1XPRA(1) General Commands Manual XPRA(1)
2
6 xpra - viewer for remote, persistent X applications
7
9 xpra start [CONNECTIONSTRING] | xpra start-desktop [CONNECTIONSTRING]
10 [OPTIONS..]
11 xpra attach [CONNECTIONSTRING] [OPTIONS..]
12 xpra shadow [CONNECTIONSTRING] [OPTIONS..]
13 xpra proxy [:DISPLAY] [OPTIONS..]
14 xpra stop | xpra exit | xpra detach | xpra screenshot filename | xpra
15 version | xpra info [CONNECTIONSTRING] | xpra top [CONNECTION‐
16 STRING] [OPTIONS..]
17 xpra control [CONNECTIONSTRING] command [arguments..] [--ssh=CMD]
18 [--remote-xpra=CMD] [--socket-dir=DIR] [--socket-dirs=DIRS]
19 xpra displays [:DISPLAY]
20 xpra clean-displays [:DISPLAY]
21 xpra list [--socket-dir=DIR]
22 xpra list-sessions [--socket-dir=DIR]
23 xpra list-windows [--socket-dir=DIR]
24 xpra shell [CONNECTIONSTRING]
25 xpra showconfig [OPTIONS..]
26 xpra showsetting [SETTING1..]
27 xpra list-mdns
28 xpra docs
29 xpra html5
30 xpra upgrade [:DISPLAY] [...any options accepted by xpra start...]
31 xpra upgrade-desktop [:DISPLAY] [...any options accepted by xpra start-
32 desktop...]
33 xpra recover [:DISPLAY] [...any options accepted by xpra start...]
34
36 Xpra is a tool which allows you to run X programs — usually on a remote
37 host — and then direct their display to your local machine, disconnect
38 from these programs, and reconnect from the same or another machine,
39 all without losing any state. It differs from standard X forwarding in
40 that it allows disconnection and reconnection without disrupting the
41 forwarded application; it differs from VNC and similar remote display
42 technologies in that xpra can run rootless: i.e., applications for‐
43 warded by xpra appear on your desktop as normal windows managed by your
44 window manager, rather than being all "trapped in a box together".
45 Xpra also uses a custom protocol that is self-tuning and relatively la‐
46 tency-insensitive, and thus is usable over network connections that are
47 too slow or unreliable for standard X forwarding. Xpra can also be
48 used to shadow an existing X11 display, or in desktop mode where it be‐
49 haves more like VNC.
50 By default the Xpra server announces available sessions (username and
52 display number) via mDNS to the local network. Use mdns=no to disable
53 it.
54
56 Xpra supports many types of connection strings (some may require extra
57 packages to be installed):
58 :DISPLAY[,OPTIONS]
60 Local displays: this is the simplest form and is only valid for the
61 current local displays of the current user.
62 tcp://[[USERNAME]:[PASSWORD]@]HOST:PORT[/DISPLAY][?OPTIONS]
64 TCP mode uses port numbers and not display numbers. If multiple dis‐
65 plays are available through a single TCP port (ie: using a proxy
66 server), then one can also specify the display number after the port
67 number.
68 ssl://[[USERNAME]:[PASSWORD]@]HOST:PORT[/DISPLAY][?OPTIONS]
70 SSL adds a secure socket layer on top of the TCP mode.
71 vsock://[[USERNAME]:[PASSWORD]@]HOST:PORT[/?OPTIONS]
73 Almost identical to the TCP mode, but using AF_VSOCK for transport.
74 ws://[[USERNAME]:[PASSWORD]@]HOST:PORT/[DISPLAY][?OPTIONS]
76 Connect using websocket protocol.
77 wss://[[USERNAME]:[PASSWORD]@]HOST:PORT/[DISPLAY][?OPTIONS]
79 Connect using secure websocket protocol. (websocket with SSL)
80 ssh://[[USERNAME]:[PASSWORD]@]HOST[:SSH_PORT]/[DISPLAY][?OPTIONS]
82 Connect using secure shell. (SSH)
83 Further SSH options can be specified using the --ssh command line op‐
85 tion. The OPTIONS can be used to specify an ssh proxy:
86 ?proxy=ssh://[USERNAME[:PASSWORD]@]HOST[:SSH_PORT] xpra will then es‐
87 tablish an SSH connection to the specified "proxy" host, and from that
88 host xpra will set up an SSH connection to the xpra server.
89 For backwards compatibility, SSH mode also supports the syntax:
92 ssh:[USERNAME[:PASSWORD]@]HOST:DISPLAY but this form does not support
93 specifying the SSH port number. Older versions also used the form pro‐
94 tocol:host:port, but users are encouraged to move to a more standard
95 URI format using :// as separator.
96 The password need only be specified when the server authentication mod‐
98 ule requires it.
99 vnc://[[USERNAME]:[PASSWORD]@]HOST[:VNC_PORT]/
101 Connect using ther RFB protocol. (aka VNC) This mode only works against
102 VNC servers or an xpra server in desktop or shadow mode.
103
105 xpra start :7
106 Start an xpra server using display number :7. Note: using DIS‐
107 PLAY=:7 xterm to start applications against a specific display is
108 not recommended. Always prefer using xpra's --start= command line
109 option instead. See this next example:
110 xpra start --start=firefox
112 Start an xpra server, choosing a display automatically and start
113 firefox on that virtual display. No window will appear until you
114 attach with xpra attach. The start child commands will inherit an
115 environment tailored for running under xpra.
116 xpra start ssh://bigbox/7 --start=xterm
118 Start an xpra server on bigbox with an xterm in it, and connect to
119 it.
120 xpra start-desktop --start=xfce4-session
122 Start an xfce session in a nested X11 server on an automatically
123 assigned display number.
124 xpra displays
126 Lists all the displays currently running on the system. This in‐
127 cludes interactive desktop sessions as well as any virtual display
128 (xvfb) whether or not they are being used by an xpra server. The
129 displays in DEAD state can be recovered using xpra recover.
130 xpra clean-displays
132 Terminate any displays left in DEAD state.
133 xpra clean-sockets
135 Delete any server sockets belonging to dead servers.
136 xpra list
138 Show a list of xpra servers you have running on the current host.
139 This will also run clean-sockets.
140 xpra list-session
142 Show a list of xpra servers, with extra information about each
143 session if it can be collected.
144 xpra list-windows
146 Show a list of xpra servers you have running on the current host,
147 including the session name and a list of windows. (only if the
148 session can be queried using xpra info)
149 xpra list-mdns
151 Show a list of xpra servers found via mDNS. (local network)
152 xpra docs
154 Open the documentation in a web browser.
155 xpra html5
157 Open the html5 client in a web browser.
158 xpra shell
160 Start an interactive debug shell.
161 xpra showconfig
163 Shows the configuration that would be used with other sub-com‐
164 mands, taking into account the command line arguments.
165 xpra showsetting [SETTING1..]
167 Shows the value of a specific configuration setting and which con‐
168 figuration directory set this value.
169 xpra attach :7
171 Attach to the xpra server that is using local display number :7.
172 Any apps running on that server will appear on your screen.
173 xpra attach ssh://foo@frodo/7
175 Use ssh to attach to the xpra server that is running on machine
176 frodo as user foo and using display :7. Any apps running on that
177 server will appear on your local screen.
178 xpra start :7 --start=screen
180 Start an xpra server and a screen(1) session. If any of the ap‐
181 plications inside screen attempt to use X, they will be directed
182 to the xpra server.
183
185 Understanding the basic idea of displays is critical to using xpra suc‐
186 cessfully.
187 The idea comes from standard X. If you have multiple X servers running
189 on the same host, then there has to be some way to distinguish them. X
190 does this by assigning each server a small, unique integer called (per‐
191 haps confusingly) its "display". In the common case of a desktop ma‐
192 chine that has only one X server running, that server uses display ":0"
193 (or sometimes you'll see ":0.0", which is effectively the same). When
194 an application starts under X, it needs to know how to find the right X
195 server to use; it does this by checking the environment variable $DIS‐
196 PLAY.
197 Xpra faces a similar problem — there may be multiple xpra servers run‐
199 ning on the same host, as well as multiple X servers. It solves this
200 problem by re-using X's solution — each xpra server has a display asso‐
201 ciated with it. This display functions as both an X display (for when
202 xpra is talking to X applications) and as an identifier by which xpra
203 clients (like xpra attach) can locate the xpra server.
