LinuxDoors 1.48
KDE Plasma 6.8 and GNOME 51 now connect from the X2Go Client Wayland AppImage on a fresh LinuxDoors install. Both run headless on the server and are reachable only through the SSH connection the client opens.
↓Get it
1.48 is a package release. The ISO stays at v1.47, so there is nothing new to download or reinstall.
sudo pkg install gnome51-desktop sudo pkg install plasma68-desktop
Already installed? Run sudo pkg upgrade.
Download X2Go Client Wayland, create a session, and pick GNOME 51 (VNC) or Plasma 6.8 (VNC) as the session type.
Open the AppImage Store⇄How a connection works
- X2Go Client Wayland logs in to the server over SSH as your normal user.
- It runs the desktop's start command on the server with a new 8-digit password made for this session.
- The server starts the desktop headless: GNOME Shell with gnome-remote-desktop on port 5900, or KWin with krfb on port 5901. Both listen on 127.0.0.1 and ::1 only.
- The client carries that port through the same SSH connection and opens it in linuxdoors-vncviewer.
- When you close the viewer, the client runs the stop command and the desktop shuts down.
GGNOME 51
GNOME 51 failed with “Could not load schemas from /opt/gnome51/share/glib-2.0/schemas”. Fixing that uncovered several more problems, some of which showed up only on a fresh install. All are fixed.
| Package | Version | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| gnome-session-51 | 51.0-2 | The start script now builds GNOME 51's compiled settings file when it is missing or out of date. No package ever created it, so every fresh install failed. As a normal user it builds a private copy and points gnome-remote-desktop at it. The script also reports a real failure, with the last log lines, instead of claiming the desktop started. |
| gnome-autoarNew | 0.4.5 | GNOME Shell 51.1 loads this library at startup and stopped immediately without it. |
| glycin | 2.2.2 | GNOME Shell also needs its Gly library at startup. It is now pulled in by GNOME 51, and it no longer drags in the Rust compiler, which it only needs to build. |
| gnome-remote-desktop | 51.0-3 | Listens on 127.0.0.1 and ::1 only; it used to listen on every network address. Fixes an upstream bug that closed a stray file handle whenever a screen buffer was freed, which sometimes cut off a viewer or made reconnects fail. Keeps the session password in a private file, since a fresh install has no keyring service. |
| gnome-settings-daemon | 51.1 | Now installed with GNOME 51. It provides the Super+R resolution shortcut. Without it the client also showed a false “stopping may have failed” message when you disconnected. |
| gnome51-desktop | 51.0-1 | Now depends on x2goserver (the client checks its session list before starting the desktop) and on gnome-settings-daemon. |
KKDE Plasma 6.8
Plasma 6.8 has no X11 session, so it lives in its own location, /opt/plasma68, next to the Plasma 6.7.5 X11 desktop. It is reached the same way as GNOME 51.
| Package | Version | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| plasma68-desktop | 6.8.0-2 | The start script checked whether the desktop was ready with ss, which isn't on a normal user's path, so the client always reported that the session did not come up. Fixed, and the client now waits up to 4 minutes, enough for a slow first start. Now depends on x2goserver. |
| plasma68-krfb | 26.08.2-1 | Two fixes to the KDE VNC server: it listens on 127.0.0.1 and ::1 only, and it actually starts listening once a password is set (an upstream bug). |
| linux | 7.2.11 | KWin's headless mode needs /dev/udmabuf. Already in the v1.46 and v1.47 ISOs, usable by the render group. |
| wireplumber | 0.5.18 | The PipeWire session manager that carries the screen picture to krfb. |
▶X2Go Client Wayland
| Part | Version | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| X2GoClientWayland.AppImage | 4.1.2.3 | Offers both GNOME 51 (VNC) and Plasma 6.8 (VNC) session types. Replaces the earlier GNOME-only x2goclient-gnome51vnc. |
| linuxdoors-vncviewer | 1.0-1 | Red and blue were swapped in the picture. Fixed. |
🔒Security
- Both desktops accept VNC connections only from the server itself, so the only way in is through an SSH login.
- Each connection uses a new random password. For GNOME it is kept in
~/.local/share/gnome-remote-desktop/, readable only by that user. - Starting a desktop doesn't open any firewall port.
✓How it was tested
A fresh virtual machine booted from the published v1.47 ISO. Both desktops were installed with pkg install from linuxdoors.com, nothing by hand. Each was then driven the way the client does it: SSH as the linuxdoors user, the client's own start command, VNC through the SSH tunnel, and the client's stop command.
- PassedBoth desktops install cleanly with the new package versions.
- PassedGNOME 51 and Plasma 6.8 start as a normal user and show their desktops.
- PassedOnly 127.0.0.1 and ::1 are listening, on ports 5900 and 5901.
- PassedRepeated connections: 8 in a row to GNOME 51 and 3 in a row to Plasma 6.8, each showing the desktop.
- PassedThe stop command shuts each desktop down completely; nothing is left listening.
- PassedNo crashes in the user's log.
Also tested on a real LinuxDoors server with the X2Go Client Wayland AppImage: both desktops connect.
!Known limitations
- On a computer using NVIDIA's own (proprietary) driver, headless GNOME 51 crashes unless the NVIDIA card is hidden from GNOME's window manager with a udev rule. LinuxDoors doesn't ship that driver; Intel, AMD, nouveau and virtual machines work as they are.
- The first Plasma 6.8 connection after starting can take about a minute while the KDE screen-sharing service waits for a notification service.
- Plasma 6.8: the first click on an unfocused window only focuses it, and very fast typing can drop a letter.
- Changing the resolution restarts the remote desktop, which closes open apps.