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Fixed Makefile to stop on all errors.
(Idea by Hai Zaar , fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Changed the default for ENABLE_PASSDB_AUTHENTICATION. If you had
added a user with different password via --adduser consider
re-activating this option in node.conf.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Added constraints for passdb based commands. They are only available
when ENABLE_PASSDB_AUTHENTICATION="1" else a friendly error message
is shown. This should help with users using old tutorials.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Added unix-console patch. Added default handler as unix-default with
a fallback to xterm,
(Idea by Jens Hatlak , fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Fixed external rdesktop keyboards: A "$" was missing.
(Bug by Phil Stricker , fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Added workaround for "ch" keyboard layout to nxdesktop_helper,
which NXClient 3.2.0 means as de-ch.
(Bug by Phil Stricker , fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Added clean target to Makefile.
(Based on patch by Ubuntu FreeNX-Team, fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Use :0.0 if mirrorhost is 127.0.0.1 and add -localhost for
enhanced security. Also increase sleep timeout for slow machines.
(Based on Patch by Jeremy Wilkins , fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Allow RDP "Run application" sessions to work correctly.
(David Corral < davefury@gmail.com > & the Silice Telecom staff,
fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Merge Xresources on startup of session.
(Jeremy Wilkins )
* Added nx-session-launcher from Ubuntu FreeNX-Team to use FreeNX with
ConsoleKit.
(marceloshima@gmail.com, fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Moved logging functions to a more appropriate place.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Finally fixed the bug when NX Client was stopped on "Negotiating
link parameters" and failed session after first session suspend.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Fixed missing "fi" statement. In fact it was a missing ";;".
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Used source instead of "." for Makefile. (Closes: #13954)
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Allow passwords with '\' by changing read -s to read -r -s.
(Closes: #10699)
(Patch by rpfuller@bat.berlios.de, fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Allow passwords with special chars by using new url_decode on
agent_password. (Closes: #10248)
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Fixed start/stop exit codes.
(Patch by Gentoo Portage, fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Finally checked for all service ports. (cups, media, samba)
and also checked it on the host where the load balancing actually
leads to.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Fixed broken fallback logic if SSH_CLIENT variables cannot be read
correctly.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Overhauled the usermode:
* There are now two modes of operation.
- One statically setting the
ENABLE_USERMODE_AUTHENTICATION key
in node.conf. (old behavior)
- Or using nxserver-usermode as startup
binary, which directly goes into the 103 stage.
* Fixed using commandline parameters like --cleanup
for static usermode.
* Enabled the root commandline parameters in usermode.
* Fixed usage of "nx" user as normal user in usermode.
* Disabled slave mode and load balancing for usermode.
* Fixed creation of the logfile directory.
* Fixed nxnode usage of SSH_CLIENT using fallback mechanism.
(Patch by nbartos@bat.berlios.de, fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Added disabled nxserver-suid wrapper with help from Google. To
enable it uncomment the suid_install target in Makefile.
( Alistair Riddoch , fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Automatically disabled slave mode, when load balancing is activated.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Made ENABLE_SLAVE_MODE="1" the new default as its faster
and more reliable. If you encounter any problems with it,
disable it in node.conf.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Changed type for external agents to windows-helper or vnc-helper
so that those sessions can be mirrored / shadowed as well.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Added nxshadowacl.sample component to be able to shadow
foreign sessions.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Prepared shadowing foreign users for VNC-shadowing.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Added shadow support to --listsession command.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Added shadow mode as nxagent target.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Fixed shadow mode and made it usable.
(Patch by Amin Shehata , fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
FreeNX 0.7.1 Released - Sunday, 14/10/07 - [Download]
14.10.2007 FreeNX 0.7.1 "Hip Hop Edition"
* Fixed the issue that makes fonts look tiny and unreadable by default
with freenx and the commercial client. (diamond@google.com)
* Added invalidating of NSCD cache after group and user add.
(diamond@google.com)
* Added better wording with less misunderstanding to dialog of
nxclient for Suspend/Terminate/Close case. (diamond@google.com)
* Added 'dialog_interface=dialog' option since many installations may
not have Xdialog and since xmessage is very limiting. This new option
will work on any machine that has dialog and xterm.
(puterguy@bat.berlios.de)
* Fixed the APPLICATION_LIBRARY_PRELOAD to be just a warning and fixed
the default path. (fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Added drivers.cache.all that is reloaded just every 60 minutes.
(puterguy@bat.berlios.de)
* Fixed missing services stop that lead to redundant mounts and still
running cupsd processes.