204 You may omit the display number when using xpra start: a display will
206 be chosen for you automatically. The display number chosen will be
207 shown in the log output, you should also be able to see it with xpra
208 list. On Microsoft Windows and Mac OSX, the display number should be
209 omitted.
210 Otherwise, when starting an xpra server, you may want to specify the
212 name of the display to use. To do this, simply pick any number you
213 like and stick a colon in front of it. For instance :7, :12, and :3117
214 are all valid display names. Just keep in mind that:
215 • Every X or xpra server that is running on a single machine must
217 use a different display name. If you pick a number that is al‐
218 ready in use then xpra will not work.
219 • The first few numbers (0, 1, 2) are commonly used by real X
221 servers.
222 • Everyone who connects to a given machine using ssh(1) with X
224 forwarding enabled will also use a display number; ssh generally
225 picks numbers near ten (10, 11, 12, ...).
226 When specifying an xpra server to a client program like xpra attach,
228 xpra detach, xpra stop, xpra exit, xpra version, xpra info, xpra list
229 or xpra screenshot then you can use a display of the form :DISPLAY to
230 refer to a server on the local host, or one of the form
231 ssh://[USER@]HOST/DISPLAY to refer to a server on a remote host; xpra
232 will automatically connect to the remote host using ssh(1). Generally,
233 if you have only one xpra session running on a machine (which you can
234 verify by running xpra list on that machine), then you can omit the
235 number entirely; xpra attach alone will attach to the lone xpra server
236 on the current machine regardless of its number, xpra attach
237 ssh://frodo will similarly attach to the lone xpra session on a remote
238 machine.
239 Connecting using the display number assumes that the client and server
241 use the same configuration for socket directories, or at least that the
242 client can find at least one of the directories used by the unix domain
243 sockets (see bind, socket-dir and socket-dirs).
244 If the xpra server was given the --bind-tcp=[HOST]:PORT (or --bind-ssl,
246 --bind-ws, --bind-wss, --bind-vsock) option when started then you can
247 also connect to it using a display of the form tcp://HOST:PORT[/DIS‐
248 PLAY], ssl://HOST:PORT[/DISPLAY], ws://HOST:PORT[/DISPLAY],
249 wss://HOST:PORT[/DISPLAY] or vsock://HOST:PORT[/DISPLAY].
250
252 xpra start
253 This command starts a new xpra server, including any necessary setup.
254 (When starting a remote server with the ssh://HOST/DISPLAY syntax, the
255 new session will also be attached.)
256 xpra start-desktop
258 Starts a nested X11 server, all child commands will be started in the
259 nested X11 server.
260 xpra attach
262 This command attaches to a running xpra server, and forwards any appli‐
263 cations using that server to appear on your current screen.
264 xpra detach
266 Detaches the given xpra display.
267 xpra screenshot
269 Takes a screenshot and saves it to the filename specified. Note:
270 screenshots can only be taken when a client is attached.
271 xpra version
273 Queries the server version and prints it out. Note: older servers may
274 not support this feature.
275 xpra info
277 Queries the server for version, status and statistics.
278 xpra top
280 Shows the server's key health attributes.
281 xpra control
283 Modify the server at runtime by issuing commands. The list of commands
284 can be obtained by specifying "help" as command. Some of those com‐
285 mands may support a "help" mode themselves.
286 xpra initenv
288 This internal command creates the run-xpra script used with ssh connec‐
289 tions.
290 xpra stop
292 This command attaches to a running xpra server, and requests that it
293 terminates immediately. This generally causes any applications using
294 that server to terminate as well.
295 xpra exit
297 This command attaches to a running xpra server, and requests that it
298 terminates immediately. Unlike xpra stop, the Xvfb process and its X11
299 clients (if any) will be left running.
300 xpra showconfig
302 This commands shows the configuration which would be used given the ar‐
303 guments provided. You can also specify as extra arguments the specific
304 options that should be displayed, or use the special value all to dis‐
305 play all the options including the ones which are normally not dis‐
306 played because they are not relevant on the given system.
307 xpra list
309 This command finds all xpra servers that have been started by the cur‐
310 rent user on the current machine, and lists them.
311 xpra upgrade
313 This command starts a new xpra server, but instead of creating it from
314 scratch, it attaches to another existing server, tells it to exit, and
315 takes over managing the applications that it was managing before. As
316 the name suggests, the main use case is to replace a server running
317 against an older version of xpra with a newer version, without having
318 to restart your session. Any currently-running xpra attach command
319 will exit and need to be restarted.
320 xpra upgrade-desktop
322 Same as upgrade but for servers started using start-desktop. It is
323 possible to upgrade seamless server into a desktop server and vice
324 versa.
325 xpra recover
327 Similar to upgrade and upgrade-desktop: but without needing to specify
328 if the server to recover is a seamless server or a desktop server. Un‐
329 like the upgrade subcommands, recover can also detect which displays
330 need recovering. That is, displays which were previously used by an
331 xpra server but this server has gone missing.
332 xpra shadow
334 This command shadows an existing display and is supported on X11, MacOS
335 and MS Windows platforms. (this is not supported on Wayland yet)
336 If there is only one X11 display active and its number is below 10, it
338 can be auto-detected and the display may be omitted.
339 Note that this mode of operation uses screenscraping which is not very
341 efficient. Video encoders partially mitigate this drawback.
342 By default, shadow mode will expose all the monitors connected as indi‐
344 vidual windows. But it is also possible to only shadow a specific re‐
345 gion or monitor, or to group all monitors as a single window by speci‐
346 fying display options. Here are some examples:
347 To expose all monitors connected to display :1 as a single window,
349 use the multi-window option:
350 xpra shadow :1,multi-window=no
351 To shadow a specific output using its name (ie: DP-1):
353 xpra shadow :1,DP-1
354 or more explicitly:
355 xpra shadow :1,plug=DP-1
356 To expose a rectangular area of size 1920x1080 as a single window, use:
358 xpra shadow :1,1920x1080
359 You may also want to specify the position of this rectangle (ie:
360 1280x0):
361 xpra shadow :1,1920x1080@1280x0
362 or using the more explicit syntax:
363 xpra shadow :1,geometry=1920x1080@1280x0
364 Multiple areas can be specified using / as separator, each one
365 will be exposed as a separate window:
366 xpra shadow :1,1920x1080@1280x0/1280x600@0x400
367 xpra proxy
370 This command allows a single server to proxy connections for multiple
371 others, potentially serving as a load balancing or authentication entry
372 point for many sessions. The proxy server will spawn a new process for
373 each proxy connection, this proxy process will create an unauthenti‐
374 cated new unix domain socket which can be used with the subcommands
375 info, version and stop.
376 Important Note
379 Some platforms and package managers may choose to only build the client
380 and not the server. In this case, only the attach subcommand will be
381 available.
382
385 General options
386 --version
387 Displays xpra's version number.
388 -h, --help
390 Displays a summary of command line usage.
391 -d FILTER1,FILTER2,..., --debug=FILTER1,FILTER2,...
393 Enable debug logging. The special value all enables all debug‐
394 ging. To get the full list of logging categories, run xpra -d
395 help. To target loggers that use more than one logging category
396 (as some categories can be quite broad), join them with a '+'.
397 For example, to enable logging for server and keyboard, use
398 --debug server+keyboard. You can also exclude a category with
399 the '-' prefix. For example, to enable shadow debugging but not
400 clipboard, use: --debug shadow,-clipboard.
401 --mmap=yes|no|ABSOLUTEFILENAME|DIRECTORY
403 Enable or disable memory mapped pixel data transfer. By default
404 it is normally enabled automatically if the server and the
405 client reside on the same filesystem namespace. This method of
406 data transfer offers much lower overheads and reduces both CPU
407 consumption and local network traffic. When attaching, you can
408 also specify an absolute path where the mmap file will be cre‐
409 ated. When used on the server, one can specify the exact file‐
410 name that the client will create, or just the directory where
411 the file will be created so that multiple clients may connect
412 and use mmap concurrently.
