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- +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
- | This is a brief summary of changes introduced in each TightVNC |
- | release. For more details, please see ChangeLog files included |
- | in TightVNC source and binary archives. |
- +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
-
- * TightVNC 1.2.8
-
- - Unix and Win32 versions: Support for a separate view-only password
- has been implemented. Now the servers support two passwords -- one
- to allow full control, another to restrict remote keyboard and
- mouse input.
-
- - Win32 version: The password reset problem has been solved. In
- versions starting from 1.2.4, the password could get changed in
- the registry on opening Properties dialog and just hitting the OK
- button.
-
- - Win32 version: New "-reload" command-line option has been
- implemented in Win32 server. It forces the running instance to
- reload the registry settings.
-
- - Win32 version: "RemoveWallpaper" and "LockSetting" options have
- been made configurable in the Properties dialog; the code has been
- ported from RealVNC 3.3.6.
-
- - Win32 version: Support for "AllowEditClients" registry setting has
- been ported from RealVNC 3.3.6.
-
- - Unix version: New "-x11cursor" option has been implemented in
- vncviewer; a patch from Peter Astrand. This option allows using a
- real X11 cursor with X11-style cursor shape updates, disables the
- dot cursor, and disables cursor position updates in non-fullscreen
- mode.
-
- - Unix version: New "RunCommand" command to customize the X11
- vncviewer popup menu has been implemented; a patch from Peter
- Astrand.
-
- - Unix version: Several patches from Debian Linux have been applied.
- This should fix a number of bugs and improve building on some
- platforms supported by Debian Linux.
-
- - Unix version: A problem with Xvnc eating all CPU time after xfs
- restarts has been fixed; a patch from Martin Koegler.
-
- - Other minor improvements and bugfixes.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- * TightVNC 1.2.7
-
- - Unix and Win32 versions, Java viewer: The most significant problem
- with local cursor handling has been solved -- now clients can see
- remote cursor movements performed on the server or by another
- client. New PointerPos encoding and cursor shape updates both
- minimize bandwidth requirements and greatly improve responsiveness
- of the mouse pointer, while still allow to track correct pointer
- position in all situations.
-
- - Unix and Win32 versions: In all the places where display numbers
- had to be used, now it's easy to use port numbers as well. The
- viewers now allow to use new "hostname::port" syntax, in addition
- to the traditional "hostname:display" format. The same new syntax
- can be used in the "Add new client" dialog of Win32 server. In the
- server, now it's equally easy to set display and port numbers.
- Besides that, HTTP and RFB port numbers can be set individually.
-
- - Unix and Win32 versions: In servers, decreased JPEG quality
- factors for low quality levels. This improves bandwidth usage
- while the image quality remains satisfactory in most cases. In
- clients, JPEG compression is now enabled by default, because
- usually it's a reasonable choice. To prevent viewers from
- requesting JPEG compression, new -nojpeg option can be used.
-
- - Unix and Win32 versions: Improved installer under Windows, better
- RPMs for Linux.
-
- - Win32 version: Major enhancements in layout and functionality of
- the dialog boxes.
-
- - Win32 version: New keyboard handling code has been ported from
- RealVNC 3.3.6. This should solve all the issues with arrow keys
- acting as numbers in console windows, and shift+arrows not working
- under Win2k.
-
- - Win32 version: Adopted WinVNC -reinstall option from RealVNC
- 3.3.5, together with a number of other changes in different
- places. The viewer now accepts a port number after the -listen
- command-line option, an improvement from RealVNC 3.3.6.
-
- - Win32 version: Eliminated high CPU usage on the server before
- sending cursor shape updates.
-
- - Unix version: Bugfix for Xvnc's -localhost and -interface options
- that were broken on many systems, thanks to Luke Mewburn for the
- bugfix. Xvnc -version command-line option is now supported.
-
- - Tight encoding is now documented in rfbproto.h files within source
- archives.
