OpenGL Vizserver 3.5.2

Release Notes

Introduction

Installation Information

Changes and Additions

Bug Fixes

Known Problems and Workarounds

Documentation Resources and Last-Minute Updates

1. Introduction

OpenGL Vizserver(TM) is an SGI technical computing solution that delivers advanced visualization capabilities and performance to the desktop. It also allows users to collaboratively view and interact with large data sets stored on a large visualization server using virtually any client at any location in an organization.

These notes describe OpenGL Vizserver 3.5.2

This document contains the following chapters:

1. Introduction
2. Installation Information
3. Changes and Additions
4. Bug Fixes
5. Known Problems and Workarounds
6. Documentation Resources and Last-Minute Updates

1.1 Release Identification Information

Following is the release identification information for OpenGL Vizserver:

Software Product	OpenGL Vizserver
Version	3.5.2
System Software Requirements	Refer to sections 2.1-2.2

1.2 Product Support

Silicon Graphics, Inc., provides a comprehensive product support maintenance program for its products. If you are in the U.S. or Canada and would like support for your Silicon Graphics-supported products, contact the Technical Assistance Center at (800) 800-4SGI. If you are outside these areas, contact the Silicon Graphics subsidiary or authorized distributor in your country.

2. Installation Information

This chapter lists supplemental information to the installation of the OpenGL Vizserver client and server software packages. The information listed here is product- and release-specific; use it with your system installation and administration guide to install this product.

Note : The OpenGL Vizserver 3.5.2 server is not compatible with the OpenGL Vizserver 3.4 or earlier clients and vice versa.

2.1 Platforms supported

This release of OpenGL Vizserver provides support for clients running any of the following software platforms:

• Linux IA32 - Red Hat Linux 9, SUSE Linux 9 and Fedora Core.
• Windows 2000 / Windows XP
• Mac OSX 10.3.5 or higher
• Linux IA64 - SGI ProPack 4 Service Pack 3

The server software is supported on the following systems running Linux IA64 SGI ProPack 4 Service Pack 3:

• Silicon Graphics Prism and Prism Deskside

2.2 Prerequisites

2.2.1 Linux IA32

The openGL Vizserver Linux client was tested and qualified to work on Red Hat Linux 9, SUSE Linux 9 and Fedora Core. However, in most cases it will run successfully on any i386 Linux distribution which satisfies the following requirements:

• XFree86 version 4.3 or higher.
• glibc version 2.3 or higher.
• libstdc++ version 3.2 or higher.
• libgcc version 3.2 or higher

Disk space usage: about 3 MBytes.

2.2.2 Windows

Your workstation must be running one of these operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 2 or later
• Microsoft Windows XP

And have these programs installed:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or later

Disk space usage : about 2 MBytes.

2.2.3 Mac OSX

Your workstation must run OS X 10.3.5 or later, and have X11 installed:

• http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/x11/download/

Disk space usage : about 6 MBytes.

2.3 Subsystems

OpenGL Vizserver supports clients running Linux, Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, and servers running SGI's LinuxIA64 ProPack.

2.3.1 Silicon Graphics Prism

OpenGL Vizserver for Silicon Graphics Prism includes these rpm files:

• sgi-vizserver-*.ia64.rpm : The client software for the product. It also contains authentication and compression libraries, man pages, release notes and user's guide.
• sgi-vizserver-server-*.ia64.rpm : The OpenGL Vizserver server. It contains several programs required for the normal operation of the OpenGL Vizserver server, as well as man pages, an administrator's guide, configuration files, and so on. The installation of the server subsystem requires the installation of the client subsystem.
• sgi-vizserver-devel-*.ia64.rpm : The OpenGL Vizserver modules development toolkit. It contains header files, libraries, and example code.

2.3.2 Linux IA32

OpenGL Vizserver for Linux includes these rpm files:

• SGIvizsvr-linux.i386.rpm : The client software for the product. It also contains authentication and compression libraries, man pages, release notes and user's guide.
• SGIvizdev-linux.i386.rpm : OpenGL Vizserver compression and authentication development toolkit. (Optional)

2.3.3 Windows

OpenGL Vizserver for Windows includes one self-extracted SETUP file: SGIvizsvr-win32.exe. It contains the following optional components:

• Documentation : OpenGL Vizserver User's Guide.
• SDK : OpenGL Vizserver Compression and Authentication modules SDK.
• SDK Documentation : OpenGL Vizserver Compression and Authentication modules SDK reference pages.
• SDK Example Code : OpenGL Vizserver Compression and Authentication modules SDK example code.

