pyhoca-gui - graphical X2Go client applet written in Python

Author

       This manual has been written for the X2Go project by Mike Gabriel <mike.gabriel@das-netzwerkteam.de>.

Version 0.6.1.1                                     Jan 2020                                       pyhoca-gui(1)

Backend Options

pyhoca-gui supports transparent use of different data backends. For configuration three backends are com‐
       mon:  FILE, GCONF (Linux only) and WINREG (Windows only). The default backend currently is the FILE back‐
       end on all platforms.

       For client-server communication the only yet implemented backend is the STDOUT backend  (as  X2Go  server
       commands  print their execution results to /dev/stdout. (But other communication backends might be possi‐
       ble in the future...).

       In the same way we are focusing on a successor of the current NX3 agent/proxy tool. A change in the proxy
       backend will also be implemented as a backend.

       --backend-controlsession<CONTROLSESSION_BACKEND>
              Force usage of a certain CONTROLSESSION_BACKEND (do not use this unless you know exactly what  you
              are doing).

       --backend-terminalsession<TERMINALSESSION_BACKEND>
              Force usage of a certain TERMINALSESSION_BACKEND (do not use this unless you know exactly what you
              are doing).

       --backend-serversessioninfo<SERVERSESSIONINFO_BACKEND>
              Force  usage  of a certain SERVERSESSIONINFO_BACKEND (do not use this unless you know exactly what
              you are doing).

       --backend-serversessionlist<SERVERSESSIONLIST_BACKEND>
              Force usage of a certain SERVERSESSIONLIST_BACKEND (do not use this unless you know  exactly  what
              you are doing).

       --backend-proxy<PROXY_BACKEND>
              Force  usage  of a certain PROXY_BACKEND (do not use this unless you know exactly what you are do‐
              ing).

       --backend-sessionprofiles<SESSIONPROFILES_BACKEND>
              Use given backend for accessing session profiles, available backends on Linux:  FILES,  GCONF;  on
              Windows: FILES, WINREG.

       --backend-clientsettings<CLIENTSETTINGS_BACKEND>
              Use  given  backend  for accessing the client settings configuration, available backends on Linux:
              FILES, GCONF; on Windows: FILES, WINREG.

       --backend-clientprinting<CLIENTPRINTING_BACKEND>
              Use given backend for accessing the client printing configuration, available  backends  on  Linux:
              FILES, GCONF; on Windows: FILES, WINREG.

Branding Options

The pyhoca-gui provides some features that allow one to easily brand its appearance. Here are some op‐
tions for tweaking the pyhoca-gui appearance and behaviour.

--splash-image<your-splash-image>
Define an alternative splash image that gets shown on application startup (PNG files only, full
path or filename as found in <share>/img).

--about-image<your-about-window-image>
Define an alternative image for the application's ,,About'' window (PNG files only, full path or
filename as found in <share>/img). For those who distribute a customized version of this applica‐
tion: As PyHoca-GUI and its backend Python X2Go are licensed under AGPL, the ,,About'' window is a
good place for placing the download location of your modified version of the source code.

--disable-splash
Do not show the application's splash screen.

--disable-options
Grey-out the ,,Options'' menu item and thus disable the client configuration window.

--disable-printingprefs
Grey-out the ,,Printing Preferences'' menu item and thus disable the client's printing preferences
window.

--disable-profilemanager
Grey-out the profile manager menu items and thus disable all profile management functionalities.

--disable-notifications
Disable all applet notifications.

--logon-window-position<x-pos>x<y-pos>
Give a custom position for the logon window, use negative values to position relative to
right/bottom border.

--published-applications-no-submenus<number>
The number of published applications that will be rendered without submenus.

Brokerage Options

       In case you want to retrieve X2Go session profiles from an X2Go Session Broker use the following options:

       --broker-url=<URL>
              Specify the <URL> of the X2Go Session Broker. pyhoca-gui can access http(s)://  and  ssh://  style
              URLs.

              Syntax of <URL> for HTTP brokerage:

              http(s)://<user>:<password>@<hostname>:<port>/path/to/broker

              Syntax of <URL> for  SSH brokerage:

              ssh://<user>:<password>@<hostname>:<port>/usr/bin/x2gobroker  (or any executable that provides the
              broker via SSH).

              As a special <URL> you can type "HTTP" or "SSH" and then the application will provide a login win‐
              dow with a pre-formatted / schematic URL.

       --broker-password<password>
              Session broker password for retrieving session profiles from the X2Go Session Broker.  The cleart‐
              ext password that has been specified at the command  line  will  be  masqueraded  in  the  systems
              process  list (Linux, MacOS). On Windows systems the usage of the --broker-password option is for‐
              bidden.

       --broker-name<broker-name>
              Provide a human readable name for the session broker. This name overrides the default broker  name
              ("X2Go Session Broker") in the application's menus and notification bubbles.

       --broker-cacertfileCACERT_FILE
              For  https://  brokers  with SSL certificates that have been signed against a self-signed root-CA,
              use this command line option to point to the self-signed root-CA certificate file.

       --broker-autoconnect
              If this command line option is given the session broker authentication dialog will appear  on  ap‐
              plication startup.

Common Options

pyhoca-gui accepts the following common options:

       -h,--help
              Display a help with all available command line options and exit.

       -V,--version
              Output version information and exit.