(puterguy@bat.berlios.de)
* Added support for mount.cifs additionally to the deprecated
smbmount. (fabianx@bat.berlios.de, puterguy@bat.berlios.de)
* Added "host" output to --list to see which user is connected to
which server in case of loadbalancing.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de, Bastian Kames )
* Fixed nxclient -printer to not use commercial client, because its too
slow in case of huge databases like foomatic. (fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Removed bad -noautokill option from the nxclient dialog spawning.
(wayneb@bat.berlios.de)
* Added basic support for mirrored sessions.
* The functionality can be used by connecting to VNC session
and choosing to "resume" such a session.
* New configuration key: ENABLE_MIRROR_VIA_VNC=1
* New configuration key: ENABLE_DESKTOP_SHARING=1
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Fixed some portability issues.
* Fixed nxloadconfig in case that COMMAND_X is not only one word,
like "openssl md5".
* Added usage of "openssl md5" instead of "md5sum" by default.
* Changed perl to COMMAND_PERL.
* Removed rev and replaced the code with efficient awk code.
* Added an outcommented way to also use "POSIX find" for history
cleaning.
(Peter O'Gorman )
* Fix ownership of $SSH_AUTHORIZED_KEYS in nxkeygen, just in case
it is run without nxsetup.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de, thx to sambiase on #nx)
* Fixed diverse occurences of $sess_id in nxnode, when hostname
contains whitespace.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Fixed setting up KDE_PRINTRC altogether if ENABLE_KDE_CUPS is not 1,
and handles errors better when it is but kde-config is not available
or fails.
(scop@bat.berlios.de)
* Changed unix:$display -> :$display to enable FreeNX usage with newer
xlib in C (used for example by Novell).
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Enabled 3.0.0 backend with same usage pattern as 2.[0|1].0 backend.
(Shawn Starr )
* Bumped version number to 2.1.0-71 to let things like File-sharing
port and auxiliary channels work.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Added parsing of aux parameter. This should remove all keyboard
related problems with nxdesktop with 2.[01].0 backend.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Renamed nxclient to nxdialog and setup the necessary environment
variable for nxagent to find it.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de, Thanks to NoMachine for giving this hint)
* Added experimental support for usage of external rdesktop and
vncviewer programs.
This is for example needed for 3.0.0 backend.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Changed the default load balancing algorithm to "random"
as the nxcheckload script might not be available.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
* Added ENABLE_CLIPBOARD="none|client|server|both" option
to node.conf to disable, restrict or enable the clipboard
synchronization.
(fabianx@bat.berlios.de)
FreeNX 0.7.0 Released - Saturday, 07/07/07 - [Download]
07.07.2007 FreeNX 0.7.0 "Jornade SPL Edition VI+1"
* Fixed the printing support for CUPS 1.2.
Older versions of CUPS are no longer supported.
* Note: You must do as root:
cp /usr/lib/cups/backend/ipp /usr/lib/cups/backend/nxipp
chmod 755 /usr/lib/cups/backend/nxipp
Or alternatively re-run nxsetup.
* Added foomatic support.
* Note: You might need to do: ln -s /usr/bin/foomatic-ppdfile
/usr/lib/cups/driver/
* Added setting of CUPS_SERVER environment var.
* Added automatic downloading of PPDs, if the client supports it.
* Added configuration vars to tweak the new behaviour.
* Added cups seamless support with no "use this driver?" dialogs at all.
* Note: You need nxcupsd-wrapper on the client side for CUPS 1.2
clients.
Get it from nxutils repository.
* Fixed Support for "Running" sessions - again.
* Made the NXAgent exited with exit code 1 message more verbose.
* Added support for nxipp to nxnode and nxsetup.
* Added nxcups-gethost script for automatic usage in KDE.
* Fixed RDP/VNC sessions. No application should be started for that type.
(Patch by Bernard Cafarelli )
* Added backingstore fix for older clients from Gentoo.
(http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=149298)
* Fixed VNC sessions.
* Fixed fullscreen sessions.
(Patch by Gentoo Bugtracker)
* Fixed --broadcast.
* Added "passwd -u nx" to nxsetup to fix slackware.
* Fixed respecting of enconding settings in case of rootless mode.
* Fixed smb mounting in case nxclient sends the wrong port.
(Patch by Jan Lockenvitz )
* Fixed loadbalancing - was still using an undocumented variable.
FreeNX 0.6.0 Released - Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - [Download]
23.01.2007 FreeNX 0.6.0 "Juliana birthday edition"
* Opened the 0.6.0 branch.
* Added nxnode slave mode.
* General code cleanup.
* Huge cleanup of nxnode.
* Removed "no-x11-forwarding" from keys to allow client to use the
faster interactive sessions.
* Fixed nxsetup automatic testing of sessions and cleared up
explanations.
* Added support for NX 2.0.0 style nxclient dialogs.
