[X2go-Dev] Building nx-libs (nx-X11) from tarballs

[Mike Gabriel]

Hi John,

On Sa 07 Jan 2012 21:11:51 CET John Williams wrote:

> 1) nx-libs must still be built against the nx-X11 source

This is not a must, but highly recommended if the resulting binaries  
should behave in a stable way.

> 2) no one has successfully built and used the nx-libs with x2goserver
> from the tarballs at http://code.x2go.org/releases/source/

Please note, that X2Go is not ,,upstream'' for the NX code. Please  
retrieve NX related sources from
http://www.nomachine.com/sources.php

The NX 3.5 build instructions can be found here:
http://www.nomachine.com/documents/technology/building-components-3.x.php

Unfortunately, there was some confusion earlier about NoMachine's  
activity on the 3.5 version of NX code. The latest upstream releases,  
however, show that NoMachine is still actively maintaining NX 3.5,  
although with lower priority than the 4.0 branch development.

What you find with our nx-libs.git repository on X2Go Git is a  
git-clone of the Debian packaging repository on git.debian.org (Debian  
Alioth Packaging Team).
http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/x2go/nx-libs.git;a=summary

For Debian packaging we have quite a huge set of Debian patches for  
upstream that we apply before building the sources (and packaging).  
Some patches are distro (i.e. Debian) specific and some are upstream  
source fixes. The patches are partially taken from the X2Go project,  
partially from the FreeNX project, partially from old Debian/Ubuntu  
packages. The upstream relevant patches have been reported upstream  
(that is: to the NoMachine developers) and I currently wait (and hope)  
for feedback about upstream inclusion.

> then I guess there currently does not exist a stable release of
> x2goserver that can be built from source tarballs.

What currently is still missing is a rework of the x2goagent source  
tree. x2goagent is a fork of NoMachine's nxagent. It contains code  
improvements, X2Go adaptations and branding (the X2GO session startup  
splash screen).

Currently, the source tree of x2goagent contains a complete nx-X11,  
X2Go'ized nxagent and nxauth. For inclusion of x2goagent into any  
Linux distribution the requirement is that x2goagent gets reworked  
into an as-minimal-as-possible source tree as possible. This new  
x2goagent then has to be able to build against NoMachine sources.

> In that case, perhaps I can assist with getting a stable source
> tarball release together, but I will need some assistance.

What I think is worth the effort is providing build-from-tarball  
capabilities within the Debian packaging Git repository (see above,  
the one that is clone on X2Go Git). I am happy to improve the  
packaging project in the way that a tarball export of it will build  
with make && make install. However, one precondition is that we use  
the quilt patch system to apply patches for upstream.

> Am I correct that the only stable release of x2goserver (and
> dependencies) that currently exists is in the Debian squeeze x2go
> repository, and for x2goagent to be stable it must be used with the
> nx-libs from the squeeze/heuler repository?

Not exactly. Currently there are dirty-built NX+x2goagent packages in  
the stable X2Go main package repository (for Debian lenny, squeeze,  
wheezy, sid). So, it should be possible to install an x2goserver for  
Debian. If not, please file a bug report on the x2go-dev list.

With Ubuntu the situation is different. The NX packages in the stable  
Ubuntu ppa are a couple of months old and buggy. My current  
recommendation is to declare the latest nx-libs.git as stable (which  
it seems to be).

> If that is correct,

... not quite...

> than who built the nx-libs that are in the
> squeeze/heuler repository? I would like to get a summary of how those
> were built, and from what sources.

Please read the Git history if nx-libs.git. Sources are taken from  
NoMachine. The whole Git project should document everything by itself.

Greets,
Mike

-- 

DAS-NETZWERKTEAM
mike gabriel, dorfstr. 27, 24245 barmissen
fon: +49 (4302) 281418, fax: +49 (4302) 281419

GnuPG Key ID 0xB588399B
mail: mike.gabriel at das-netzwerkteam.de, http://das-netzwerkteam.de

freeBusy:
https://mail.das-netzwerkteam.de/freebusy/m.gabriel%40das-netzwerkteam.de.xfb
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 490 bytes
Desc: Digitale PGP-Unterschrift
URL: <http://lists.x2go.org/pipermail/x2go-dev/attachments/20120108/36e189b9/attachment.pgp>