How to get x11vnc to run at startup on openSuSE 12.1

Question

I'm trying to get x11vnc to run at startup with openSuse but not having much luck. Here's what I did so far.

I edited /etc/X11/xdm/Xsetup and added the following lines to the end, right before exit 0:

#run x11vnc automatically
/usr/bin/x11vnc -rfbauth /usr/bin/vnc/passwd -o /var/log/x11vnc.log -forever -bg

I created the `/usr/bin/vnc/passwd file using:

sudo x11vnc -storepasswd /usr/bin/vnc/passwd

When I reboot, I do a ps -A | grep x11 and do not see the process running. I also see no /var/log/x11vnc.log file created. I can run the command from bash directory and it works fine. I have a feeling this script is never getting run at startup.

I also created a new file called /etc/kde4/kdm/Xsetup and put the two lines from above in there, and same behavior.

The file permissions are:

-rw------- 1 root root 8 Apr 26 22:26 /usr/bin/vnc/passwd
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5691 Apr 26 22:01 /etc/X11/xdm/Xsetup

Any ideas?

UPDATE

I've even tried just echo'ing Hello World to a text file in Xsetup which also does nothing. It seems this script simply doesn't get run at boot.

UPDATE 2:

I upgraded to 12.1, however none of my attempts have worked either.

Answer 1

Here is what I could find, either should work:

---

To fix x11vnc:

Enter these commands at a console as the user:

mkdir ~/.vnc
x11vnc -storepasswd "password" ~/.vnc/passwd

Put this in the ~/.x11vncrc file replacing user with your username:

display :0
rfbauth /home/user/.vnc/passwd
forever
bg

Now to autostart it each time the user logs in:

ln -s /usr/bin/x11vnc ~/.kde/Autostart/x11vnc

Now reboot or restart the desktop session.

(src)

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YaST:

From the KDE desktop, select the YaST icon, enter the root password, and select OK; then select Network Services > Remote Administration.

Select Allow Remote Administration; then select Finish

(src)

Answer 2

Revert /etc/X11/xdm/Xsetup back to it's original state (remove your edits). This is not being called during system boot.

Add your startup line /usr/bin/x11vnc -rfbauth /usr/bin/vnc/passwd -o /var/log/x11vnc.log -forever -bg to the file /etc/init.d/after.local.

Unless you want write a compliant init script that starts/stops/restarts the x11vnc process (which is possible but beyond the scope of this answer), you should place any processes you want to execute on boot in /etc/init.d/after.local.

Note: On RedHat systems, this would go in rc.local. SUSE uses before.local (execute before the init scripts) and after.local (execute after the init scripts).

Answer 3

I don't have a SuSE 11 install in front of me to check.

Uther's on the right track - but you need to get the program to start AFTER X11 has been started.

I don't know for sure if it CAN work if just X is running - would you WANT it to be run if, for example, "guest" logged in via the X-window login screen?

With 12, SuSE changes all of the startup script stuff, so you may just want to upgrade, then fix it on 12:

http://news.opensuse.org/2011/12/22/systemd-%E2%80%93-boot-faster-and-cleaner-with-opensuse-12-1/

As a general goal, you'll want to figure out what's actually running as your "login screen" under X (probably gdm - http://projects.gnome.org/gdm/ ) and how that got fired up. Wherever it's getting run, you'll want to run your x11vnc either directly before or directly after that.