-
- - Java viewer: Implemented new buttons "Login again" and "Close
- window" near the disconnect or error messages in the applet mode,
- and introduced new "Offer Relogin" parameter to control this
- improvement. Thanks to Peter Astrand for the initial version of
- the "Login again" patch.
-
- - Java viewer: Support for connections via HTTP proxies using HTTP
- CONNECT method. This will not work in the applet mode, due to Java
- security restrictions.
-
- - Java viewer: Extra .vnc files have been removed, having just
- index.vnc should be enough. Also, an example HTML page has been
- prepared, to simplify installation under a standalone Web server.
-
- - Java viewer: Added a MANIFEST to the JAR archive, to allow easy
- execution of the JAR file, using java -jar command-line option.
-
- - Other minor improvements and bugfixes.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- * TightVNC 1.3dev1, Win32 development (unstable) version
-
- - Implemented partial screen sharing. Any single window or any
- rectangular screen area can be shared instead of the whole screen.
- The position and dimensions of the shared screen area can be
- changed dynamically, and client windows will adjust their
- dimensions on the fly. The user interface to choose shared screen
- area is very intuitive and easy to use.
-
- - Screen resolution changes won't cause WinVNC to disconnect clients
- any more (but changes in screen color format still result in
- disconnects, this will be fixed later).
-
- - It's possible to make WinVNC ignore remote inputs when local mouse
- or keyboard is in use. Remote events will be re-enabled after a
- specified timeout (3 seconds by default).
-
- - There may be other changes I forgot to mention. :-)
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- * TightVNC 1.2.6
-
- - Win32 version: In this version, when WinVNC binds to a local TCP
- port, it does not try to check several times if the port is in
- use. It just re-uses the port if the display number is not set to
- "Auto". One visible effect of this change is that the delay
- between starting up and showing the icon is greatly reduced.
-
- - Unix version: Fixed the bug which caused the vncserver script to
- fail when the XAUTHORITY environment variable was not set.
-
- - Unix version: Fixed the bug which prevented the vncpasswd utility
- from setting correct permissons on the passwd file.
-
- - Unix version: Fixed a repeated challenge replay attack
- vulnerability, bugtraq id 5296.
-
- - Unix version: Added files to simplify building of Linux RPMs,
- thanks to Peter Astrand.
-
- - Unix version: Improved scrolling in the full-screen mode, modified
- patch from Ville Herva.
-
- - Minor cleanups.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- * TightVNC 1.2.5
-
- - Win32 version: Fixed a problem in the I/O subsystem that was
- introduced in TightVNC 1.2.2 and was causing major slowdown in
- communication with clients.
-
- - Win32 version: Enabled remote upgrade in the installation script.
- Also, the installer will install a copy of the TightVNC Web site,
- and will create shortcuts to most important documentation pages.
-
- - Win32 version: Implemented new feature to specify applet
- parameters in URL requests being sent to the built-in HTTP server.
- Added support for new "EnableURLParams" registry setting which can
- be used to enable this feature.
-
- - Win32 version: Added support for the NewFBSize pseudo-encoding
- allowing to change framebuffer geometry on the fly on server's
- request.
-
- - Win32 version: Included "solution" and "project" files for MS
- Visual Studio 7, from Andrew van der Stock, applied a set of minor
- fixes to suppress compilation warnings under MS Visual Studio 7.
-
- - Win32 version: The viewer now tries to preserve the size and
- position of the desktop window after applying new connection
- options.
-
- - Unix version: Implemented new feature to specify applet parameters
- in URL requests being sent to the built-in HTTP server. Added
- support for new $PARAMS variable in .vnc HTML templates.
-
- - Unix version: Added the possibility to keep users' vnc directories
- under /tmp, as suggested by Ivan Popov. This mode can be enabled
- by editing the $vncUserDir variable in the vncserver script. Also,
- new -t option has been implemented in the vncpasswd utility which
- allows to change VNC password files under /tmp.
-
- - Unix version: Applied Xvnc -viewonly patch from Ehud Karni.
