HOWTO: Install freenx

elykyllek · Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2004 1:44 am Post subject: fluxbox

Also I've been able to get it to run with kde, but as of yet I cannot get it to start with fluxbox. I've tried getting it to execute startx, exec fluxbox, startfluxbox, all with it just showing a black screen. Any ideas?

gorth_kr · n00b Joined: 29 Aug 2004 Posts: 1

Is it possible to get NX working as a normal user? I would like to be able to access NX from a windows pc.

Ari Rahikkala · Guru Joined: 02 Oct 2002 Posts: 370 Location: Finland

I've been hacking on nxserver-freenx for several hours over two days now, and it still doesn't work. Here's what I can remember from what problems I solved, kluge by kluge, not necessarily in chronological order:

- one of the NX packages didn't compile with gcc 3.4 - used gcc-config to switch to gcc 3.3.4
- "204 Authentication failed." error - I couldn't login as the user nx with publickey authentication. Solved by adding my private key (.ssh/id_dsa) to nx's $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys2
- some other problem with authentication - freenx assumes that your AuthorizedKeysFile is .ssh/authorized_keys2, mine was .ssh/authorized_keys. I changed my home dir and /etc/ssh/sshd_config to suit freenx's needs
- "bye" not a defined command - applied http://debian.tu-bs.de/knoppix/nx/nx-0.1-2.diff to nxserver
- libXcomp.so.1.4.0 found - this one was done in a really klugey way, and it might have broken something... symlinked libXcomp.so.1.4.0 -> libXcomp.so in /usr/NX/lib
- nxssh not found - changed nxssh to $NX_DIR/bin/nxssh on some line in either nxserver or nxnode, not sure which
- various other troubles - reinstalling nxserver-freenx and co. when I wasn't sure if a change I had made had caused bad stuff to happen
_________________
<laurentius> gentoo linux?
<ari> Yesh.
<laurentius> they look horny

d_f0rce · n00b Joined: 06 Oct 2002 Posts: 27

Hi,

I've installed nxserver-freenx from the ports and after some tweaking everything runs fine now.

I saw that this ebuild does not create a new dsa key for /usr/NX/share/client.id_dsa.key but uses a static one which is hard coded. Isn't this a HUGE security risk? Every Gentoo user can connect to the NX server of another gentoo user without being asked for a password. And if there ever is a bug in nxserver the host is easily cracked. This destroys the whole NX security conecpt, doesn't it?

The ebuild should create new keys or at least print a BIG warning that these keys should be replaced in a production environment.

UPDATE:
I created a bug report: https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=62912

Greets,
d_f0rce

StifflerStealth · Retired Dev Joined: 03 Jul 2002 Posts: 968

I cannot even use the portage ebuilds because the following happens:

djmaze · Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 12:32 am Post subject:

StifflerStealth · Retired Dev Joined: 03 Jul 2002 Posts: 968

Spearhead · n00b Joined: 30 Aug 2004 Posts: 7

jsaitoh · n00b Joined: 20 Jul 2003 Posts: 4

If anyone knows how to solve this... please enlighten me... I've been
trying everything mentioned on this board using the nxserver-freenx
ebuild.

The following are what I have done:

erlich · n00b Joined: 30 Jan 2004 Posts: 14

tried the ebuilds: didn't work. no nxsetup was installed (somehow)
tried the 'long way', and then nxsetup was there. done the whole process and it works like a charm!

thanks a lot!

djmaze · Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 11:11 am Post subject:

jsaitoh, please try running the nx* programs manually. I think this will show the problem.

elykyllek · Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 3:42 pm Post subject:

Just got an email announcing that FreeNX 0.2 it out.

http://debian.tu-bs.de/knoppix/nx/freenx-0.2.tar.gz

Heres the email from Fabian Franz <fabianfranz@gmx.de>:

StifflerStealth · Retired Dev Joined: 03 Jul 2002 Posts: 968

stuherbert · Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 8:51 pm Post subject:

I've currently package-masked all versions of nxserver (both commercial and freenx) until I've had the chance to test & document the security concern reported in https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=62912. That's why you've been having trouble emerging nxserver-freenx in the last 24 hours.

I've just committed an ebuild for FreeNX 0.2. It contains all the fixes suggested in here to date. Still doesn't work for me (although the commercial NXserver works nicely ;-)

. Should have some more time tomorrow to work on this.

