What's New in TightVNC

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TightVNC 1.3.10

• Windows Server: Impersonating currently logged on user while processing file transfer requests. Disabling file transfers if current user is unknown or nobody is logged in.

• Windows Server: Fixed rendering problems when multiple CopyRects were combined with normal updates. That could caused distortions that never updated even with full-screen polling active.

• Windows Server: Added new "-silent" command-line option which modifies the behavior of -install, -reinstall and -remove options and makes them not show informational windows on successful execution. Note that -silent should precede other respective options in the command line.

• Windows Server: LastRect, XCursor and RichCursor pseudo-encodings were not properly enabled if they preceded true encodings in the SetEncodings protocol message.

• Windows Viewer: Fixed integer overflow vulnerabilities reported by Core Security Technologies. A specially modified VNC server could currupt the heap of the connected viewer causing its crash or malfunction.

• Windows Viewer: TightVNC Viewer version 1.3.9 saved only successful connections in the list of recently visited VNC servers. Now we save unsuccessful connections too so that users would not ever have to re-type server names after connection failures. Also, several other enhancements were made to the code which handles the list of recent connections.

• Windows Viewer: Fixed a bug with not loading passwords from saved .vnc files correctly if the first byte of their encrypted representation was zero.

• Windows Viewer: Fixed problems under Windows Vista where Windows taskbar could remain visible above the full-screen window.

• Windows Viewer: Fixed a problem with decoding JPEG rectangles wider than 2048 pixels.

• Windows Viewer: Fixed a bug with not saving log file name correctly on using the Browse button.

• Windows Viewer: Usability improvements in the "New Connection" dialog.

• Windows Packaging: Improved installer and uninstall utility. In this version, self-installing executable will not try to install service in Windows Vista. Improved uninstall program always removes the WinVNC service if it was previously installed.

• Unix Server: Applied fixes for 64-bit Linux issues, a patch from Russel Miranda.

• Unix Server: Made the vncserver script read configuration from files (system-wide /etc/tightvncserver.conf and user-specific $HOME/.vnc/tightvncserver.conf).

• All viewers: Allow configuring JPEG quality level regardless of the preferred encoding set. This makes sense because TightVNC Servers can transmit video data as JPEG even if Tight is not the preferred encoding.

• Java viewer: Fixed a bug that caused NullPointerException when connecting to any VNC server not supporting TightVNC protocol extensions.

• Java viewer: Fixed a bug with ignoreCursorUpdates option in 24-bit color mode caused the viewer to disconnect. Thanks to Damien Mascre for pointing out the issue.

• Java viewer: PORT parameter is not required any more, now it defaults to 5900.

• Java viewer: Do not defer update requests by default, to minimize delays in screen updates.

• Java viewer: Improvements in reporting statistics on disconnect.

• Java viewer: Added debugging parameters (DEBUG_XU, DEBUG_CU) that allow using the viewer as a tool for measuring VNC server performance.

• Other minor improvements and bugfixes.

TightVNC 1.3.9

• All platforms: Added support for the standard RFB protocol version 3.8 with TightVNC extensions.

• All platforms: Made "host:port" parsing maximally compatible with VNC4. Interpreting a number in host names like somehost:5900 as an actual port number if it's not in the range [0..99].

• Windows Server: Various user interface enhancements - changes in GUI labels, tray icon with a red border when incoming connections are not possible for any reason, more information in the tray icon tip, smarter logic in displaying the Properties dialog, and more.

• Windows Server: Fixed a problem introduced in TightVNC 1.3.8 - default passwords were not respected if user passwords were not set.

• Windows Server: Slightly improved handling of passwords. One of the notable changes is that now it's enough to enter a view-only password without providing primary password.

• Windows Server: Fixed problems with running WinVNC service and Terminal Services. When a Remote Desktop (RDP) client connected to the console, WinVNC showed black screen and did not restore normal operations even on disconnection of that RDP client. Now, we always share the console correctly, and disable simultaneous RDP and VNC sessions. The changes were ported from VNC 4.1.2.