2.3.4 Mac OSX

OpenGL Vizserver for Mac OSX includes these pkg files:

• SGIvizsvr-macintosh.tar.gz : The client software for the product. It also contains authentication and compression libraries, man pages, release notes and user's guide.
• SGIvizdev-macintosh.tar.gz : OpenGL Vizserver compression and authentication development toolkit. (Optional)

2.4 Installation Method

2.4.1 Silicon Graphics Prism

The OpenGL Vizserver server and client components are installed by default as part of the sgi-graphics group of the ProPack 4 Service Pack 3 installation.

The OpenGL Vizserver SDK is installed by default as part of the sgi-graphics-devel group of the ProPack 4 Service Pack 3 installation.

Important Note: If you plan to use the SGC hardware readback device with OpenGL Vizserver on a Silicon Graphics Prism server machine, make sure the device is configured to work outside of OpenGL Vizserver before attempting to use is with OpenGL Vizserver. This includes installing the hardware PCI-X card, connecting the card to the graphics pipe's first output channel, and modifying the "MonitorLayout" line in the "Device" section of the XFree86 configuration file:

• Option "MonitorLayout" "TMDS, AUTO"

Please refer to the sgc(7) man page and the ml_sgc release notes for additional information.

2.4.2 Linux

Logged in as root, type at the command line:

# rpm -Uvh SGIvizsvr-linux.i386.rpm

2.4.3 Windows

Double clicking on SGIvizserver-win32.exe will start the installation procedure. Just follow the instructions on your screen.

2.4.4 Mac OSX

Double-click the installation .tar.gz file to expand it using StuffitExpander. Double-click the resulting .pkg file to install the package. Follow the installation instructions. The root password is required.

2.5 Server Licensing

OpenGL Vizserver 3.5.2 requires the use of the 3.4 licenses. Customers with a valid support contract can get 3.4 license upgrades for free by calling 800-800-4SGI. Non-support customers, please contact your local sales office.

As of the 3.2 release, OpenGL Vizserver has moved to floating licenses from nodelocked licenses previously.

The types of licenses which are available for OpenGL Vizserver are :

Server license	"OGL vsr Server"
Collaboration license	"OGL vsr Collab"
Workstation Server license	"OGL vsr Workstation"

Running a server on a Prism machine requires at least one count of Server license. To run a multi-pipe application, the same count of Server licenses are needed. For example, to run two pipe application, two count of Server licenses are needed.

Running a server on Prism Deskside machine requires the Workstation Server license. When the Workstation Server license is not available but the Server license is available, the Server license can be used for the workstations.

Starting a collaborative session requires one count of Collaboration license along with at least one count of Server license but the Workstation Server license doesn't require any Collaboration license. The maximum number of clients in a collaborative session depends on the available number of collaboration license. The Workstation Server license limits the number of concurrent clients to two in the collaborative session.

2.6 Backward Compatibility

OpenGL Vizserver 3.5.2 is not compatible with OpenGL Vizserver 3.4 clients and vice versa. The 3.5.2, 3.5.1, 3.5, 3.4.4, 3.4.3, 3.4.2 and 3.4.1 versions are compatible. In addition, as of 3.1 release, the server's configuration file has been changed. So upon upgrade from a version prior to 3.1, any changes made to the previous configuration file should be transferred to the new file. However, the following components from previous versions can be used, although not with all its features:

• Users database.

3. Changes and Additions

Release 3.5.2

• This is a maintenance release, which includes several bug fixes (see chapter 4).
• Release 3.5.1 of OpenGL Vizserver was the last release for IRIX, Solaris and Windows NT clients, and IRIX server.
• The OpenGL Vizserver client is no longer supported on Linux Red Hat distributions prior to Red Hat Linux 9. It is supported on Red Hat Linux 9, SUSE Linux 9 and Fedora Core.

Release 3.5.1

• Support for stereoscopic applications was added to the Silicon Graphics Prism server and client.
• IRIX applications running on a Prism system using Transitive's QuickTransit product can now be served using OpenGL Vizserver.

