GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 389646
Vino should be able to initiate the connection to a listening vncviewer
Last modified: 2020-11-12 12:24:22 UTC
With other VNC servers, they can be told to connect to a specified host and port of a listening vncviewer. Vino should! An example with another program. x11vnc -connect <ip>:port This could really help user-to-user relations. I have people run this command when they need my help with things like configuring an email client or something that I can do easily for them should I be able to see their PC. The advantage of them initiating it is that it makes the firewall passthrough responsibility is on the viewer, not the server.
I can confirm this. This would make Gnome-Support much more easier.
I confirm this too. This would be a superb feature !
Turns out this may be more relevant to the Vinagre effort by Jonh Wendell. http://www.gnome.org/projects/vinagre/ As of 0.3, there is no listening support. Upon emailing the man, I get this in reply, "Hi, not now. Maybe in the next versions ;)" I'd call this one closed for vino and a new feature request for vinagre.
Agreeing with Derek and closing; Vinagre and Vino seem to work together pretty well. (And of course vino-maint can come smack me with a wet trout if they disagree :)
Ok, upon looking at this old bug again, we can't close it! Vinagre doesn't initiate outgoing connections for people to connect to. Vinagre is strictly a client and doesn't replace x11vnc -connect. We really do need "vino -connect ipaddressOrHost" A friend and I made a PyGTK gui to x11vnc that sort of expresses the idea. http://code.google.com/p/gitso/
I don't think I'm understanding you. One would have vino installed to serve, and vinagre as a client; you don't need to have both server and client in the same tool, which seems to be what you're requesting. Or am I missing something?
Currently, Vinagre is a vnc client than can accept incoming connections from vnc servers and can initiate outgoing connections to vnc servers. Vino can accept incoming connections from vnc clients, but it cannot initiate outgoing connections to vnc clients in listen mode. Use case: My mom lives far away but I really want to help her upgrade to Hardy when it comes out. With vino, I have to tell her to enable vino, set a static ip on her laptop temporarily, and forward a port in her proprietary-and-never-the-same-interface-across-different-vendors router. You can quickly see the problem here. A newbie could really benefit from help using VNC, but you start to mystify people if you start talking about static ips and port forwarding. With a quickly hacked PyGTK app called gitso[1] I can give her a fancy gtk gui to initiate an outgoing vnc server connection to my listening vncviewer. I worry about the port forwarding and static IP. It's ok, I'm cool with that stuff. I wish gitso didn't have to exist for gnome users. It will still be cool on lighter weight desktops like Xubuntu on my eeepc, but gnome is supposed to be the cadillac of gtk interfaces! The person needing support shouldn't need to do more than 3 steps. 1.) click vnc server 2.) type in the ipaddress:port or hostname/domain:port of the vnc client listener with it defaulting to 5500 as the port if nothing specified 3.) click connect [1] gitso: http://code.google.com/p/gitso/
Ah, I see what you mean. No idea if the vino authors want to do that, but it isn't crazy. :)
I'm hoping that since it is in the roadmap (http://live.gnome.org/RoadMap) for 2.24, vino authors are interested.
*** Bug 528960 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Is there any status update since it was already in the roadmap for 2.22 afaik.
No, due to lack of time :(
This is one of the most important features imho. Most people need support when they switch from Windows to Linux and reverse VNC would make it much more easier. We shouldn't confirm the common thinking that for most things a console is needed in Linux.
unggnu: there's always gitso to address your reverse vnc needs until gnome 2.26
Does anyone have a status update. Will this feature be deferred again?
No one?
Great, 2.2.6 doesn't seem to have support again. I personally often use Ubuntu Live CDs for remote support like changing partition size and so on. But until I can do it I have to explain them through a telephone how to enable universe and install a program through console which sounds easier than it is for a typical computer user.
Why don't you use x11vnc which has support for it? So you can save most of the developing stuff?
It would be VERY useful to have reverse connection support built-in in vino, without the need to install external packages like x11vnc; if a person needs remote assistance, probably he does not know at all how to install a package and to launch a command in a terminal! After all, both vino and x11vnc are built on top of libvncserver, that already has all the functions that implement it (rfbReverseConnection()). So the work to implement this in vino would be mostly GUI-related!
So again a new Gnome version without outbound reverse vnc connections?
I'd also like to request this feature as I think it's extremely useful. Right now I have to instruct people to add the necessary repositories, install x11vnc, and run "x11vnc -connect my-ip-address" through the console, which isn't very easy for people that need remote support. In Gnome 2.30, vinagre has gained the ability to listen for reverse connections: http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/2.30/#rnusers.vinagre Please include a button for initiating reverse connections in vino-preferences...
You have my vote too (where's the vote button?) I also use x11vnc at present. At least we need a vino command line way of doing a reverse connection, eg: vino -connect test.dyndns.net:5500 But for grandma a gui in the line of what vino/vinagre provides would be best. The idea is to make it as easy as possible, and why not make make sure it can work on a livecd so that we can provide support even when the machine disk can't boot! See corresponding ubuntu wishlist entry here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/vino/+bug/121961
I'll add my vote to getting this feature added to a future release of Vino - it really is essential. We've got it in the Vinagre viewer client now, so surely it makes sense to include the functionality in the standard shipped server, too? It's rare to come across remote support solutions these days that expect the user needing support to initiate port forwarding, and often that step alone is beyond the tech level of the person needing support. Hopefully we'll see this feature included sooner rather than later, because until then it really does leave Vino behind the competition.
*** Bug 578716 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Hi! I agree it would be a great enhancement to give support to people unable to open ports on their router. Bye!
*** Bug 671163 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
This would be really usefull
I'm also very interested in this. Often, one wants to support less tech-savvy people who are behind a firewall, in which case it's often very difficult to impossible to talk them through forwarding ports on their firewall for a forward-connection. In these cases I always have to ask them to install x11vnc and use the command line to connect to me. It would be great if Vino, which already has a GUI and is installed by default on Gnome Desktops such as Fedora, could allow for that!
For what it's worth, using an SSH tunnel turned out to be a better alternative.
Vino is not under active development anymore and unmaintained. Please use gnome-remote-desktop instead. Closing this report as WONTFIX to reflect reality.