• Windows Server: Better way of simulating Ctrl+Alt+Del. There are reports that this solves the problem with greyed username and password fields on Windows 2003 Server (bug #887617).

• Windows Server: Bugfix for the bug #1109102: attempt to restart the machine remotely via TightVNC led to disconnect if there was some non-saved data, and further connections were rejected.

• Windows Viewer: Multiple selection now works in file transfers, thanks to developers at Novell and personally Rohit Kumar.

• Windows Viewer: The viewer terminated silently when the server dropped connection right after accepting it. Now we report such errors.

• Windows version source archive: Included project files for compiling with Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition. Also, all required libraries are now included within the source distribution.

• Unix Server: Applied patches from Debian Linux that port Xvnc to x86_64 platform (tightvnc-1.2.9-amd64support.p and tightvnc-1.3_alpha7-x86_64.patch), thanks to Quanah Gibson-Mount.

• Java viewer: Implemented scaling, either with a fixed scaling factor or automatic. If Java 2D API is available (Java 1.2 and higher), then high-quality scaling is used. From the other side, the viewer remains compatible with Java 1.1 where it would simply use scaling with much decreased image quality. Scaling can be enabled with new "Scaling Factor" parameter but cannot be controlled from the GUI yet.

• Java viewer: Added support for ZRLE encoding.

• Java viewer: Disabled focus traversal keys under JVMs 1.4 and higher. This fixes the problem with not sending Tab key events to the VNC server.

• Java viewer: Fixed wrong pixel format interpretation at decoding RichCursor pseudo-encoding (local cursor could be rendered in wrong colors).

• Other improvements and bugfixes, see ChangeLog files within the distribution for more details.

TightVNC 1.3.8, release candidate version

• Win32 server: Fixed major problem with disconnecting clients on screen locking, user logoff and logon, in the service mode.

• Win32 server: Added support for DFMirage driver direct screen access mode (from DemoForge LLC).

• Win32 server: Added support for multiple monitors (from DemoForge LLC).

• Win32 server: Improved layout and functionality of the Properties dialog.

• Win32 server: More accurate password handling - now the server code tries to distinguish between "empty" and "unset" passwords better.

• Win32 server: New -shareall, -shareprimary and -sharearea command-line options, working similarly to the -sharewindow option.

• Win32 server: Fixed problems with restoring desktop wallpaper.

• Win32 viewer: Fixed bug with not enabling JPEG compression by default.

• Win32 viewer: Fixed bug with not setting proper size of the viewer window.

• Unix server: Port numbers are now calculated modulo 65536 with vncviewer's -listen option. That makes it possible to listen on TCP ports under 5900.

• Java viewer: Automatic encoding selection based on measuring current network throughput.

• Other improvements and bugfixes, see ChangeLog files within the distribution for more details.

TightVNC 1.3dev7, release candidate version

• Win32 server: Fixed the problem with "olemainthreadwndname not responding" in service mode under Windows NT 4.0. Under that OS, the TightVNC service could hang on logoff.

• Win32 server: Removed the code for "desktop optimizations" that was rather harmful than useful. Hopefully, this should fix problems with crashing Delphi applications. Also this should prevent settings like font smoothing always set to true on disconnect.

• Win32 server: Fixed the issue with port number edit boxes that were labeled incorrectly in the Properties dialog.

• Win32 server: Disallowing clipboard transfers in view-only mode.

• Win32 server: Fixed the problem with carriage return/linefeed conversion of clipboard data.

• Win32 server: Fixed the problem with wallpaper being removed only after completing the initial screen transmission.

• Win32 server: Minor improvements in the File Transfers dialog.

• Win32 server: More context help messages in Properties and File Transfers dialogs.

• Unix server: Fixed a serious bug with sending cursor updates when there was no FrameBufferUpdateRequest from that client.

• Unix server: Fixed problems with building Xvnc on modern linux distributions, such as Fedora Core 3.

• Unix server: Disallowing clipboard transfers for view-only clients.

• Other improvements and bugfixes, see ChangeLog files within the distribution for more details.

