GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 727473
Vino does not start automatically in XFCE
Last modified: 2014-04-03 10:44:37 UTC
Vino apparently starts automatically in GNOME and Unity, but not in XFCE. To make it start in XFCE you have to add XFCE to the list of desktops in the autostart file. The autostart file is here: /etc/xdg/autostart/vin-server.desktop You have to change the line with OnlyShowIn to look like this: OnlyShowIn=GNOME;Unity;XFCE To check that it worked, restart XFCE and inspect the output of `netstat -antp` for an instance of vino server listening on port 5900. The installer should be able to write the XFCE value by itself. Why does the vino server autostart only in GNOME and Unity? It's working great for me in XFCE after this wee change. PS. I got the server version from `apt-cache show vino`. The vino server program itself doesn't have a --version option.
Sorry, that file location should be: /etc/xdg/autostart/vino-server.desktop missed the o!
Vino no longer provides any configuration UI as of 3.10, which is instead now provided by gnome-control-center as of 3.8. If XFCE does not provide a configuration UI for Vino, there is little point in adding XFCE to the autostart file. Please re-open this bug if XFCE starts providing a configuration UI.
Couldn't find vino in the XFCE menus after installation. Is that another bug? XFCE can configure vino using a UI, but you have to launch it using a command! The command to start the UI is vino-preferences. The dialog looks just like the one in a blog post by Ed Nilsey (will attach a copy): http://softsolder.com/2011/12/18/enabling-remote-desktop-sharing-in-xubuntu/ Apparently Ed had the same autostart problem. He solved it this way: "drill down through the menu from Settings → Settings Manager → Session and Startup to the Application Autostart tab, then Add the Vino VNC Server to the list: /usr/lib/vino/vino-server. You can start it manually if you have the hots for immediate sharing." Can we reopen this?
Created attachment 273459 [details] Vino configuration UI running in XFCE Attached screenshot of Vino configuration UI running in XFCE.
vino-preferences was removed in 3.10 (it should have previously been in the menus as "Desktop Sharing"): https://git.gnome.org/browse/vino/commit/?id=328b2e46aef14b4204d3c20e0de40bd0a69b4229 The current stable version is 3.12, and until there is an equivalent configuration UI (which could be a copy of vino-preferences split out to a separate package) I do not see much point in adding any other desktop to the autostart file.
The latest stable version of Xubuntu (13.10, Saucy) is still using version 3.6.2. Do you still support the 3.6 line? http://packages.ubuntu.com/saucy/vino The Xubuntu Settings dialog is called xfce4-settings-manager.I don't see a "Desktop Sharing" icon there after installation. Would you add the XFCE desktop if we could get xfce4-settings-manager to show a Desktop Sharing icon? How does gnome-control-center handle this? Is it not also just a copy of vino-preferences?
No, 3.6 is unsupported. The latest stable version is 3.12.0, and the 3.10 series is also supported. There is code inside gnome-control-center to configure Vino, which is rather different than vino-preferences. Similar code would need to exist for a desktop environment before the autostart file would be changed to add that environment.
The lack of UI support in Xfce has been on the Ubuntu bug tracker since 2009. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/vino/+bug/384463 I've asked the Ubuntu folk to comment on your proposal of a new package for UI support. Let's see what they say.