-
- - Unix version: Applied Linux/PowerPC Xvnc fix from Peter A. Castro.
-
- - Unix version: Bug fixed: Xvnc failed to reset compression level
- and JPEG image quality on reading lists of encodings supported by
- clients.
-
- - Unix version: Made the viewer handle XCursor encoding operating on
- the framebuffer instead of setting new cursors directly in X.
-
- - Unix version: Applied a number of porting fixes from Ki Networks,
- Inc.
-
- - Java viewer: Added new feature allowing to save RFB sessions in
- FBS files compatible with rfbproxy. This feature works only if JVM
- security manager allows access to the local filesystem, which is
- usually true only when the viewer is used as a standalone
- application or if the viewer applet is cryptographically signed.
- New "Record" button will appear in the button panel if this
- feature is enabled.
-
- - Java viewer: Added new "ENCPASSWORD" parameter, modified patch
- from Peter Astrand.
-
- - Java viewer: Applied patch from Peter Astrand to fix problems with
- Swedish keys and broken JVMs.
-
- - Other minor fixes and cleanups.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- * TightVNC 1.2.4
-
- - Win32 version: WinVNC crashes on reporting zero statistics were
- fixed. This should eliminate crashes when using x2vnc and win2vnc
- client programs.
-
- - Win32 version: a problem with listening viewer was fixed.
- Initiating multiple non-shared connections could crash the viewer
- application.
-
- - Win32 version: real passwords are never placed into the password
- text control in the WinVNC Properties dialog any more. This should
- prevent grabbing plain-text passwords from that text control.
-
- - Win32 version: logging on errors was improved to provide better
- diagnosis for errors, especially for those causing the message
- "Connection closed" right after authentication.
-
- - Win32 version: handling of log files was improved. Now WinVNC
- should be able to save backup copies of log files under
- Win95/98/Me. Also, all log files are now written in MS-DOS/Windows
- text format instead of the Unix one.
-
- - Win32 version: a problem with reporting error messages in the
- listening viewer was fixed.
-
- - Win32 version: reporting incorrect statistics in the Tight encoder
- was fixed.
-
- - Win32 version: HTML pages and templates for the built-in HTTP
- server were improved.
-
- - Unix version: applied patch from Ki Networks, Inc. solving build
- problems on a number of commercial Unix systems, and fixing a
- number of minor bugs and typos.
-
- - Unix version: added a possibility to denote standard input with
- the "-" file name instead of a real password file name.
-
- - Unix version: fixed a bug causing vncpasswd utility work
- incorrectly when a file name argument was given in the command
- line.
-
- - Unix version: applied patch to solve keyboard focus problems in
- the full-screen vncviewer, from Peter Astrand. The patch does not
- seem to solve all the issues, but definitely makes things better.
- New grabKeyboard resource was added to control full-screen mode
- behavior.
-
- - Java viewer: new "Show Offline Desktop" parameter was added to
- make the desktop still visible even after the remote side has
- closed connection.
-
- - Java viewer: error messages were made much more meaningful.
-
- - Java viewer: keyboard focus problems were fixed. This should
- prevent opening new windows (e.g. Options or Clipboard) behind the
- active authenticator or desktop window.
-
- - Java viewer: now "R"/"r" keys can be used to request screen
- updates in view-only mode.
-
- - Java viewer: applied patch from Peter Astrand to fix problems with
- Swedish keys and broken JVMs.
-
- - Other minor fixes and cleanups.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- * TightVNC 1.2.3
-
- - Unix and Win32 versions: zlib library was updated to the most
- recent version (1.1.4) where a potential security issue was fixed.
-
- - Unix and Win32 versions: fixed blocking I/O problems in built-in
- HTTP servers. Older versions had to wait while one client finishes
- his transaction, only then they served new client connections,
- thus making easy denial-of-service attacks possible.
-
- - Unix and Win32 versions: updated built-in Java viewer, see details
- below.
-
- - Win32 version: Added support for mouse wheel events. Wheel mouse
- support is fully compatible and interoperable with Unix version
- where this feature was available for a long time.