Best regards,
Stu
_________________
--
stuart@gentoo.org
Gentoo Developer
Trustee, Gentoo Foundation
http://blog.stuartherbert.com

StifflerStealth · Retired Dev Joined: 03 Jul 2002 Posts: 968

jd5419 · Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 10:45 pm Post subject:

just a hint, dont use 1.4.0 nxclient, it gave me a problem i'm sticking with 1.3.2 :-D

worked fine with 1.3.2 but not with new it sayd somthing about bye and wouldnt work right

StifflerStealth · Retired Dev Joined: 03 Jul 2002 Posts: 968

I read about client version 1.4.0 not working right, but I will try it just to see if 0.2 has better compatibility. If not I can always downgrade the nxclient, or do I need to rebuild everything?

The new version 0.2 ebuild had the three dependecies and all those were built with no errors or warnings, but I have no nxsetup. What gives? Is nxsetup no longer needed with the new FreeNX 0.2 release? If not, then how do I set this up? Do I just need to run nxserver? I did a locate to try to find it, but it is not there. I am really new to FreeNX, as you can tell.

jd5419 · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 12:10 am Post subject:

me too and as i just get it set up i find 0.2 is out.

if anyone wants help getitng it to go (as i've made a few changes and kinda know whats going on) you can hit me up on aim jd880506 or other means if u want.

StifflerStealth · Retired Dev Joined: 03 Jul 2002 Posts: 968

Ok, I have no nxsetup, and when I do a nxserver --help, there is no option listed for add user. How do I get this thing going? Gah. *pulls hair out*

jd5419 · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 2:03 am Post subject:

i have it working and in fluxbox, but i open a xterm and it just sits there all white with no prompt per say... is thsi just me? is somthing messed up what do i have to change?

djmaze · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 9:00 am Post subject:

nxserver-0.2 uses PAM authentication, so everyone who is able to login via SSH to your machine should be able to connect to the NX server (with the same password)!

Ari Rahikkala · Guru Joined: 02 Oct 2002 Posts: 370 Location: Finland

I wish. That's exactly what has *me* stumped at the moment. I can log in as nx with publickey authentication just fine with SSH, but when I try to use nxclient, I get locked out. Now I could play around with strace... but I could also just hand-hack something that works out of the upstream sources... it seems that that has worked for oher people.
_________________
<laurentius> gentoo linux?
<ari> Yesh.
<laurentius> they look horny

StifflerStealth · Retired Dev Joined: 03 Jul 2002 Posts: 968

Ok, the server works, sort of. I guess the nxsetup is not needed for the ebuild version, because everything seems to be setup automatically. I can add a user now and nxserver was already running. I can get KDE in a 1024x768 window and it works fine.

However, I just want to run Thunderbird as a window. I have seen screenshots where programs like Kmail and Konqueror are running in a window. I try to run Thunderbird, and the program is in the upper left of the screen. when I try to move the window, Thunderbird stays in the same location, but the black box moves, so the program is out of the box area and gets cut off. I have the Display set to "Available Area", The Settings for the desktop is "Floating Window". The KDE Desktop window moves and KDE moves with it, so why does Thunderbird stay in the upperleft of my screen while the display box moves?

I hope I explained this well.

jd5419 · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 6:18 pm Post subject:

I have the new freenx yet i still have to continue using --adduser and its still in there, did i do somthing wrong?

he04 log # nxserver --version
NXSERVER - Version 1.4.0-02 OS_(GPL)
he04 log #

no?

he04 log # emerge search freenx
Searching...
[ Results for search key : freenx ]
[ Applications found : 1 ]

* net-misc/nxserver-freenx
Latest version available: 0.2
Latest version installed: 0.2
Size of downloaded files: 21 kB
Homepage: http://www.kalyxo.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/FreeNX
Description: X11 protocol compression library
License: GPL-2

he04 log #

where did i mess up?

jd5419 · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 6:53 pm Post subject:

OK i went from it working but being unsatisfied with the sessions not working so i had to go break it... anyway what does this mean?

Loop: WARNING! Ignoring unknown option 'listen' with value '37283'.
Warning: Ignoring unknown option 'listen' with value '37283'.

NXPROXY - Version 1.3.2

Copyright (C) 2001,2003 NoMachine.
See http://www.nomachine.com/ for more information.

Info: Proxy running in client mode with pid '29121'.
Error: Failed to resolve address of ''.
Error: Unknown remote host ''.