413 --mmap-group=GROUP
415 Sets the mmap file's gid to the group specified, and sets the
416 permissions to 660. This is necessary to share the mmap file
417 across user accounts. You can also use the special GROUP val‐
418 ues:
419 no Disable the functionality, the mmap file will use the de‐
421 fault file permissions and default group ownership.
422 SOCKET The group used will be the same one as found on the unix
424 domain socket file the client connects to. Obviously,
425 this can only work when connecting to unix domain sock‐
426 ets.
427 auto Will use the 'xpra' group if the user is a member, other‐
429 wise it will fallback to the same behaviour as SOCKET.
430 --windows=yes|no
433 Enable or disable the forwarding of windows. This is usually the
434 primary use for xpra and should be enabled.
435 --min-size=WIDTHxHEIGHT
437 Sets the minimum size for all decorated windows.
438 --max-size=WIDTHxHEIGHT
440 Sets the maximum size for all windows.
441 --readonly=yes|no
443 Read only mode ignores all keyboard and mouse activity.
444 --clipboard=yes|no|clipboard-type
447 Enable or disable clipboard synchronization. If disabled on the
448 server, no clients will be able to use clipboard synchronization
449 at all. If turned off on the client, only this particular con‐
450 nection will ignore clipboard data from the server. This can
451 also be used to specify a different clipboard implementation.
452 The clipboard types available will vary from platform to plat‐
453 form and also depend on build time environment and options so
454 this is best left on auto. Other clipboard types available may
455 include:
456 translated
458 Clipboard which can translate from one type of selection
459 to another
460 GDK The most complete clipboard implementation, includes full
462 X11 support
463 default
465 Fallback clipboard, with limited X11 support
466 OSX OSX specific clipboard
468 --clipboard-direction=to-server|to-client|both|disabled
471 Choose the direction of the clipboard synchronization.
472 --pulseaudio=yes|no
474 Enable or disable the starting of a pulseaudio server with the
475 session.
476 --pulseaudio-command=SERVER-START-COMMAND
478 Specifies the pulseaudio command to use to start the pulseaudio
479 server, unless disabled with pulseaudio=no.
480 --session-name=VALUE
482 Sets the name of this session. This value may be used in notifi‐
483 cations, utilities, tray menu, etc. Setting this value on the
484 server provides a default value which may be overridden on the
485 client.
486 --encoding=ENCODING
488 Sets the preferred encoding to use. To see the list of encod‐
489 ings available, use --encoding=help. This can be used to select
490 grayscale or 8-bit modes like png/P. On local connections or
491 with extremelly fast network links, plain rgb is also a viable
492 option. For everything else, the default value auto will select
493 the best encoding automatically and you should use the min-speed
494 and min-quality options instead for tuning.
495 --encodings=ENCODING
497 This specifies the image encodings enabled. This is the most
498 misused command line option and should be left alone. The
499 server engine needs to have multiple encodings available to work
500 effectively.
501 --video-scaling=on|off|SCALING
504 How much automatic video downscaling should be used, from 1
505 (rarely) to 100 (aggressively), 0 to disable. Video scaling is
506 normally used with video regions or very large windows (espe‐
507 cially full screen windows) to try to maintain a decent framer‐
508 ate. Video downscaling negatively affects visual quality and
509 will cause automatic refreshes (if enabled), it is most useful
510 on video content where it saves a considerable amount of band‐
511 width.
512 --socket-dir=DIR
515 Location where to write and look for the Xpra socket files. The
516 default location varies from platform to platform ("~/.xpra" and
517 "$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/xpra" on most Posix systems). If unspecified,
518 the first value from socket-dirs will be used. It may also be
519 specified using the XPRA_SOCKET_DIR environment variable.
520 When using the socket-dir option, it is generally necessary to
522 specify socket-dir or socket-dirs on all following commands, for
523 xpra to work with the open sessions.
524 By specifying a shared directory this can be coupled with the
526 mmap-group and socket-permissions option to connect Xpra ses‐
527 sions across user accounts with shared memory acceleration.
528 --socket-dirs=DIR
531 Specifies the directories where to look for existing sockets if
532 a specific one was not set using socket-dir. You may specify
533 each directory using a new --socket-dirs command line argument,
534 or joined together by the path separator (: on Posix). The
535 paths will be expanded. (ie: --socket-dirs=~/.xpra:/tmp)
536 --file-transfer=on|off
539 Enable file transfers.
540 --open-files=on|off
542 This option may be used to allow the remote end to automatically
543 open files after they have been uploaded. This may be a secu‐
544 rity risk if you are using xpra to constrain what the clients
545 can execute on the server.
546 --forward-xdg-open=on|off
549 Intercept execution of xdg-open and forward the request to the
550 client.
551 --open-command=COMMAND
554 The command to use for opening files and URLs.
555 --bandwidth-limit=BITSPERSECOND
558 Restrict bandwidth usage to below the limit given. The client's
559 value cannot raise the limit of the server. The value may be
560 specified using standard units, ie: 1Mbps or 500K. In auto
561 mode, the client will set the bandwidth limit value to 80% of
562 the maximum speed of the network interface it is using to con‐
563 nect to the server.
564 Options for start, start-desktop, upgrade, proxy and shadow
568 --daemon=yes|no
569 By default, the xpra server puts itself into the background,
570 i.e. 'daemonizes', and redirects its output to a log file. This
571 can be used to prevent that behavior (useful mostly for debug‐
572 ging).
573 --resize-display=yes|no|WIDTHxHEIGHT
576 Resize the virtual display to match the resolution of the client
577 currently connected. This only applies to the start and start-
578 desktop subcommands. If a resolution is given, this will be the
579 initial resolution of the display and the display will be resiz‐
580 able. A small set of pre-defined aliases can also be used:
581 QVGA, VGA, SVGA, XGA, 1080p, FHD, 4K.
582 --fake-xinerama=PATH|auto|no
585 Specify the path to the libfakeXinerama.so library which will be
586 injected into all the child processes the server starts using
587 LD_PRELOAD. This can also be disabled or set to auto: the
588 server will then try to locate the library itself. This only
589 applies to the start subcommand.
590 --chdir=DIR
593 Change to this directory after daemonizing.
594 --uid=UID and --gid=GID
597 When launching the server as root, these options can be used to
598 drop privileges to the given UID / GID.
599 --pidfile=FILENAME
602 Writes the server process ID to this file on startup. If the
603 file has not been replaced, it will be deleted when the server
604 exits.
605 --challenge-handlers=MODULE:options
608 Configures which challenge handlers are used by the client and
609 in which order. This option may be repeated to specify multiple
610 handlers, which can be useful if the server sends more than one
611 authentication challenge. The default value is: all which cor‐
612 responds to: uri,file,env,kerberos,gss,u2f,prompt.
613 uri Use the password specified on the connection string, if
615 any.
616 file The filename used to store the password can be specified
618 using the filename option. If this option is not speci‐
619 fied, it will fallback to using the password filename
620 specified with the password-file switch.
621 env Use the password specified using the environment variable
623 specified using the name option, which defaults to
624 XPRA_PASSWORD if unspecified.
625 kerberos
627 Requests a kerberos token for the service specified.
628 gss Requests a gss token for the service specified.
630 u2f Requests a token from a U2F device.
632 prompt Prompt the user for the value. Terminal clients prompt
634 using text input, GUI clients use a dialog.
635 --min-port=PORT
637 The minimum port number allowed when creating TCP sockets. You
638 can use a lower value to allow unprivileged users to bind to
639 privileged ports when starting sessions via the system wide
640 proxy server. The default value is 1024 which is the standard
641 value for privileged ports.
642 --mdns=yes|no
644 Enable or disable the publication of new sessions via mDNS.
645 --dbus-launch=COMMAND|no
647 Start the session within a dbus-launch context, you can specify
648 the dbus launch command to use, or turn it off completely. Some
649 features may not be available without a dbus context.
650 --dbus-proxy=yes|no
652 Allows the client to forward dbus calls to the server.
653 --dbus-control=yes|no
655 Start a dbus server which can be used to interact with the
656 server process.