TightVNC 1.3dev6, Win32 release candidate version

• Win32 server: Improved layout of the Properties dialog, added context help for every option. Also, current mirror driver status is shown in the Hooks tab.

• Win32 server: Implemented new checkbox "Enable applet params in URLs" corresponding to EnableURLParams registry setting.

• Win32 server: The option "Don't use mirror display driver even if available" is now functional.

• Win32 server: New option "Blank screen on client connections". When set and new client connects, the server's monitor is forced to go to power saving mode.

• Win32 server: Fixed bugs with saving certain settings in the registry, and bugs with setting default values when the registry is not writable.

• Win32 server: Fixed a problem with one-pixel mouse offset.

• Win32 server: Fixed problems with inter-thread locking, this should solve "Unhandled message type received" problems.

• Win32 server: Fixed a problem with the setting "Block remote input on local activity", it was not working with DLL hooks disabled.

• Win32 server: Fixed various problems with file transfer implementation. Error handling was improved, the C: drive bug under Win98/Me seems to be solved.

• Win32 viewer: New "Auto" scaling mode. In this mode, the viewer scales remote desktop to fit local window or screen size. If the window size is changed, the scaling factor is adjusted automatically.

• Win32 viewer: Now the viewer checks server's capabilities and does not ever use non-standard protocol messages not supported by the server. This change affects file transfers only, as other features do not use non-standard protocol messages..

• Java viewer: New "scale remote cursor" option has been added. It allows to reduce or enlarge cursor image in the full-control mode.

• Java viewer: A cursor repaint problem has been fixed.

• Other improvements and bugfixes, see ChangeLog files within the distribution for more details.

TightVNC 1.3dev5, development version

• Win32 server: Support for the "DFMirage" mirror video driver has been added (the driver itself will be available separately). Using the mirror driver greatly increases the speed and reliability of updates, and also desreases CPU utilization on the server.

• Win32 server: New polling algorithm has been implemented. It's similar to that found in x0rfbserver. New algorithm uses minimum CPU time when there are no changes on the screen, and detects major changes very quickly, resulting in greatly improved responsiveness on the client side.

• Win32 server: Improved methods for filtering screen changes that actually do not change anything. New algorithm not only works faster, but it also detects changes much more accurately, leaving less work to encoders.

• Win32 viewer: A special mode for Unix users has been implemented: when ScrollLock is on, the viewer will send Meta on pressing Alt keys.

• Win32 server: Fixed a problem with view-only clients that were enabled full control on just opening the Properties dialog of the server.

• Win32 server: It should not ever hang any more on changing ports or the LoopbackOnly setting.

• Win32 server: DisableTrayIcon and RemoveWallpaper settings are working again.

• Win32 server: The problem with not saving Query Settings has been fixed.

• Win32 server: The polling mode "on event received only" has been fixed - it did not work correctly in previous version.

• Win32 server: Fixed a number of issues with mouse handling, including that annoying problem with pointer jumping on slow connections.

• Win32 server: Applied a bugfix from HorizonLive solving the problem with crashes or incorrect operation after color depth changes on the server's desktop.

• Win32 viewer: It does not crash any more on entering long passwords in the authentication window.

• Win32 viewer: Positioning and resizing logic of the viewer window has been improved.

• Win32 viewer: Now the viewer chooses more reasonable file names for saved .vnc sessions.

• Win32 viewer: In the full-screen mode, the viewer allows other windows to be shown above the remote desktop. This makes hotkeys such as Shift-Ctrl-Alt-O useful in the full-screen mode.

• Unix version: A number of bugfixes -- copying clipboard to non-authenticated clients in Xvnc, delayed cursor shape updates in Xvnc, and crashing on switching between KDE virtual desktops in vncviewer.

• Unix viewer: Support for the new -autopass option has been added, a patch from Ki NETWORKS, Inc.

• Other changes, see ChangeLog files within the distribution for more details.