-
- - Win32 version (WinVNC): The -connect command-line option now
- accepts a display number after a hostname.
-
- - Win32 version: Creating associations for .vnc files in the
- installer.
-
- - Java viewer was GREATLY improved: the code was converted to Java
- 1.1, painting techniques were re-designed completely (now the
- viewer should work in MacOS), several new parameters were added,
- all parameters were documented in the README file. Most important
- new features include: support for 24-bit colors, JPEG support in
- Tight encoding, RFB Bell message support, new "Refresh" button, a
- possibility to operate in a separate scrollable window, dynamic
- view-only mode. Many more changes were introduces, see the
- ChangeLog for more information. Please note that new Java viewer
- class names were changed, e.g. vncviewer.jar file has become
- VncViewer.jar etc.
-
- - Unix version: a number of changes in the vncserver script, e.g.
- the default color depth is now 24, extra delay after Xvnc startup
- removed, font path is now configurable in the beginning of the
- script, and more.
-
- - Unix version: zlib library was removed from the core X sources.
- Instead, both vncviewer and Xvnc now can use either system zlib
- and JPEG libraries, or ones packaged within TightVNC source
- archive in the lib/ directory. Unix sources are distributed in two
- versions: one with these libraries for those who don't have them
- installed in the system, and another version without libraries,
- copied directly from CVS, for those who do have zlib and/or JPEG
- libraries installed. In the former case, build procedure would
- include additional "make libs" step. System libraries will be
- linked dynamically, libraries included in the source archive will
- be linked in statically.
-
- - Unix version now includes comprehensive manual pages for
- vncviewer, vncserver, Xvnc, vncconnect and vncpasswd programs. The
- vncinstall script in the source distribution now accepts one more
- parameter allowing to specify where to install manual pages.
-
- - Unix version (Xvnc): a number of patches from Red Hat Linux vnc
- package were incorporated into the TightVNC codebase. This adds
- support for more architectures including s390 and s390x, adds a
- possibility to use tcp_wrappers for Xvnc access control.
-
- - Unix version (Xvnc): several bugfixes, e.g. applied patch to fix
- crash in the code dealing with font server; fixed word alignment
- problem in raw encoder experienced by Sparc users.
-
- - Unix version is no more distributed as patches to a standard VNC
- release. This is because patches cannot handle changes in binary
- files and handle file removals very inefficiently.
-
- - Other minor fixes and cleanups.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- * TightVNC 1.2.2
-
- - Win32 server: long-standing Win9x resource consumption problem has
- been fixed. Now the server thread does not use blocking I/O, and
- therefore is always ready to process messages from the VNCHooks
- DLL.
-
- - Win32 server: now built-in HTTP daemon may be enabled and disabled
- interactively from the Advanced Preferences dialog (this setting
- is saved in new "EnableHTTPDaemon" registry key).
-
- - Win32 server: changes in layout and text of the Advanced
- Preferences dialog.
-
- - Xvnc: Minor bugfix which should prevent potential dereference of a
- NULL pointer.
-
- - Unix viewer: Now viewer window would be raised on beep (bell)
- event, unless new -noraiseonbeep option is provided in the command
- line or "raiseOnBeep" resource set to False.
-
- - One more packaging option for the Unix source: ready to build
- archive with Zlib and JPEG libraries inside.
-
- - Other minor fixes and cleanups.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- * TightVNC 1.2.1
-
- - Win32 server: added support for reverse connections on ports other
- than 5500, modified patch from Steve Kann.
-
- - Win32 viewer: added support for new command-line options:
- -noshared and -encoding XXX.
-
- - Bugfixes in Win32 viewer: changes in exception handling eliminate
- Borland C++ compilation problems causing application crashes on
- repetitive connections, notably in the listen mode. Also, now
- warning exceptions causing disconnects are reported to user,
- except for the case when a user has closed the viewer window.
-
- - Better packaging in Win32 version: self-installing package is
- available, vncviewer now shows correct icon image.
