[X2go-dev] pending/x2godropbox patch

Tue Apr 19 11:54:20 CEST 2011

Hi Heinz,

while you wrote this mail I have parallely posted a mail that  
partially covers your questions. I will cross-reference wherever  
suitable.

On Di 19 Apr 2011 11:12:16 CEST "Heinz-M. Graesing" wrote:

> Hello Mike,
>
> Am 18.04.2011 10:25, schrieb Mike Gabriel:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> On Di 12 Apr 2011 18:08:26 CEST Mike Gabriel wrote:
>>
>>> Another hi-devs,
>>>
>>> I would also like to see my dropbox patch (needed for the X2goDropbox
>>> in Pyhoca-GUI) in the x2gomountdirs script of x2goserver/master. If I
>>> do not here a veto within the next four days, I will push the patch
>>> to  code.x2go.org...
>
> I don't want to comment on how this patch got into our git, I'm really
> interested that it is introduced the right way. As we really do have a
> lack of work flow how to WISH new features and what needs to be done to
> apply such wished features to the core components, this is one of the
> ways it can be done. Nevertheless it would be nice to introduce every
> step on our mailing list with a regarding topic.

I have done some googling right now and indeed the WISH for this patch  
has not yet been posted to this list. I though I had done so. Sorry  
for that. What happened is that Heinz and I have corresponded  
privately (mail, phone) on this, but that does not count in the  
community context of the project. So, this is indeed my fault and lack  
of presence. I apologize for this.

> As this is a feature which doesn’t cooperate with our main components at
> the moment and it is not an announced feature of the upcoming release, I
> do have some questions to ask:

It is correct that it does not cooperate, but it neither does  
interfere with x2goclient.

> Can you please describe for everybody what this patch is doing and how
> it can be used with x2goclient and x2goserver?

I have partially done this in the mail I already sent some minutes  
ago, but I will do it in more detail here...
http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.linux.terminal-server.x2go.devel/1853

The server-side patch only adds some code to x2gomountdirs that  
provides a mimebox (formerly: dropbox) in the .x2go session directory:

   $SERVER_HOME/.x2go/C-<session_id>/mimebox

[[[
Compare:

   $SERVER_HOME/.x2go/C-<session_id>/spool
]]]

This ,,folder'', similar to the spool ,,folder'', is actually a  
symlink that points to /tmp/mimebox_<user>/<session_id>. However, at  
this latter location an SSHFS share is mounted that connects this  
server-side location to a corresponding folder on the X2go client  
(PyHoca-GUI in this case):

   $CLIENT_HOME/.x2go/S-<session_id>/mimebox

Very similar to the spool SSHFS share you can place any file you like  
into this folder (from the server perspective). This might be a  
security problem for both mechanisms (spool, mimebox) and we should  
see if we have to and how to address both.

However, the Python-X2go module (that processes incoming MIME box  
files) already has a hard-coded blacklist for file extensions (.exe,  
.bat, .com, ...) so that the client will deny the processing of a  
couple of file types by default. This blacklist is currently only  
extension-based and this indeed can be improved, but this concerns the  
Python-X2go code not the x2goserver code and should be discussed in a  
separate thread once the MIME box feature has been accepted by all.

Additionally, you can configure a white-list of file extensions in the  
session profile manager of PyHoca-GUI. This white-list will be stored  
in the ~/.x2goclient/sessions file:

   usemimebox = 1
   mimeboxextensions = ODT,ODS,PDF
   mimeboxaction = OPEN

Note: currently, both clients x2goclient and PyHoca-GUI can co-exist  
using the same ~/.x2goclient/sessions file. Either client does simply  
ignore the other client's options (I discovered this by coincidence  
and was very happy about that). If I edit a session profile with  
PyHoca-GUI it does not overwrite options only available in x2goclient  
and vice versa. Only if you run both clients at a time then you might  
get in trouble.

For the Windows client: the PyHoca-GUI windows client does not (yet)  
have WinREG support. Thus, it stores is configs as files, very similar  
to the Linux client. But my objective is to add WinREG support for  
PyHoca-GUI soon. You will be able to choose the session profile  
backend (FILE, WINREG, ...) on the command-line.

> I really would be glad to see this feature discussed first, whether
> applied without a discussion about its main purpose and its security
> concerns (check of executable files,...).

Heinz, I love to dicuss features. My recent problem has been that I  
experienced a lack of responsiveness from yours and Alex side.

On the X2go roadmap (wiki.x2go.org/roadmap) there has been a feedback  
on the X2goDropbox patch pending for weeks without any resonance.  
Additionally, I have also asked you personally to comment on that  
which has neither happened in public till today. However, as stated  
above, I have not discussed it on the ML in detail so far. I should  
have done that.

> I also would really like to discuss the name used for this feature. As
> we already have trademark issues with our project name, I'm not
> satisfied to see this name inside our projects namespace.

I have changed this from X2go Dropbox to X2go MIME box.

> If this feature is interesting for x2gousers we should make sure it can
> be used and applied as well to our main components as to the alternative
> pyhoca client.

As I am not a C coder I can only provide conceptual ideas but it would  
take me a tremendous amount of time to code it in C(++). Any help I  
can give I will provide.

> Furthermore it would be nice if you (Mike) can point out, if you want
> this patch implemented as a patch - so every interested user can apply
> it to his target -

No!

> or if you want to have it as part of the main
> distribution as it can be understand by using the "main" tag.

Yes!

Thanks for addressing your concerns in public!!!!
Mike

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