Release 3.5

• A Macintosh client was added. Computers running Mac OS X 10.3.5 and up are supported.
• New JPEG comressor/decompressor was added.
• The option for ZLIB compression of the OpenGL and non-OpenGL (pure X) regions was added.
• Support for the Scalable Graphics Capture (SGC) hardware readback card was add to the Silicon Graphics Prism server.
• Desktop Sharing mode was added. In desktop sharing mode, the whole desktop as viewed on the server is viewable on the client, rather than specific application windows. Working in this mode is recommended in conjunction with the SGC card.
• Support for the hardware compositor was added. For this purpose, the notion of a "video group" was added. For details, see the "The /var/vizserver/topology and /var/vizserver/videoGroups Files" section in the OpenGL Vizserver Administrator's Guide.
• The vizserver_workstation license is now supported on the Silicon Graphics Prism Deskside platform.

Release 3.4.4

• The OpenGL Vizserver client is no longer supported on Linux Red Hat distributions prior to Red Hat Linux 8. It is supported on Red Hat Linux 8, Red Hat Linux 9, SUSE Linux 9 and Fedora Core.

Release 3.4.3

• Support for performance monitoring using Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) on Prism systems was added. The vizserver PMDA is installed at the /usr/pcp/pmdas/vizserver directory. Refer to the README file in this directory for usage instructions.
• A simple command line tool for configuring X servers on Prism was added. This is an intermediate solution until the full functionality of vsconfig on IRIX is proted to Prism. Refer to the vscfg(1m) man page for details.
• The OpenGL Vizserver client is no longer supported on Solaris 2.5.1.

Release 3.4.2

• The following features available in the IRIX version were added to the Silicon Graphics Prism version:

- Dynamic pipe allocation. Note that on Silicon Graphics Prism systems the display manager in use is gdm, unlike IRIX's xdm.

- utmpx accounting support - typing the last(1) command will display an entry (vss#) per pipe used by an OpenGL Vizserver session.

- Documentation web pages on the server machine - go to http://<server>/vizserver to view it.

• The latency viewed by the user (the time between moving the mouse on the client side and seeing the effect in the application window on the client) was reduced for cases where the client is the performance bottleneck. In the worst case scenario, where the client's performance is much lower than the server's, the latency was reduced by about a half.

Release 3.4.1

• The only new functionality in this release of OpenGL Vizserver (aside from bug fixes) is the support for the Silicon Graphics Prism platform as a server and as a client. The feature set of OpenGL Vizserver for Silicon Graphics Prism is a subset of the feature set on IRIX. The features which are unsupported at this point include dynamic pipe allocation, stereo applications, hardware readback, reservation API and reservation web interface, vsconfig and documentation web pages on the server machine.

Release 3.4

• Added a new spoiling mode - time-based readback. As opposed to the "spoiling on" and "spoiling off" modes, In this mode the generation of new frames by the OpenGL Vizserver server is not tied to the application behavior. Instead of generating a new frame every time the application calls one of the readback trigger functions (glFlush, glFinish and glXSwapBuffers), the server attempts to generate new frames as fast as possible, performing frame readback asyncronously with the application. This feature is useful with applications which don't "behave well" in terms of OpenGL Vizserver compatibility.
• The client now enables the user to select which screens out of the available ones in the session should be served to the client. For instance, when a user starts a three-pipe session, he can select to serve only screen 0, and then if a software composition application which uses screen 0 as the target screen is served using OpenGL Vizserver, only the target window is observed on the client side.
• A served application can now use glxQueryExtensionsString(3G) to check if it runs under a collaborative OpenGL Vizserver session. In such a case, the string GLX_SGI_vizserver_collab is added to the supported GLX extensions string.
• A new environment variable - VS_LATENCY - was added to the client. This variable controls the number of frames allowed to be "en route" between the server and the client at any given moment. This is an advanced performance tuning variable applicable to high-latency networks. Please refer to the Performance Tuning chapter in the OpenGL Vizserver User's Guide for details.