657 Options for start, start-desktop, upgrade and listen:
661 In previous versions, the authentication for each connection type was
662 configured using a separate command line option which would apply to
663 all connections of the same type. ie: tcp-auth for bind-tcp. Although
664 this is still supported as a fallback, the recommended way is to spec‐
665 ify authentication options using bind properties. ie: bind-
666 tcp=0.0.0.0:14500,auth=file:filename=password.txt. For more details on
667 authentication configuration, see auth=. The properties can also de‐
668 fine extra configuration options.
669 --bind=BIND_LOCATION[,PROPERTIES] Create a local Unix domain socket (on
671 Unix) or named-pipe (on MS Windows) for each bind option specified.
672 This option can be specified multiple times to specify multiple socket
674 locations. These sockets support local connections with the :7-style
675 display address, and remote connections with the ssh://frodo/7-style
676 display address.
677 Local sockets may also process HTTP / Websocket connections if the html
679 switch is enabled.
680 The location can take the form:
682 none do not create a socket
684 auto backwards compatible default which uses the current
686 socket-dir
687 DIRECTORY/
689 create a socket in the directory specified, if the direc‐
690 tory does not exist then it will be created - you should
691 include the trailing slash to prevent the confusion with
692 the PATH form:
693 PATH create the socket using the path specified
695 --bind-tcp=[HOST]:PORT[,PROPERTIES]
697 Create a TCP socket for each --bind-tcp option specified. If
698 the host portion is omitted, then 127.0.0.1 (localhost) will be
699 used. If you wish to accept connections on all interfaces, pass
700 0.0.0.0 for the host portion.
701 Using this switch without using the tcp-auth option is not rec‐
703 ommended, and is a major security risk (especially when passing
704 0.0.0.0)! Anyone at all may connect to this port and access
705 your session.
706 TCP sockets may also process HTTP / Websocket connections if the
708 html switch is enabled. TCP sockets may also be upgraded to SSL
709 sockets if the ssl switch is enabled.
710 --bind-ws=[HOST]:PORT[,PROPERTIES]
713 Create an HTTP / Websocket listener. See bind-tcp for host re‐
714 strictions, you should use the auth-ws to secure access.
715 --bind-wss=[HOST]:PORT[,PROPERTIES]
717 Create an HTTPS / Secure Websocket listener. See bind-tcp for
718 host restrictions, you should use the auth-wss to secure access.
719 --bind-ssl=[HOST]:PORT[,PROPERTIES]
721 Just like --bind-tcp but for SSL sockets. See ssl-auth and the
722 other SSL options.
723 --bind-rfb=[HOST]:PORT[,PROPERTIES]
725 Listens for RFB connections on the given port. These sockets
726 are only supported with the start-desktop and shadow modes.
727 --bind-vsock=CID:PORT[,PROPERTIES]
729 Create a VSOCK socket for each --bind-vsock option specified.
730 --auth=MODULE[:OPTION=VALUE]
732 Specifies the authentication module to use for all unix domain
733 sockets created using the bind switch. Authentication modules
734 can validate a username and password against a variety of back‐
735 end modules:
736 allow always allows authentication - this is dangerous and
738 should only be used for testing
739 fail always fails authentication, useful for testing
741 env matches against the environment variable specified by the
743 name option (which defaults to XPRA_PASSWORD). ie:
744 --auth=env:name=SOME_OTHER_ENV_VAR_NAME.
745 password
747 matches against the password specified using the value
748 option. ie: --auth=password:value=YOURPASSWORD. Note:
749 this command line option may be exposed to other pro‐
750 cesses on the same system.
751 file checks the password against the password data found in
753 the file specified using the filename option. ie:
754 --auth=file:filename=./password.txt.
755 The contents of this file will be treated as binary data,
757 there are no restrictions on character encodings or file
758 size. Beware of trailing newline characters which will
759 be included in the password data.
760 multifile
763 checks the username and password against the file speci‐
764 fied using the filename option. The file must contain
765 each user credentials on one line of the form:
766 username|password|uid|gid|displays|env_opts|session_opts
768 It is not possible to have usernames or password that
770 contain the pipe character | which is used as delimiter,
771 or newlines and carriage returns. This module is depre‐
772 cated, sqlite should be used instead.
773 sqlite
776 mysql
778 sql checks the username and password against the sqlite data‐
780 base file specified using the filename option (for the
781 sqlite backend), or the database specified using the uri
782 option (mysql and sql backends). The authentication will
783 be processed using the following query (which is config‐
784 urable using the password_query option): SELECT password
785 FROM users WHERE username=(?) The sessions available for
786 each user will be queried using: (this is configurable
787 using the sessions_query option): SELECT uid, gid, dis‐
788 plays, env_options, session_options FROM users WHERE
789 username=(?) Multiple displays may be specified as a
790 comma separated list.
791 hosts checks the host using the system's tcp-wrappers library.
794 (Posix only, and not available on Mac OS) See hosts.allow
795 and hosts.deny for details.
796 exec Executes the command specified using the command attri‐
799 bute, the arguments to this command are: a description of
800 the access request and the timeout value. (also config‐
801 urable) If the command is not specified, the system will
802 try to locate and use the auth_dialog utility which is
803 shipped with xpra. The command should return 0 to allow
804 access, any other value will deny access.
805 peercred
808 checks the unix domain socket peer credentials using
809 SO_PEERCRED. This authentication module is only avail‐
810 able on some Posix compliant operating systems. This mod‐
811 ule will verify that the operating system provides the
812 uid and gid of the process that initiated the connection.
813 Access can be restricted by supplying a colon separated
814 list of valid uids and gids that are allowed to connect.
815 Those id values may be specified using numerical values
816 or using the usernames / group names. This module is
817 different from the others in that it will not require the
818 client to supply a username or password, as those are ig‐
819 nored. Environment variables and pseudo-environment
820 variables may also be used as values, eg: --auth=peer‐
821 cred:uid=\$UID:fred,gid=xpra.
822 pam validates the username and password using the PAM system
825 win32 validates the username and password using Microsoft Win‐
827 dows authentication (only available on this platform)
828 sys chooses the appropriate system authentication module au‐
830 tomatically (either pam or win32)
831 kerberos-password
834 validates the username and password using kerberos au‐
835 thentication. Warning: this module does not use kerberos
836 tickets and the password will be sent in plain text to
837 the server. This should only be used for testing.
838 kerberos-ticket
840 validates a kerberos ticket obtained by the client.
841 gss validates a GSS ticket obtained by the client.
843 u2f requests a U2F token from the client.
845 ldap validates the username and password against an LDAP
847 server, using the python-ldap library.
848 ldap3 validates the username and password against an LDAP
850 server, using the python ldap3 library.
851 --tcp-auth=MODULE
853 Just like the auth switch, except this one only applies to TCP
854 sockets (sockets defined using the bind-tcp switch).
855 --ws-auth=MODULE
857 Just like the auth switch, except this one only applies to ws
858 sockets: sockets defined using the bind-ws switch, or TCP sock‐
859 ets upgraded to websockets. (if the html option is enabled).
860 --wss-auth=MODULE
862 Just like the auth switch, except this one only applies to wss
863 sockets: sockets defined using the bind-wss switch, ws sockets
864 upgraded to SSL (if the ssl option is enabled) or TCP sockets
865 upgraded to SSL and then to wss. (if both the ssl and html op‐
866 tions are enabled).
867 --ssl-auth=MODULE
869 Just like the auth switch, except this one only applies to SSL
870 sockets: sockets defined using the bind-ssl switch, or TCP sock‐
871 ets upgraded by ssl=auto or ssl=on.
872 --rfb-auth=MODULE
874 Authentication module to use for the bind-rfb sockets.
875 --vsock-auth=MODULE
877 Just like the auth switch, except this one only applies to VSOCK
878 sockets (sockets defined using the bind-vsock switch).
879 Options for start, start-desktop, upgrade
883 --exec-wrapper=CMD
884 A wrapper command which is prepended to all start commands.
885 Typically, this is used for starting all sub-commands via Virtu‐
886 alGL.
