vnc-box

vnc.sh

#!/bin/bash

#launch_screen()
#{
#	# Xvfb + x11vnc
#
#	(
#		screen=$1
#
#		Xvfb :$screen -screen 0 1024x768x24 &
#		while ! netstat -tulpen | grep ":$((6000 + screen)).*LISTEN.*Xvfb"
#		do
#			sleep 1
#		done
#		x11vnc -display :$screen -N -shared -forever
#	) &
#}

launch_screen()
{
	# Requires tightvnc or tigervnc but is a lot faster

	(
		screen=$1

		Xvnc :$screen \
			-geometry 1024x768 -depth 24 \
			-alwaysshared
	) &
}

launch_program()
{
	# Run a command in the given screen and try to isolate it as much as
	# possible by building a new temporary home directory. This is
	# necessary for a lot of "modern" software that tries to detect if
	# it's already running (yes, it may be, but on another screen!).

	(
		screen=$1
		cmd=$2

		new_home=$(mktemp -d)

		shopt -s dotglob
		cp -av ~/* "$new_home"

		env -i HOME="$new_home" DISPLAY=":$screen" \
			XDG_DATA_HOME="$new_home/.local/share" \
			XDG_CONFIG_HOME="$new_home/.config" \
			XDG_CACHE_HOME="$new_home/.cache" \
			sh -c "openbox& openbox=\$!; cd; { $cmd; }; kill \$openbox"

		rm -Rfv "$new_home"
	) &
}

initial_session_and_stuff()
{
	for i in {1..20}
	do
		launch_screen $i
	done

	launch_program 1 "xterm"
	launch_program 2 "chromium-browser --kiosk --disable-translate google.de"
	launch_program 3 "chromium-browser --kiosk --disable-translate heise.de"
	launch_program 4 "chromium-browser --disable-translate heise.de & xterm"
	launch_program 5 "firefox http://github.com/vain"

	wait
}

# Run this script with the following argument to get things running (I
# do this in /etc/rc.local). Afterwards, you can simply source it in
# your interactive shell and use launch_program() interactively.
if [[ $1 == initial ]]
then
	initial_session_and_stuff
fi

chromium-browser --kiosk is fscked up in Ubuntu 14.04 because Chromium now uses its own "Aura" instead of Gtk. Aura throws errors in a VNC environment:

[14637:14637:0503/120740:ERROR:desktop_window_tree_host_x11.cc(1229)] Not implemented reached in void views::DesktopWindowTreeHostX11::MapWindow(ui::WindowShowState)
[14637:14637:0503/120740:ERROR:fullscreen_aura.cc(15)] Not implemented reached in bool IsFullScreenMode()

Chromium runs, only kiosk mode is broken.

Might be an alternative: dwb -x fullscreen -x bars www.some-url.com (as long as you don't use it interactively... dwb has a keyboard-driven vi-style interface)

An interesting alternative to Xvfb: http://xpra.org/trac/wiki/Xdummy -- stock X with a dummy driver, RANDR works

Got tired of full-blown browsers. They're not made for this job.

vain/bin-pub@abcbab4