TightVNC 1.3dev4, development version

• Featuring updated Unix version and Java viewer, supporting RFB protocol version 3.7, with or without TightVNC protocol extensions. Version 3.3 of the protocol is supported as well.

• Win32 version: Built-in Java viewer was absent in the previous development version; now it's available again.

• Win32 version: Now the server does not crash on remote Ctrl-Alt-Del events, and on changing display modes.

• Win32 version: A problem with reinstalling the service has been fixed (WinVNC -reinstall command-line option). In previous versions, reinstalling the service could fail if a user did not close "Service unregistered" message box within a few seconds.

• Win32 version: Now the server does not hang on selecting equal RFB and HTTP port numbers. A warning is shown instead.

• Win32 version: The server does not hang on toggling loopback connection options, and on changing port/display numbers.

• Win32 version: WinVNC does not crash on choosing "Kill All Clients" during file download.

• Win32 version: CopyRect handling in the server has been fixed, the CopyRect encoding is enabled again.

• Win32 version: The Advanced Properties dialog of the server has been removed. The controls of that dialog has been moved to tabs in the Properties dialog.

• Win32 version: Context help in the server's Properties dialog has been implemented (although not all descriptions are ready yet).

• Unix viewer: Fixed a bug with the viewer crashing on selecting text in Xvnc, and then choosing F8 / Clipboard: local -> remote, twice.

• There was some progress on supporting pluggable encryption and authentication methods, in both Win32 and Unix versions, and in the Java viewer.

• Other changes, see ChangeLog files within the distribution for more details.

TightVNC 1.3dev3, Win32 development (unstable) version

• All features and fixes from 1.2.9 and 1.3dev1 versions included.

• Improved GUI of the viewer featuring toolbar, hotkeys, pre-set connection profiles, more configuration options, context help in dialogs, and more. Finally, the viewer remembers all per-connection and global settings in the registry.

• File transfers between viewer and server machines.

• Support for RFB protocol version 3.7, with TightVNC extensions.

• A possibility to turn off hooking via VNCHooks.dll in WinVNC while full screen polling is in use.

• Other changes, see ChangeLog files within the distribution for more details.

TightVNC 1.2.9

• Win32 version: Major security-related bug in the server has been fixed -- handling of the "QueryAllowNoPass" option was seriously broken. Together with fixing this bug, the whole authentication logic in the server code has been redesigned.

• Win32 version: Now the HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry hive is being closed properly on restoring display settings, on disconnect. This change should solve the problem with unloading the registry on logout, when WinVNC is running as a service.

• Win32 version: Problems with "QuerySetting" and "QueryTimeout" options have been fixed -- the settings could be copied from user configuration to default settings without user's intention.

• Win32 version: A long-standing bug has been fixed -- the logic to handle retries after authentication failures was flawed, and used to delete the same object twice under certain conditions.

• Win32 version: Now it's possible to specify port numbers with the winvnc -connect option, using the "host::port" format. Also, providing a -connect option without arguments now brings up the "Add New Client" dialog.

• Unix version: New "Request refresh" button has been implemented in the viewer's F8 popup menu.

• Unix version: Xvnc compilation fixes for HP-UX and MacOS X have been applied, from Ki NETWORKS, Inc.

• Unix version: New vncpasswd -f command-line option has been implemented. It allows providing passwords on stdin and writes encrypted passwords to stdout. In addition, the password file name "-" now denotes stdout. Finally, a buffer overflow has been fixed in vncpasswd -- it could be caused by a long file name in the command line.

• Unix version: A patch to fix input focus problems in the X11 viewer has been applied, from Greg Breland.

• Unix version: A patch fixing Xvnc crashes on Sparc has been applied, from the RealVNC distribution.

• Unix version: A problem with incorrect port interpretation has been fixed, in the vncviewer's -tunnel option handling. Thanks to Clark Sessions.

• Java viewer: A modification from Bernd Krueger-Knauber has been accepted, to pass through X keysyms for foreign currencies.

• Java viewer: The problem with initial keyboard focus not set to the desktop on some JVMs has been fixed.

• Other minor improvements and bugfixes.

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.