-
- - Unix vncviewer: Default tunneling command template has been
- changed, to allow tunneled connections to hosts where only
- loopback VNC connections are enabled. New -via <GATEWAY>
- command-line option provides enhanced tunneling functionality, now
- one can make vncviewer tunnel connections to a VNC host via third
- machine acting as a gateway.
-
- - Java viewer: Addition of new parameters PASSWORD, "Show Controls",
- and "View Only", modified patch from Steve Kann.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- * TightVNC 1.2.0
-
- - Tight encoding is now configurable and can operate at different
- compression levels where low compression levels are very fast in
- terms of CPU usage. New "-compresslevel N" option implemented in
- vncviewer to set compression levels for Tight encoding (1 - fast,
- 9 - best).
-
- - Enhanced techniques to split large rectangles in Tight encoder;
- now it tries to find large solid-color areas and send them in
- separate rectangles.
-
- - Lossy JPEG compression in Tight encoding has been implemented, new
- "-quality N" vncviewer option should be used to enable this
- feature (0 - low image quality and best compression, 9 - best
- image quality). JPEG compression is used only for screen areas
- that seem to be suitable for JPEG compression (although algorithms
- to detect such areas are not perfect, of course).
-
- - New "XCursor" and "RichCursor" encodings implemented. They are
- used to transmit cursor shape updates from server to clients
- ("local cursor" feature requested by many users). Mouse movement
- no longer causes framebuffer updates to happen, vncviewer
- processes mouse locally when this feature is active. New
- -nocursorshape vncviewer option turns this feature off.
-
- - A number of recent changes from both TridiaVNC and AT&T's releases
- merged into the source, now the code is based on version 3.3.3r2
- for Unix part, and on 3.3.3r9 for Win32.
-
- - Unix vncviewer: When -tunnel option is specified in the command
- line, special rules are now used to choose preferred encoding. Now
- viewer does not think that server is running on the same machine
- when tunneling is on and the preferred encoding is now "tight"
- with default compression instead of raw.
-
- - Xvnc: Rules to set default pixel formats have been changed: now
- they are RGB565 instead of BGR556 for color depth 16, and RGB888
- instead of BGR888 for depth 24. This makes Xvnc compatible with
- Imlib renderer used in Gnome and also helps to avoid unnecessary
- pixel format translations in many cases.
-
- - Xvnc: X11 modifier mapped to META key is now Mod4 instead of Mod1.
- New -compatiblekbd option implemented in Xvnc to force META and
- ALT keys behave the same way as they do in the original AT&T's
- version.
-
- - A number of bugs fixed: viewer crashes after inflate() call, Xvnc
- CoRRE encoding problems, Xvnc bit-order issues in XCursor and
- RichCursor encodings, etc.
-
- - Java viewer now supports Tight encoding and cursor shape updates.
- Drawing techniques were changed, settings "Raw pixel drawing:
- Fast/Reliable" and "CopyRect: Fast/Reliable" removed from the
- Options panel since they do not make sense in new drawing model.
-
- - Other new features, optimizations, fixes and cleanups, see
- ChangeLog files.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- * VNC Tight Encoding 1.1
-
- - New ``gradient'' filter implemented in servers (it can be disabled
- in Xvnc with new -lazytight option). The filter preprocess
- full-color screen areas prior to compression in order to achieve
- better compression ratios (with the cost of slower compression).
- Vncviewers of version 1.0 had support for this filter already, but
- there was small bug causing image distortions in certain cases. So
- it is recommended to upgrade both servers and viewers.
-
- - Stupid bug fixed: extra unused color was included in palettes in
- many cases; compression ratios used to be worse than they should
- be.
-
- - The algorithm used to split large rectangles into parts has been
- changed. This change can increase compression ratios in many
- situations.
-
- - Byte-order issues in servers have been (hopefully) fixed.
-
- - Performance tuning, code rewrites and cleanups in various places.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- * VNC Tight Encoding 1.0
-
- - Initial release.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-