wayvnc

Introduction

This is a VNC server for wlroots based Wayland compositors. It attaches to a running Wayland session, creates virtual input devices and exposes a single display via the RFB protocol. The Wayland session may be a headless one, so it is also possible to run wayvnc without a physical display attached.

For support, join the #wayvnc IRC channel on freenode.

Building

Runtime Dependencies

• EGL
• libuv
• libxkbcommon
• neatvnc
• OpenGL ES V2.0
• pixman

Build Dependencies

• GCC
• meson
• ninja
• pkg-config

The easiest way to satisfy the neatvnc dependency is to clone it into the subprojects directory:

mkdir subprojects
git clone https://github.com/any1/neatvnc.git subprojects/neatvnc

Setting the buildtype flag is not required but it is recommended as there are significant performance gains to be had from an optimised build.

meson build --buildtype=release
ninja -C build

Running

Wayvnc can be run from the build directory like so:

./build/wayvnc

☢️ The server only accepts connections from localhost by default. To accept connections via any interface, set the address to 0.0.0.0 like this:

./build/wayvnc 0.0.0.0

⚠️ Do not do this on a public network or the internet without user authentication enabled. The best way to protect your VNC connection is to use SSH tunneling while listening on localhost, but users can also be authenticated when connecting to Wayvnc.

Encryption & Authentication

You'll need a private X509 key and a certificate. A self signed key with a certificate can be generated like so:

openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -sha256 -days 3650 -nodes \
	-keyout key.pem -out cert.pem -subj /CN=localhost \
	-addext subjectAltName=DNS:localhost,DNS:localhost,IP:127.0.0.1

Replace localhost and 127.0.0.1 in the command above with your public facing host name and IP address, respectively, or just keep them as is if you're testing locally.

Create a config with the authentication info and load it using the --config command line option or place it at the default location $HOME/.config/wayvnc/config.

address=0.0.0.0
enable_auth=true
username=luser
password=p455w0rd
private_key_file=/path/to/key.pem
certificate_file=/path/to/cert.pem

Compatible Software

See https://github.com/any1/neatvnc#client-compatibility