887 --start=CMD
889 After starting the server, runs the command CMD using the de‐
890 fault shell. The command is run with its $DISPLAY set to point
891 to the newly-started server. This option may be given multiple
892 times to start multiple commands.
893 --start-child=CMD
895 Identical to --start, except that the commands are taken into
896 account by --exit-with-children.
897 --start-after-connect=CMD
899 Wait for the first client to connect before starting the com‐
900 mand.
901 --start-child-after-connect=CMD
903 Wait for the first client to connect before starting the child
904 command. See start-child.
905 --start-on-connect=CMD
907 Execute this command every time a client connects.
908 --start-child-on-connect=CMD
910 Execute this child command every time a client connects. See
911 start-child.
912 --start-on-last-client-exit=CMD
914 Execute this command every time a client disconnects and there
915 are no other clients left.
916 --start-child-on-last-client-exit=CMD
918 Execute this child command every time a client disconnects and
919 there are no other clients left. See start-child.
920 --terminate-children=yes|no
922 On server stop, terminate all the child commands that have been
923 started by the server. This does not affect server exit. Most
924 child commands are tied to the display so they are normally
925 forced to shutdown anyway, but this gives them more time to
926 cleanup properly and can be used to stop background commands
927 that aren't tied to a display.
928 --exit-with-children=yes|no
930 This option may only be used if --start-child is also given. If
931 it is given, then the xpra server will monitor the status of the
932 children started by --start-child, and will automatically termi‐
933 nate itself when the last of them has exited.
934 --exit-with-client=yes|no
936 The server will terminate when the last client disconnects.
937 --env=KEY=VALUE
939 Extra environment variables which will only affect commands
940 started using fB--start or --start-child.
941 --start-new-commands=yes|no
943 Allow clients to ask the server to execute new commands. (this
944 can also be used via the control channel)
945 --start-via-proxy=yes|no|auto
947 If enabled, the start and start-desktop subcommands will be del‐
948 egated to the system wide proxy server instance. With auto
949 mode, this delegation will only occur if the system wide proxy
950 server is found.
951 --systemd-run=yes|no|auto
953 Wrap server start commands with systemd-run.
954 --systemd-run-args=ARGS
956 Command line arguments passed to systemd-run.
957 --use-display=yes|no|auto
959 Use an existing display rather than starting one with xvfb. You
960 are responsible for starting the display yourself. This can
961 also be used to rescue an existing display whose xpra server in‐
962 stance crashed or for running xpra against an accelerated X11
963 server. With auto, xpra will use the existing display if it is
964 found.
965 --displayfd=FD
967 The xpra server will write the display number back on this file
968 descriptor as a newline-terminated string. This is most useful
969 when the display number is not specified with the xpra start or
970 start-desktop subcommands.
971 --xvfb=CMD
973 When starting a seamless server, xpra starts a virtual X server
974 to run the clients on. If your Xvfb is installed in a funny lo‐
975 cation, or you want to use some other virtual X server, then
976 this switch allows you to specify how to run your preferred X
977 server executable. The default value used depends on your plat‐
978 form. For more information, see: https://xpra.org/Xdummy.html
979 --sync-xvfb=DELAY
981 The windows are normally only displayed on the client(s), they
982 are not painted on the virtual display. Some applications like
983 screen recorders may want to capture the window contents, you
984 can use this option to enable painting with a configurable delay
985 (in milliseconds). Warning: this extra painting is expensive
986 and quite slow, which is why it is not enabled by default.
987 --attach=yes|no|auto
989 Once the server has started, immediately connect a client to it.
990 With the value auto, a client is started for remote servers
991 only. (servers specified via a network URI) If a display is
992 specified and a server is already running, xpra will not try to
993 start a new one and it will just attach to it.
994 Options for start, start-desktop, upgrade, shadow
997 --tcp-proxy=HOST:PORT
999 Specifies the address to which non-xpra packets will be for‐
1000 warded. This can be used to share the same TCP port with an‐
1001 other TCP servers, usually a web server. xpra clients will con‐
1002 nect as usual, but any client that does not speak the xpra pro‐
1003 tocol will be forwarded to the alternative server.
1004 --html=on|off|auto|webrootpath
1007 Respond to HTTP requests on the TCP port(s) and local sockets.
1008 This requires at least one TCP or local socket to be configured
1009 using the matching bind option. The auto mode will enable sup‐
1010 port if possible. By default the server will provide access to
1011 the HTML5 client. You can also specify your own web root path
1012 as argument.
1013 --http-scripts=off|all|SCRIPTS
1015 Enable the builtin web server scripts that expose the server
1016 status, current active sessions and displays, the list of appli‐
1017 cations and desktop sessions installed. This can be used by the
1018 client's user interface.
1019 --rfb-upgrade=DELAY
1022 Allows RFB clients (ie: VNC) to connect to a plain TCP socket.
1023 If no data is received after DELAY seconds, the server will send
1024 a RFB handshake. This option is only applicable to servers
1025 started in start-desktop or shadow modes.
1026 --video-encoders=ENCODERS
1029 Specifies the video encoders to try to load. By default, all of
1030 them are loaded, but one may want to specify a more restrictive
1031 list of encoders. Use the special value 'help' to get a list of
1032 options. Use the value 'none' to not load any video encoders.
1033 --csc-modules=MODULES
1036 Specifies the colourspace conversion modules to try to load. By
1037 default, all of them are loaded, but one may want to specify a
1038 more restrictive list of modules. Use the special value 'help'
1039 to get a list of options. Use the value 'none' to not load any
1040 colourspace conversion modules.
1041 --socket-permissions=ACCESS-MODE
1044 Specifies the file permissions on the server's unix domain sock‐
1045 ets. Defaults to 600. This is ignored when mmap-group is en‐
1046 abled.
1047 Options for start, start-desktop, upgrade and attach
1051 --encryption=CIPHER
1052 Specifies the cipher to use for securing the connection from
1053 prying eyes. This option requires the use of the --encryption-
1054 keyfile option. The only ciphers supported at present are:
1055 AES For servers, this allows the client to choose any of the
1057 modes it wants to use. For clients, this is an alias for
1058 AES-CBC and using a more specific mode should be pre‐
1059 ferred.
1060 AES-CBC
1062 AES in cipher block chaining mode
1063 AES-GCM
1065 AES in galois/counter mode
1066 AES-CFB
1068 AES in cipher feedback mode
1069 AES-CTR
1071 AES in counter mode
1072 If the client requests encryption it will be used by both the client
1074 and server for all communication after the initial password verifica‐
1075 tion, but only if the server supports this feature too. Note: this
1076 feature has not been extensively reviewed and as it is it should not be
1077 considered safe from determined attackers.
1078 --tcp-encryption=CIPHER
1080 Just like the encryption switch, except this one only applies to
1081 TCP sockets (sockets defined using the bind-tcp switch).
1082 --encryption-keyfile=FILENAME
1084 Specifies the key to use with the encryption cipher specified
1085 with --encryption. The client and server must use the same key‐
1086 file contents.
1087 --tcp-encryption-keyfile=FILENAME
1089 Just like the encryption-keyfile switch, except this one only
1090 applies to TCP sockets (sockets defined using the bind-tcp
1091 switch).
1092 --idle-timeout=IDLETIMEOUT
1094 The connection will be terminated if there is no user activity
1095 (mouse clicks or key presses) for the given amount of time (in
1096 seconds). Use the value 0 to disable this timeout.
1097 --server-idle-timeout=IDLETIMEOUT
1099 The server will exit if there are no active connections for the
1100 given amount of time (in seconds). Use the value 0 to disable
1101 this timeout.
1102 --clipboard-filter-file=FILENAME
1104 Name of a file containing regular expressions, any clipboard
1105 data that matches one of these regular expressions will be
1106 dropped. Note: at present this only applies to copying from the
1107 machine where this option is used, not to it.
1108 --dpi=VALUE
1110 The 'dots per inch' value that client applications should try to
1111 honour. This numeric value should be in the range 10 to 500 to
1112 be useful. Many applications will only read this value when
1113 starting up, so connecting to an existing session started with a
1114 different DPI value may not have the desired effect.
