❗Looking for a new maintainer 👀

[bk138]

As I am spending most of my time on other open source and business projects and (presumably) the other LibVNC members don't have time for x11vnc either (and its original author went MIA, see #63), I declare LibVNC is looking for a new x11vnc maintainer or co-maintainer.

What's the project about?

x11vnc is a VNC server not only for X11, it's got its own Wikipedia page and was (is?) quite popular as a standalone VNC server for Unices (in contrast to Xvnc servers which are both an X11 and a VNC server).

Current status of the project

The code is reasonably stable though quite old. It also contains support for a lot of ancient and probably unsupported platforms and OS's. Wayland support is only very rudimentary. Lot's of issues reported that need attention.

Should I apply?

Definitely! You should bring some experience in C coding and in maintaining open source project(s). The existing LibVNC members can help with some initial questions for getting started, but you're expected to first do your homework and in the long term run the project mostly on your own.

How to apply

Just post an answer to this issue describing your experience and interests.

[paulmenzel]

In lieu of volunteers, is there a commercial entity, which could be funded for doing the maintenance work?

[bk138]

In lieu of volunteers, is there a commercial entity, which could be funded for doing the maintenance work?

Well, yes. I do provide freelance services, but am currently quite busy with other projects, so anything to do with x11vnc will run in parallel to those. If it's just about #136, it feels a kinda awkward to ask €€€ for this, i.e. I can just do it and you can maybe send me a beer or coffee tip.

[profetik-777]

@bk138

I really come the appreciate this tool. I wonder instead of looking for a new maintainer, maybe consider:

1. Fork it

Leave this as legacy / deprecated and

2. Create a new variant that only targets a few modern distros.

This way, the new variant could potentially be a smaller code base (or comment the hell out of anything that is not applicable) and thus, easier to maintain.

Thoughts?

[bk138]

@profetik-777 I think that the modernisation of the codebase can actually happen in-place, so from my point of view there's no hard need for a fork (the legacy stuff in here is really legacy).

[linex-cd]

I am working on adding Wayland support to this project, in order to be compatible with existing softwares that depend on x11vnc. I'm not sure whether I should commit code or fork a new repo.

[bk138]

I am working on adding Wayland support to this project, in order to be compatible with existing softwares that depend on x11vnc. I'm not sure whether I should commit code or fork a new repo.

As no new development is happening in this repo, I propose you create a PR with your additions and once it's ready, it can be merged and you can be given write access to maintain it here.