Xpra: Ticket #1620: rfb server support

Implementing a bare bones RFB server turned out to be trivial since the protocol is so simple (unlike xpra, no windows or metadata to deal with!): rfc6143.

This may be useful for comparing with VNC clients, debugging the vfb state, etc

TODO before the next release (minimum required for secure usage):

Extras (probably for a later milestone):

To use it:

xpra start-desktop :100 --start=xterm --bind-rfb=0.0.0.0:5900 -d rfb
vncviewer 127.0.0.1:0 -Log "*:stderr:100"


Wed, 09 Aug 2017 16:37:12 GMT - Antoine Martin: status changed

Code added in r16673, see also #639.

Better links:


Sun, 27 Aug 2017 04:46:53 GMT - Antoine Martin:

Updates linked to UDP (#639):


Wed, 06 Sep 2017 15:50:49 GMT - Antoine Martin: owner, status changed

Should be fully usable as of r16784 (see commit message). This is useful for testing, but will need work before being able to compete with other RFB servers (#1632).

@maxmylyn: this is just a FYI, feel free to close.


It does support authentication and sharing options, ie:

echo -n 01234567 > password.txt
xpra start-desktop :100 --start=xterm --sharing=yes \
    --bind-tcp=0.0.0.0: \
    --bind-rfb=0.0.0.0: --rfb-auth=file,filename=./password.txt --no-daemon

You can then connect with vncviewer:

echo -n 01234567 | vncpasswd -f > password.vnc
vncviewer 127.0.0.1:0 -Log "*:stderr:100" -Shared=1 -passwd=./password.vnc

And since sharing is enabled, you can connect an xpra client simultaneously:

xpra attach tcp:localhost

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 20:59:59 GMT - J. Max Mena: status changed; resolution set

Noted and closing.


Thu, 07 Sep 2017 09:47:54 GMT - Antoine Martin:

As usual, this required a bunch of platform tweaks and fixes:

It would be nice to add support for bandwidth-limit (#417)


Thu, 18 Jun 2020 09:02:50 GMT - Antoine Martin:

Regression in v4: #2811.


Sat, 23 Jan 2021 05:29:18 GMT - migration script:

this ticket has been moved to: https://github.com/Xpra-org/xpra/issues/1620