1115 --pixel-depth=VALUE
1117 When starting a server, this switch controls the bits per pixel
1118 of the virtual framebuffer. Possible values: 0 (auto), 16, 24,
1119 30. When starting a client, this switch controls the picture
1120 rendering with the opengl backend: values higher than 24 will
1121 enable deep color, the value 24 enables regular true color ren‐
1122 dering. Use the value 0 to let the client decide if the render‐
1123 ing will benefit from using deep color. (this is only supported
1124 on some Posix clients) Other values should not be used.
1125 --cursors=yes|no
1127 Enable or disable forwarding of custom application mouse cur‐
1128 sors. Client applications may change the mouse cursor at any
1129 time, which will cause the new cursor's pixels to be sent to the
1130 client each time. This disables the feature.
1131 --notifications=yes|no
1133 Enable or disable forwarding of system notifications. System
1134 notifications require the xpra server to have its own instance
1135 of a dbus daemon, if it is missing a warning will be printed on
1136 startup. This switch disables the feature entirely, and avoids
1137 the warning.
1138 --input-method=METHOD
1140 Specify which input method to configure. This sets a number of
1141 environment variables which should be honoured by applications
1142 started with the start-child option.
1143 The following METHODs are currently supported:
1145 none Disable input methods completely and prevent it from in‐
1147 terfering with keyboard input. This is the default.
1148 keep Keeps the environment unchanged. You are responsible for
1150 ensuring it is correct.
1151 xim Enables the X Input Method.
1153 IBus Enables the Intelligent Input Bus.
1155 SCIM Enables the Smart Common Input Method.
1157 uim Enables the Universal Input Method.
1159 Any other value will also be set up, but will trigger a warning.
1161 --xsettings=auto|yes|no
1164 Enable or disable xsettings synchronization. Xsettings are only
1165 forwarded from posix clients connecting to real posix servers
1166 (not shadows). In 'auto' mode, only seamless servers enable
1167 xsettings synchronization.
1168 --system-tray=yes|no
1170 Enable or disable forwarding of system tray icons. This feature
1171 requires client support and may not be available on all plat‐
1172 forms.
1173 --bell=yes|no
1175 Enable or disable forwarding of the system bell.
1176 --webcam=yes|no
1178 Enable or disable webcam forwarding.
1179 --mousewheel=on|off|invert|invert-x|invert-y|invert-z
1181 Mouse wheel handling: can be used to disable mouse wheel for‐
1182 warding using the value no, or to invert some or all axes: in‐
1183 vert-all, invert-x, invert-y, invert-z.
1184 --remote-logging=both|all|send|receive|no
1187 Remote logging is always initiated by the client, but the server
1188 can restrict which direction log messages are allowed to flow.
1189 both The log output is both forwarded and sent locally (to
1191 stdout, stderr or a log file).
1192 allow Used by the server to allow both send and receive, when
1194 sending the log output it will no longer be recorded lo‐
1195 cally.
1196 send Used by the client to send its log output to the server.
1198 Used by the server to allow clients to request log for‐
1199 warding.
1200 receive
1202 Used by the client to request that the server sends its
1203 log output to the client. Used by the server to allow
1204 clients to forward their logging.
1205 no Remote logging is disabled.
1207 --av-sync=yes|no
1209 Enable or disable audio-video synchronization. The video data
1210 will be delayed so that it is displayed in sync with the audio.
1211 Note: this only applies to video regions, either auto-detected
1212 via the builtin heuristics or specified using the dbus inter‐
1213 face.
1214 Options for attach
1218 --modal-windows=yes|no
1219 Honour modal windows. This may have undesirable side effects
1220 when multiple applications are forwarded through the same xpra
1221 server: modal windows will be made modal for all the applica‐
1222 tions forwarded by xpra rather than just the one application
1223 which owns that window.
1224 --headerbar=auto|no|force
1226 Replaces the window's standard title bar with a custom one which
1227 is used to give access to xpra specific window controls. This
1228 feature can have side effects and it is incompatible with OpenGL
1229 acceleration on MS Windows.
1230 --password-file=FILENAME
1232 Supply the password to be used for connecting to a server that
1233 uses authentication. See auth, tcp-auth, ssl-auth and vsock-auth
1234 for details. Alternatively, you may use the XPRA_PASSWORD envi‐
1235 ronment variable.
1236 --opengl=(yes|no|auto)[:backend]
1238 Use OpenGL accelerated rendering on the client. The default is
1239 to detect if the graphics card and drivers are supported (auto
1240 mode), but one can also disable OpenGL (no) or force it enabled
1241 (yes). On some platforms, it is also possible to specify which
1242 backends should be used, only gtk and native are currently sup‐
1243 ported and only on X11 platforms. ie: opengl=yes:native, or
1244 opengl=auto:gtk,native.
1245 --webcam=yes|no|/dev/deviceXXX|DEVICEID
1247 Enable or disable webcam forwarding. The webcam device to use
1248 can also be specified.
1249 -zLEVEL, --compress=LEVEL
1252 Select the level of compression xpra will use when transmitting
1253 data over the network. With the lz4 and lzo compressors, there
1254 are only two possible values: 0 (meaning no compression) and 1
1255 (compression enabled). The zlib compressor supports values be‐
1256 tween 0 (meaning no compression) and 9, inclusive. It should
1257 only be used when lz4 and lzo are not available.
1258 This compression is not used on pixel data (except when using
1260 the rgb encoding).
1261 --quality=VALUE
1263 This option sets a fixed image compression quality for lossy en‐
1264 codings (jpeg, webp, h264/h265 and vp8/vp9). First, one of
1265 those lossy encodings must be enabled with --encoding or when
1266 using the default auto mode. Values range from 1 (lowest qual‐
1267 ity, high compression - generally unusable) to 100 (highest
1268 quality, low compression). Specify a value of zero to let the
1269 system tune the quality dynamically to achieve the best band‐
1270 width usage possible. It is usually best not to use this option
1271 and use min-quality instead.
1272 --min-quality=MIN-QUALITY
1274 This option sets the minimum encoding quality allowed when the
1275 quality option is set to automatic mode. See quality above.
1276 --speed=SPEED
1278 This option sets the encoding speed, from 1 (slowest) to 100
1279 (fastest). Slower compresses better and will use less band‐
1280 width, faster will give better latency as long as there is suf‐
1281 ficient bandwidth. The system normally uses a variable speed,
1282 this option forces a fixed speed setting to be used instead. It
1283 is usually best not to use this option and use min-speed in‐
1284 stead.
1285 --min-speed=MIN-SPEED
1287 This option sets the minimum encoding speed allowed when the
1288 speed option is set to automatic mode. See speed above.
1289 --auto-refresh-delay=DELAY
1291 This option sets a delay after which the windows are automati‐
1292 cally refreshed using a lossless frame if their contents had
1293 been updated using a lossy encoding previously. The delay is a
1294 floating-point number and is in seconds. This option is enabled
1295 by default with a delay of 0.25 seconds. This option is only
1296 relevant when using a lossy encoding.
1297 --shortcut-modifiers=MODIFIERS
1299 Defines the default shortcut modifiers required by the key-
1300 shortcuts, these modifiers can then be referred to as #. The
1301 default value is 'auto' which evaluates to Meta+Shift on most
1302 platforms.
1303 --key-shortcut=KEY:ACTION
1305 Can be specified multiple times to add multiple key shortcuts.
1306 These keys will be caught by the client and trigger the action
1307 specified and the key presses will not be passed on to the
1308 server.
1309 The KEY specification may include keyboard modifiers in the form
1311 [modifier+]*key, for example: Shift+F10 or Shift+Control+B. You
1312 can refer to the shorcut-modifers option value using #, ie:
1313 #+F1.
1314 Shortcuts defined on the command line are added to the builtin
1316 default shortcuts. To clear the list of shortcuts, use key-
1317 shortcut=clear and define your shortcuts after this one.