       -d,--quiet
              No output to stdout at all! Use this option on Windows!!!

       -d,--debug
              Enable debugging output.

       --libdebug
              Enable debugging code of the unterlying Python X2Go module.

       --libdebug-sftpxfer
              Enable  debugging  code  of  Python  X2Go's sFTP server code (very verbose, and it may even reveal
              promiscuous data).

Description

pyhoca-gui  is a cross-platform (Windows, MacOS X, Linux) graphical X2Go client applet that docks to your
       desktop's system tray.

       From your desktop's system tray you can start/resume/share pre-configured X2Go sessions. You  can  manage
       the pre-configured session profiles in the X2Go profile manager and also configure the basic setup of py‐hoca-gui.

       pyhoca-gui  uses  the  same set of config files (settings, printing and sessions in ~/.x2goclient) as the
       original X2Go Client application (by Heinz-M. Graesing and Oleksandr Schneyder) does.

       On Windows systems pyhoca-gui uses the same set of Windows registry keys and values as the original  X2Go
       Client application.

       See the included README and TODO for further information on pyhoca-gui.

Name

       pyhoca-gui - graphical X2Go client applet written in Python

Portable Options

--client-rootdir<CLIENT_ROOTDIR>
              Define  an  alternative  location  where  to  find plain text config files (default: <HOME>/.x2go‐
              client).  This option will set ,,--backend-profiles FILE'', ,,--backend-clientsettings FILE''  and
              ,,--backend-clientprinting FILE''

       --sessions-rootdir<SESSIONS_ROOTDIR>
              Define an alternative location for session runtime files (default: <HOME>/.x2go).

       --ssh-rootdir<SSH_ROOTDIR>
              Define an alternative location for user SSH files (default: <HOME>/.ssh).

Session Related Options

-P,--session-profile
The name of the session profile to be used to make the connection. You can actually pass a komma-
separated list of session profile names to this option.

--remember-username
For profiles with interactive authentication, remember the last-used username.

--non-interactive
Run in non-interactive mode. This option requires the --session-profile option. It also sets the
following options to true automagically:

--restricted-trayicon--single_session_profile--start-on-connect--resume-all-on-connect--exit-on-disconnect--disconnect-on-suspend--disconnect-on-terminate--auto-connect
Connect sessions via SSH public key authentication on application startup, if possible.

--show-profile-metatypes
Show descriptive meta information on session profiles in menus (NOTE: this makes menus appear a
bit more sluggish, use it mostly for debugging).

--single-session-profile
Disable support of handling multiple session profiles. Use together with the --session-profile
cmdline parameter.

--tray-icon<your-logo>
Define an alternative system tray icon file (PNG files only, leave out file extension here, size
22x22 on Linux, 16x16 on Windows).

--tray-icon-connecting<your-logo-while-connecting>
Define an alternative system tray icon file while connecting to a server (PNG files only, leave
out file extension here, size 22x22 on Linux, 16x16 on Windows).

--restricted-trayicon
Restrict functionality of pyhoca-gui's main session manager icon that is shown in the notification
area / system tray. This switch limits the icon 's functionality to a right-click menu that allows
one to raise the ,,About'' window and exit the application. On left-click only a minimal session
menu is shown.

--add-to-known-hosts
Automatically add host key fingerprint to .ssh/known_hosts in case of "authenticity of server
can't be established" (without user interaction).

Handle this option with care: Using it lessens the security/integrity of your SSH client setup.

--start-on-connect
DEPRECATED: Start a session directly after authentication (only if no suspended sessions are
available). This switch is now fully controlled from within the session profiles. This option it‐
self remains here for compatibility with older versions of PyHoca-GUI.

--exit-on-disconnect
Exit pyhoca-gui cleanly once a session has been disconnected.

--resume-on-connect,--resume-newest-on-connect
DEPRECATED: After authentication directly auto-resume the newest available running/suspended ses‐
sion. This switch is now fully controlled from within the session profiles, resuming the newest
session is the hard-coded default. However, you can influence the resuming behaviour with the next
two command line options. This option itself remains here for compatibility with older versions of
PyHoca-GUI.

--resume-oldest-on-connect
After authentication directly auto-resume the oldest available running/suspended session.

--resume-all-on-connect
After authentication directly auto-resume all available running/suspended session.

--disconnect-on-suspend
Disconnect from a server if a session on that server has been suspended.

--disconnect-on-terminate
Disconnect from a server if a session on that server has been terminated.

--display<hostname>:<screennumber>
Set the DISPLAY environment variable to <hostname>:<screennumber>.

Synopsis

pyhoca-gui [ options ]

Windows Options

       There are some options that are only available on Windows:

       --start-xserver
              Start  an  XServer (if available) before starting pyhoca-gui. The application will detect the best
              suitable XServer automatically, if more than one XServer is installed on  your  system  (currently
              known: Xming, Cygwin-X).

       --preferred-xserver<XSERVER_NAME>
              Start  either  of  the  currently supported XServers: Xming, Cygwin-X and VcXsrv -- make sure your
              preferred XServer is installed on your system (default and recommended is VcXsrv).

       --start-pulseaudio
              Start the PulseAudio server before starting pyhoca-gui. This option is needed to  get  X2Go  audio
              working. However, it is not enabled by default.

       --lang[en|de|nl|es]
              Select the GUI language.