The free NX server has been released, source packages can be found on the provided url.
It's amusing to see the commercial NX component replaced with a set of shell scripts ;-) I have two reservations about adding FreeNX right now: a) it looks like it depends upon the NX-1.4.0 beta libraries. I don't feel good about adding those libraries to Portage just yet, and I don't like adding versions that stand little chance of ever being marked as stable. b) FreeNX is missing encrypted connection support, which surprises me. I'll have a play on Friday night, and then decide whether to add FreeNX or not. Of course, you're welcome to come join the nx herd, and help out ;-) Best regards, Stu
a) yep, it depends on the 1.4.0 libs... b) didn't knew that the point is: if freeNX works, many people want to have and use it, as it's free. if nomachine had an entry version without charging for it it would imho be another situation, but as the charge even for the smallest server they offer... i think if freeNW works we should consider adding it ;) and yeah, it's amusing that the functionality of the server can be rebuild using bash *g*
(b) i though nx does everything over ssh? so why should it need an extra encryption support? JG
Don't get me wrong - I'm very keen to get FreeNX into the tree. I have no problem with the fact that NoMachine may lose sales because there is a free alternative. As to the encryption ... if you want the full details, read the freenx scripts. They're well commented. Best regards, Stu
I've started work on incorporating freenx into Gentoo. I'll post news of my progress into this ebuild. The work involves: adding net-misc/nx-x11 package to Portage (it compiles, will be later today) adding nxclient-1.4.0 to Portage (I have an ebuild for this ready to commit) adding net-misc/nxserver-freenx to Portage (I'll be basing it on #61877, but it needs a different patch to fit the way I want to do it) If you can't wait, and want to play, take a look at bugs #61874 and #61877. I won't be committing those ebuilds, but there's nothing to stop you playing with those for now. Best regards, Stu
Bah. I should have said the net-misc/nxserver-freenx will be based on bug #61874, and not #61877.
One interesting fact from the forums (http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?p=1478317): "The client binary is semi-required for correct operation. Without nxclient installed, clicking on the close button of the connecting client will not do anything." I didn't know this. In order to get suspending and termination of sessions (via close button) working, the nxclient application has be installed on the _server_ as well! Sounds strange, but this seems to be the way NoMachine did it.
It's been this way for the commercial server since NX 1.3.0 was released. If you take a look at the nxserver-* 1.3.2 ebuilds, you'll see that they list nxclient as a dep. Strangely, the Debian package doesn't build the nxviewer or nxkbd binaries, and it doesn't install the nxscripts package either. Best regards, Stu
It seems the ebuild does not set the ownership of /usr/NX to nx - what seems to be needed (see forum http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=214455). Accordingly to this thread the following steps seem to be needed for a running FreeNX-Server: chown -R nx:root /usr/NX chmod u+x /usr/NX/var/db/*
These changes are now in the tree. Please test, and let me know how you get on. Be warned - FreeNX suspend / resume sessions do not work yet! Best regards, Stu
Closing old bug.