1318 Some of the actions may allow arguments (ie: the log action
1320 does), in which case they are specified in the usual programming
1321 style syntax: ACTION(ARG1, ARG2, etc)
1322 String arguments must be quoted (both single and double quotes
1323 are supported) and numeric arguments must not be quoted. Beware
1324 the the parenthesis and quotes must usually be escaped when used
1325 from a shell command line. Example: --key-short‐
1326 cut=Meta+Shift+F7:log\(\'hello\'\)
1327 The following ACTIONs are currently defined:
1329 quit Disconnect the xpra client.
1331 log("MESSAGE")
1333 Sends MESSAGE to the log.
1334 show_session_info[("TabName")]
1336 Shows the session information window. The optional Tab‐
1337 Name allows the information tab shown to be selected. Use
1338 the value help to get the list of options.
1339 show_menu
1341 Shows the menu normally found in the system tray.
1342 show_start_new_command
1344 Shows the start new command dialog.
1345 magic_key
1347 Placeholder which can be used by some client toolkits.
1348 void Does not do anything, and can therefore be used to pre‐
1350 vent certain key combinations from ever being sent to the
1351 server.
1352 pass Does not do anything. However, unlike void the key event
1354 is forwarded to the server.
1355 - Removes an existing key shortcut if one exists.
1357 refresh_window
1359 Force the currently focused window to be refreshed.
1360 refresh_all_windows
1362 Force all windows to be refreshed.
1363 toggle_keyboard_grab
1365 The keyboard will be grabbed / ungrabbed by the current
1366 window.
1367 toggle_pointer_grab
1369 The pointer will be grabbed and confined to the current
1370 window.
1371 toggle_fullscreen
1373 Make the current window fullscreen / unfullscreen.
1374 toggle_debug
1376 Turn debugging on or off.
1377 scaleup
1379 Increase the current value of desktop-scaling.
1380 scaledown
1382 Decrease the current value of desktop-scaling.
1383 scalereset
1385 Reset the desktop-scaling to its original value.
1386 scalingoff
1388 Turn off desktop-scaling.
1389 increase_quality
1391 Increase the min-quality or quality setting (whichever
1392 one is currently in use).
1393 decrease_quality
1395 Decrease the min-quality or quality setting (whichever
1396 one is currently in use).
1397 increase_speed
1399 Increase the min-speed or speed setting (whichever one is
1400 currently in use).
1401 decrease_speed
1403 Decrease the min-speed or speed setting (whichever one is
1404 currently in use).
1405 --sharing=yes|no|auto
1407 Sharing allows more than one client to connect to the same ses‐
1408 sion. This must be enabled on both the server and all co-oper‐
1409 ating clients to function. When used server-side, the default
1410 value auto allows the clients to decide if they are willing to
1411 share the session. When used client-side, the default value
1412 auto evaluates to no. To allow sharing to work with unix domain
1413 sockets (either using local connections or via ssh), you should
1414 create at least one socket in a group accessible directory. On
1415 Posix with a default configuration, being a member of the xpra
1416 group should be enough to create a socket in /run/xpra. You must
1417 also ensure that the permissions of this socket file allow group
1418 access, see socket-permissions.
1419 --lock=yes|no|auto
1421 Locking allows a client to refuse to hand over the session to a
1422 new client. The session may still be shared with multiple
1423 clients (see the sharing option), but otherwise the server will
1424 reject new clients. When used server-side, the default value
1425 auto allows the clients to decide if they want to lock the ses‐
1426 sion. When used client-side, the default value auto evaluates
1427 to no.
1428 --keyboard-sync=yes|no
1430 Normally the key presses and key release events are sent to the
1431 server as they occur so that the server can maintain a consis‐
1432 tent keyboard state. Disabling synchronization can prevent keys
1433 from repeating unexpectedly on high latency links but it may
1434 also disrupt applications which access the keyboard directly
1435 (games, etc.).
1436 --keyboard-raw=yes|no
1438 Tells the server to process all keyboard input untranslated.
1439 Both the client and the server must be using the same type of
1440 keyboard interface. (ie: both using X11)
1441 --keyboard-layout=LAYOUTSTRING
1443 The keyboard layout is normally detected automatically. This
1444 option overrides it.
1445 --keyboard-layouts=LAYOUTS
1447 The list of keyboard layouts to enable.
1448 --keyboard-variant=VARIANT
1450 Override for the keyboard layout variant.
1451 --keyboard-variants=VARIANTS
1453 Override for the keyboard layout variants.
1454 --keyboard-options=OPTIONS
1456 Override for the keyboard options sent to the server.
1457 --swap-keys=YES|NO
1459 This option only applies to MacOS clients, it swaps the command
1460 and control keys and is enabled by default.
1461 --sound-source=PLUGIN
1463 Specifies the GStreamer sound plugin used for capturing the
1464 sound stream. This affects "speaker forwarding" on the server,
1465 and "microphone" forwarding on the client. To get a list of op‐
1466 tions use the special value 'help'. It is also possible to
1467 specify plugin options using the form: --sound-source= pulsede‐
1468 vice=device.alsa_input.pci-0000_00_14.2.analog-stereo
1469 --speaker=on|off|disabled and --microphone=on|off|disabled|on:DE‐
1471 VICE|off:DEVICE
1472 Sound input and output forwarding support: on will start the
1473 forwarding as soon as the connection is established, off will
1474 require the user to enable it via the menu, disabled will pre‐
1475 vent it from being used and the menu entry will be disabled.
1476 With microphone forwarding, you may also be able to specify
1477 which device to use.
1478 --speaker-codec=CODEC and --microphone-codec=CODEC
1480 Specify the codec(s) to use for sound output (speaker) or input
1481 (microphone). This parameter can be specified multiple times
1482 and the order in which the codecs are specified defines the pre‐
1483 ferred codec order. Use the special value 'help' to get a list
1484 of options. When unspecified, all the available codecs are al‐
1485 lowed and the first one is used.
1486 --title=VALUE
1488 Sets the text shown as window title. The string supplied can
1489 make use of remote metadata placeholders which will be populated
1490 at runtime with the values from the remote server. The default
1491 value used is "@title@ on @client-machine@".
1492 The following placeholders are defined:
1494 @title@
1496 Will be replaced by the remote window's title.
1497 @client-machine@
1499 Will be replaced by the hostname of the system where the
1500 application is running, if provided, the xpra server's
1501 hostname otherwise.
1502 @server-machine@
1504 Will be replaced by the hostname of the xpra server.
1505 @server-display@
1507 Will be replaced by the name of the display on which the
1508 application is running.
1509 --border=BORDER
1511 Specifies the color and size of the border to draw inside every
1512 xpra window. This can be used to easily distinguish xpra win‐
1513 dows running on remote hosts from local windows. The BORDER can
1514 be specified using standard color names (ie: red, or orange) or
1515 using the web hexadecimal syntax (ie: #F00 or #FF8C00). The spe‐
1516 cial color name "auto" will derive the color from the server
1517 target address (the connection string) so that connecting to the
1518 same target should always give the same color. You may also
1519 specify the size of the border in pixels, ie: --border=yel‐
1520 low,10.
1521 --window-icon=FILENAME
1523 Path to the default image which will be used for all windows.
1524 This icon may be shown in the window's bar, its iconified state
1525 or task switchers. This depends on the operating system, the
1526 window manage and the application may override this too.
1527 --window-close=ACTION
1529 Choose what action to take when the window is closed by the
1530 client. The following actions can be used:
1531 auto The client will figure out what is best based on the win‐
1533 dow type. This is the default. ie: it will use discon‐
1534 nect shadow sessions, Iforward for seamless windows.
1535 forward
1537 The event will be forwarded to the server.
1538 ignore Do nothing.
1540 disconnect
1542 Disconnect from the server.
1543 shutdown
1545 Shutdown the server.
1546 --desktop-scaling=off|on|auto|VALUE
1548 Desktop scaling allows the windows to be scaled by the client.
1549 Downscaling will mostly waste bandwidth, upscaling allows the
1550 window's pixels to be sent over the wire at a lower resolution,
1551 saving bandwidth and CPU time. This option can also be used to
1552 request a specific scaling value. For best results, use opengl
1553 client rendering, the other display backends may show visual ar‐
1554 tifacts when scaling. Note: the scaling may also be adjusted at
1555 runtime through keyboard shortcuts if those are configured.