* Support for NX 2.0.0 backend in nxloadconfig.
* Fixed cups printing (added username and password).
* Fixed one more stray tail process.
* Added example script for "load" based loadbalancing.
* Fixed spaces in parameters for NX Client 2.0.0.
(ssycplkbocve@spammotel.com)
* Added version 2.1.0 support.
* Fixed LD_LIBRARY_PRELOAD default path in nxloadconfig.
* Fixed nxclient to work with 2.1.0 backend.
* Added autodetection of backend.
01.07.2006 FreeNX 0.5.0 "UKUUG 2006 Edition"
* Opened the 0.5.0 branch.
* Added load balancing.
* Completely removed support for 1.4.0 backend.
* Rootless mode is now the default.
* Reworked nxnode / suspend on connection failure should work now.
* Added support for "Running" sessions.
* Fixed --send command. (Emmanuel Blindauer )
* Fixed resume with nxclient >=1.5.0-106 for Windows.
* Fixed rootless sessions with Windows nxclient.
* Fixed keyboard issues by enabling the keybd channel.
* Fixed one more stray tail process and being able to
cleanup after a hopelessly failed reconnection. (i.e. agent died)
* Fixed detection of xauth / netcat. Added option to disable extra
checks.
* Fixed --terminate / --suspend when hostname has a '-' in it.
(Emmanuel Blindauer )
* ESD_NO_SPAWN is always set when ESPEAKER is set.
("Felipe Alfaro Solana" )
* Added perl replacement for 'rev' function on Sun OS 5.10.
* Fixed NODE_AUTOSTART to be unable to block sessions.
* Fixed stale sessions introduced by the new session handling model.
* Added usage of TCP NODELAY option.
* Fixed loadbalancing IP issues.
* Added --force-terminate to remove session info.
Fixed issue with suspend/terminate commands.
* Added correct errorcode 596 instead of 504.
* Implemented "round-robin" and "load" loadbalancing algorithms.
Cleaned up node.conf keys.
* Fixed help for --restart.
* Fixed session_running function, which fixes all remaining stale
session problems.
* Removed termination of nxagent in case of rootless mode.
(Fixes kontact without --nofork)
* Last minute fixes for new functions using rev.
* Added experimental last minute support for NX 2.0.0 backend.
(set ENABLE_2_0_0_BACKEND=1)
XX.XX.2006 FreeNX 0.4.5 "aKademy Edition"
* Made nxsetup more user-friendly and hopefully finally failsafe.
* Added --agent to nxnode/nxserver to allow easier debugging.
* Added addgroup/groupadd to nxsetup
* Added --ignore-errors support on nxsetup/nxloadconfig
* Added check for expect.
FreeNX at Debian-Edu DevCamp 2006. - Saturday, July 08, 2006 -
FreeNX is currently present at the Debian-Edu DevCamp 2006 in Forbach, France. You can visit us there.FreeNX at UKUUG 2006. - Saturday, July 01, 2006 -
FreeNX is currently present at UKUUG Linux 2006 conference in Brighton, England. You can visit us there.Visit FreeNX on Linux WorldExpo San Francisco Aug 9-11, 2005 - Saturday, August 07, 2005 -
We also have a nice article series at the moment, which prepares you for FreeNX during LWE.FreeNX 0.4.2 Released - Saturday, July 16, 2005 - [Download]
- Removed forwarding support via "freenx.<user>", because it was buggy.
- Cleaned up lots of code.
- Fixed one case of a left over file.
- Removed one unnecessary usage of a temporary file.
- Added exit handlers in nxserver and nxnode for more stability on reboot of system.
- Changed nxnode to be much more stable.
- Catched one additional "unclean termination of nxagent" case, which lead to "zombie" sessions.
- Reworked reconnection support for more stability.
- Added displaying of reconnection failure in system log / client ssh log.
- Added even more possibilities to catch and report session startup failures.
- Fixed PNG and JPEG-levels pack method.
- Added usage of netcat -z to check that the port is really not used by another agent.
- Added nxserver --cleanup, which terminates all running sessions. Useful after a power outage.
- Fixed nxclient invocation with non-standard installation path
- Added detection of SSH2_CLIENT variable (commercial ssh)
- Finally fixed problems with GNOME.
- FINALLY added Solaris Support Patch.
FreeNX 0.4.1 Released - Wednesday, June 29, 2005
- Added support for 1.5.0 OSS components (especially rootless mode)
- Added suspend/resume support for 1.5.0 OSS components
FreeNX 0.4.0 Released - Wednesday, May 4, 2005
- Full filesharing support via Samba
- Sound support via ESD/artsd
- Printing support via Samba and a separate userspace cupsd for each user session