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Constantin Kaplinskyb30ae7f2006-05-25 05:04:46 +00001.TH vncserver 1 "17 Apr 2006" "TightVNC" "Virtual Network Computing"
2.SH NAME
3vncserver \- start or stop a VNC server
4.SH SYNOPSIS
5.B vncserver
6.RI [: display# ]
7.RB [ \-name
8.IR desktop-name ]
9.RB [ \-geometry
10.IR width x height ]
11.RB [ \-depth
12.IR depth ]
13.RB [ \-pixelformat
14.IR format ]
15.RI [ Xvnc-options... ]
16.br
17.BI "vncserver \-kill :" display#
18.SH DESCRIPTION
19.B vncserver
20is used to start a VNC (Virtual Network Computing) desktop.
21.B vncserver
22is a Perl script which simplifies the process of starting an Xvnc server. It
23runs Xvnc with appropriate options and starts some X applications to be
24displayed in the VNC desktop.
25
26.B vncserver
27can be run with no options at all. In this case it will choose the first
28available display number (usually :1), start Xvnc as that display, and run a
29couple of basic applications to get you started. You can also specify the
30display number, in which case it will use that number if it is available and
31exit if not, eg:
32
33.RS
34vncserver :13
35.RE
36
37Editing the file $HOME/.vnc/xstartup allows you to change the applications run
38at startup (but note that this will not affect an existing desktop).
39
40.SH OPTIONS
41You can get a list of options by giving \fB\-h\fP as an option to vncserver.
42In addition to the options listed below, any unrecognised options will be
43passed to Xvnc - see the Xvnc man page, or "Xvnc \-help" for details.
44
45.TP
46.B \-name \fIdesktop-name\fP
47Each desktop has a name which may be displayed by the viewer. It defaults to
48"\fIhost\fP:\fIdisplay#\fP (\fIusername\fP)" but you can change it with this
49option. It is passed in to the xstartup script via the $VNCDESKTOP environment
50variable, allowing you to run a different set of applications according to the
51name of the desktop.
52
53.TP
54.B \-geometry \fIwidth\fPx\fIheight\fP
55Specify the size of the desktop to be created. Default is 1024x768.
56
57.TP
58.B \-depth \fIdepth\fP
59Specify the pixel depth in bits of the desktop to be created. Default is 16,
60other possible values are 8, 15 and 24 - anything else is likely to cause
61strange behaviour by applications.
62
63.TP
64.B \-pixelformat \fIformat\fP
65Specify pixel format for server to use (BGRnnn or RGBnnn). The default for
66depth 8 is BGR233 (meaning the most significant two bits represent blue, the
67next three green, and the least significant three represent red), the default
68for depth 16 is RGB565 and for depth 24 is RGB888.
69
70.TP
71.B \-cc 3
72As an alternative to the default TrueColor visual, this allows you to run an
73Xvnc server with a PseudoColor visual (i.e. one which uses a color map or
74palette), which can be useful for running some old X applications which only
75work on such a display. Values other than 3 (PseudoColor) and 4 (TrueColor)
76for the \-cc option may result in strange behaviour, and PseudoColor desktops
77must be 8 bits deep.
78
79.TP
80.B \-kill :\fIdisplay#\fP
81This kills a VNC desktop previously started with vncserver. It does this by
82killing the Xvnc process, whose process ID is stored in the file
83"$HOME/.vnc/\fIhost\fP:\fIdisplay#\fP.pid". It actually ignores anything
84preceding a ":" in its argument. This can be useful so you can write
85"vncserver \-kill $DISPLAY", for example at the end of your xstartup file after
86a particular application exits.
87
88.SH FILES
89Several VNC-related files are found in the directory $HOME/.vnc:
90.TP
91$HOME/.vnc/xstartup
92A shell script specifying X applications to be run when a VNC desktop is
93started. If it doesn't exist, vncserver will create a new one which runs a
94couple of basic applications.
95.TP
96$HOME/.vnc/passwd
97The VNC password file.
98.TP
99$HOME/.vnc/\fIhost\fP:\fIdisplay#\fP.log
100The log file for Xvnc and applications started in xstartup.
101.TP
102$HOME/.vnc/\fIhost\fP:\fIdisplay#\fP.pid
103Identifies the Xvnc process ID, used by the
104.B \-kill
105option.
106
107.SH SEE ALSO
108.BR vncviewer (1),
109.BR vncpasswd (1),
110.BR vncconfig (1),
111.BR Xvnc (1)
112.br
113http://www.tightvnc.com
114
115.SH AUTHOR
116Tristan Richardson, RealVNC Ltd.
117
118VNC was originally developed by the RealVNC team while at Olivetti
119Research Ltd / AT&T Laboratories Cambridge. TightVNC additions was
120implemented by Constantin Kaplinsky. Many other people participated in
121development, testing and support.