[X2Go-Dev] X2Go Client Windows binary 4.0.1.2pre01

[Stefan Baur]

Am 09.12.2013 00:21, schrieb Michael DePaulo:

>>> Are there any plans to split off a version for Windows XP
>>> compatibility, and to let the main version continue to get VcXsrv
>>> updates?
[...]

> Also, remember that the build instructions for X2Go Client for Windows
> consist of just installing VcXsrv to your program files folder and
> then copying and pasting VcXsrv's folder into the x2goclient folder.
> We do not link against VcXsrv. So feel free to replace the
> x2gofolder\VcXsrv folder with a newer version of VcXsrv. Doing so may
> not be officially supported by the X2Go project, but it is very likely
> to "just work"(TM).

There's a menu setting to use a custom X server, too.
So no one keeps you from using an older copy of VcXsrv by installing it 
to a different directory, then pointing the X2Go client to use that X 
server.

Whether or not that is a sane and safe thing to do, on the other hand ...

What might be more of a problem is libraries needed by x2goclient.exe 
itself (VCredist stuff) becoming unavailable for XP.

>> Given that Microsoft's XP security support ends in April 2014, I'm guessing
>> that X2Go support for XP could be dropped in May 2014.

> This is something that I wanted to discuss on this mailing list.
> Personally, I think it sounds like a "killer use case" of X2Go Client
> to use it on Windows XP machines after May 2014. The XP machines could
> be secured by sysadmins by having their firewall turned on (to allow
> no incoming traffic), and their unpatched apps like IE blocked. The XP
> machines could then be used securely as dumb clients to X2Go Servers
> or RDP servers running Firefox, office suites, etc with all the latest
> patches installed. Of course, the machines could just be reformatted
> to run Linux. But many sysadmins are less comfortable with Linux, or
> their ill-informed bosses might order them to not reformat any XP
> machines.

The problem with running XP past its expiration date is that a 
(software) firewall setting on the particular XP machine itself might 
not protect you from all evil.
All it needs for that is a bug in the firewall code itself that chokes 
on a particularly crafted packet - and Microsoft will neither actively 
look for such bugs in XP's firewall, nor develop/deploy patches for it 
past April 2014.

The smart move, if you can't upgrade to a newer version of Windows, 
would be to go the Terminal Services route - for both Windows and Linux 
applications - and run the Clients as dumb terminals, possibly even 
without reformatting them, but by having them boot X2Go 
ThinClientEdition via PXE. From there, you can access RDP and X2Go sessions.

Similar to how X2Go Server packages for Lenny are still occasionally 
receiving updates thanks to companies contracting X2Go core developers, 
I would suggest that if a company insists on running XP past April 2014 
and needs a working X2Go client, they should contract one of the 
developers to build a modified x2goclient.exe for them.

And who knows, some of my customers might even do that, we'll see.

-Stefan