1556 The desktop-scaling value can take the form:
1558 off scaling will be disabled
1560 on scaling will be allowed, but it will start unscaled
1562 auto scaling will be allowed and a scaling value will be auto‐
1564 matically chosen if the client's desktop is large (bigger
1565 desktops will use higher scaling values)
1566 scaling-value
1568 scaling will be enabled and use the given value, speci‐
1569 fied as a number, fraction or percentage. ie: 2, 3/2 or
1570 150%.
1571 pair the scaling will be enabled and use a different value for
1573 the X and Y axis. ie: 3x2 or 3/2x4/3
1574 desktop-size
1576 the scaling will be enabled and the server will render to
1577 the given size. ie: 1600x1200
1578 --tray=yes|no Enable or disable the system tray. Not available on OSX
1580 since the dock icon is always shown.
1581 --delay-tray
1583 Waits for the first window or notification to appear before
1584 showing the system tray. (posix only)
1585 --tray-icon=FILENAME
1587 Specifies the icon shown in the dock/tray. By default it uses a
1588 simple default 'xpra' icon. (On Microsoft Windows, the icon
1589 must be in ico format.)
1590 --enable-pings
1592 The client and server will exchange ping and echo packets which
1593 are used to gather latency statistics. Those statistics can be
1594 seen using the xpra info command.
1595 Options for attach, stop, info, screenshot, version
1599 --ssh=CMD
1600 When you use an ssh: address to connect to a remote display,
1601 xpra runs ssh(1) to make the underlying connection. By default,
1602 it does this by running the command "ssh". If your ssh program
1603 is in an unusual location, has an unusual name, or you want to
1604 pass special options to change ssh's behavior, then you can use
1605 the --ssh switch to tell xpra how to run ssh.
1606 For example, if you want to use arcfour encryption, then you
1608 should run
1609 xpra attach --ssh="ssh -c arcfour" ssh://frodo/7
1611 Note: Don't bother to enable ssh compression; this is redundant
1613 with xpra's own compression, and will just waste your CPU. See
1614 also xpra's --compress switch.
1615 On MS Windows, where backslashes are used to separate path ele‐
1617 ments and where spaces are often used as part of paths, you need
1618 to add quotes around paths. (ie: ssh="C:\Program
1619 Files\Xpra\Plink.exe" -ssh -agent)
1620 --exit-ssh=yes|no
1623 Choose whether the SSH client process should be forcibly termi‐
1624 nated when xpra disconnects from the server. If you are using
1625 SSH connection sharing, you may want to avoid stopping the SSH
1626 master process instance spawned by xpra as it may be used by
1627 other SSH sessions. Note: the exit-ssh=no detaches the SSH
1628 process from the terminal which prevents the SSH process from
1629 interacting with the terminal input, this disables the keyboard
1630 interaction required for password input, host key verification,
1631 etc..
1632 --remote-xpra=CMD
1634 When connecting to a remote server over ssh, xpra needs to be
1635 able to find and run the xpra executable on the remote host. If
1636 this executable is in a non-standard location, or requires spe‐
1637 cial environment variables to be set before it can run, then ac‐
1638 complishing this may be non-trivial. If running xpra attach
1639 ssh:something fails because it cannot find the remote xpra, then
1640 you can use this option to specify how to run xpra on the remote
1641 host.
1642 That said, this option should not be needed in normal usage, as
1644 xpra tries quite hard to work around the above problems. If you
1645 find yourself needing it often, then that may indicate a bug
1646 that we would appreciate hearing about.
1647 SSL Options
1650 --ssl=on|auto|off|tcp|www
1651 Whether to enable SSL on TCP sockets and for what purpose. The
1652 TCP sockets will automatically be upgraded to SSL when SSL pack‐
1653 ets are received.
1654 auto The server will try to guess what protocol to use for
1656 each new SSL connection: either xpra's native protocol or
1657 https / websocket (wss)
1658 tcp The SSL sockets will only be used for xpra's native pro‐
1660 tocol
1661 www The SSL sockets will only be used for https and websocket
1663 (wss)
1664 If SSL is enabled, then a ssl-cert is required. Authentication, if re‐
1665 quired, will use the ssl-auth module specified, and fallback to tcp-
1666 auth or auth unless the value none is specified.
1667 The remaining options mirror the Python ssl module attributes. Please
1669 refer to that documentation and bear in mind that configuring SSL for
1670 security is not trivial, and definitely not just a matter of enabling
1671 SSL. See: https://docs.python.org/2/library/ssl.html Some options may
1672 not be available with older versions of Python.
1673 Summary: --ssl-key=KEYFILE The key file to use.
1675 --ssl-cert=ERTFILEORDIR
1677 Certificate file, required for server SSL support.
1678 --ssl-protocol=PROTOCOLVERSION
1680 Specifies which version of the SSL protocol to use.
1681 --ssl-ca-certs=CACERTSFILE
1683 The ca_certs file contains a set of concatenated 'certification
1684 authority' certificates. If a directory is specified, it should
1685 contain the certificates.
1686 --ssl-ca-data=ERTDATA
1688 Certificate data.
1689 --ssl-ciphers=CIPHERS
1691 Sets the available ciphers, it should be a string in the OpenSSL
1692 cipher list format.
1693 --ssl-client-verify-mode=none|optional|required
1695 Whether to try to verify the client's certificates and how to
1696 behave if verification fails.
1697 --ssl-server-verify-mode=none|optional|required
1699 Whether to try to verify the server's certificates and how to
1700 behave if verification fails.
1701 --ssl-verify-flags=FLAGS
1703 The flags for certificate verification operations.
1704 --ssl-check-hostname=yes|no
1706 Whether to match the peer cert's hostname.
1707 --ssl-options=options
1709 Set of SSL options enabled on this context.
1710 ENVIRONMENT
1714 DISPLAY
1716 xpra start --start-child=... sets this variable in the environ‐
1717 ment of the child to point to the xpra display.
1718 xpra attach, on the other hand, uses this variable to determine
1720 which display the remote applications should be shown on.
1721 XPRA_PASSWORD may be used with xpra attach instead of the pass‐
1723 word-file option.
1724
1727 xpra.conf stores default values for most options. There is a global
1728 configuration file in /etc or /usr/local/etc, and each user may over‐
1729 ride those defaults by creating the file .xpra/xpra.conf. You can also
1730 split the options into multiple files by placing them in a conf.d di‐
1731 rectory with the .conf extension. Depending on OS and version, xpra
1732 uses the directory ~/.xpra or /run/<uid>/xpra to store a number of
1733 files. (The examples below are given for the display :7.)
1734 ~/.xpra/:7
1736 The unix domain socket that clients use to contact the xpra
1737 server, if the system configuration uses this directory.
1738 ~/.xpra/:7.log
1740 When run in daemon mode (the default), the xpra server directs
1741 all output to this file. This includes all debugging output, if
1742 debugging is enabled.
1743 ~/.xpra/run-xpra
1745 A shell script that, when run, starts up xpra with the correct
1746 python interpreter, PYTHONPATH, PATH, location of the main xpra
1747 script, etc. Automatically generated by xpra initenv, xpra
1748 start and used by xpra attach (see also the discussion of --re‐
1749 mote-xpra).
1750
1752 Xpra has no test suite.
1753 Xpra does not fully handle all aspects of the X protocol; for instance,
1755 fancy input features like pressure-sensitivity on tablets, some window
1756 manager hints, and probably other more obscure parts of the X protocol.
1757 It does, however, degrade gracefully, and patches for each feature
1758 would be gratefully accepted.
1759 The xpra server allocates an over-large framebuffer when using Xvfb;
1761 this wastes memory. If the Xvfb does not support RandR this can also
1762 cause applications to misbehave (e.g. by letting menus go off-screen).
1763 This is not a problem when using Xdummy, see the --xvfb= switch for de‐
1764 tails. Conversely, if the framebuffer is ever insufficiently large,
1765 clients will misbehave in other ways (e.g., input events will be misdi‐
1766 rected).
1767
1769 Send any questions or bugs reports to https://xpra.org/trac/
1770
1772 screen(1),
1773 XPRA(1)