Release 3.3

• Added support for the Pluggable Authentication Modules (pam(8)), available on IRIX versions 6.5.22 and up. In order for OpenGL Vizserver to authenticate using PAM, specify AUTH-PAM as the authentication module to be used by OpenGL Vizserver server, make sure the PAM system is active ("chkconfig pam on") and edit the file /etc/pam.d/vizserver according to your system configuration and your security needs.
• Added a new server configuration parameter: Vizserver*BaseXF86Config. This parameter allows the administrator to have a customized XFree86(1) configurarion file for OpenGL Vizserver, when used on Onyx4 server. Please refer to the OpenGL Vizserver Administrator's Guide for details.
• Added support for the SGC hardware readback device. The SGC device is a PCI-X card which can be installed on an Onyx4 server. It grabs output from the graphics pipe through a DVI cable connecting the pipe's output jack with the card's input jack. Using hardware readback on the server can potentially improve the overall performance of OpenGL Vizserver (depending on the other bottlenecks in the system and the application being served). Please make sure the SGC card is installed and configured properly before attempting to use it with OpenGL Vizserver. Other than installing the card, connecting the cables and installing the card's driver (the ml_sgc product), the XFree86(1) configuration file used by OpenGL Vizserver should be configured to output TMDS on the graphics pipe's first channel - OpenGL Vizserver will not make this change automatically, to prevent unexpected behavior. Please refer to the sgc(7) man page and the ml_sgc release notes for details. A new server configuration parameter, Vizserver*SGCFrameSkip was added to control the frame drop rate of the SGC card - please refer to the OpenGL Vizserver Administrator's Guide for details. Note: The Administrator's Guide states that the default value for this parameter is -1, which is incorrect - the default is 1.
• Added support for stereographic applications on Onyx4 servers and clients. Stereo is supported both with and without the SGC card. Note that the stereo mode setting on Onyx4 is different than the way it's done on previous IRIX machines - please refer to the Vizserver(1) man page for details about video mode switching on the client side. Note that if you would like to serve stereo applications from an Onyx4 server, the XFree86(1) configuration file used by OpenGL Vizserver should be modified to have the stereo related options in the "Device" section - OpenGL Vizserver will not add these options automatically, to prevent unexpected behavior.
• Improved the overall performance of OpenGL Vizserver when serving OpenGL applications. This performance improvement is most noticable when using the SGC hardware readback device on an Onyx4 server, and when using fast clients.

Release 3.2.1

• Added support for Onyx4 UltimateVision servers.
• Removed the old fixed-latency (non-interframe) compression modules from the distribution. If you have a specific need for these compression modules (which is not likely since the newer delta compression modules have the exact same image quality but require considerably less network bandwidth), please contact SGI support.

Release 3.2

• Floating license scheme: Refer to section 2.5 for a detailed description.
• Improved application compatibility (Opus Realizer, CATIA v5, GoCad and more).
• Improved performance of UI intensive applications.
• Enhanced client command line interface.
• Five client limitation in collaborative session is removed on Onyx class servers.

• Automated video mode switching for stereo applications is now supported. On the first attempt, OpenGL Vizserver Irix client will now prompt the user for confirmation on video mode switching. This will help workaround failures due to monitor incompatibilities. After the test, the user can save this setting for that Irix client machine. Given that a compatible stereo video mode was found on the client, OpenGL Vizserver will serve stereo applications transparently with the correct stereoscopic functionality.

  A more detailed description of this feature will come in a later release. For more details on stereo features, please refer to the OpenGL Vizserver User's Guide, Chapter 1, "Using an Application with Stereo".

Release 3.1.1

• Solaris 2.5.1 Client is now supported.

Release 3.1

• Multi-client collaboration: OpenGL Vizserver collaborative session now enhances the features as following:

- Master, a client starting a session, is no longer limited to run on the server machine. The master can be either local or remote.

- Master decides whether or not other clients can join.

- Supported number of clients in a collaborative session are 2 to 5.

- Session control window shows the list of clients participated in the collaborative session.

- Input control between multiple clients is provided.

• Late join: User(non-master) can join in a collaborative session after it has started and can leave at any time during the running session.
• Stereo is supported on IRIX clients equipped with quad-buffer stereo.
• Clients behind firewall are supported.
• License scheme has been changed: Refer to section 2.5 for a detailed description.
• OpenGL Vizserver User's Guide is revised heavily to reflect the new and enhanced features of this release.
• Authentication API is included.

Release 3.0.2

• Authentication API is removed and now shipped separately.

Release 3.0.1

• Overlapping windows do not affect performance.
• Improved memory tracking: Shared memory resources are handled under all conditions.
• Applications interfering with an OpenGL Vizserver session are no longer visible.
• Cursor tracking in non-collabrative sessions is turned off.
• Performance improvements.
• Improved keyboard support: Numeric keypad and CapsLock problems are fixed.

Release 3.0

• OpenGL Vizserver no longer relies on the X protocol between the server and the client. This has several implications:

- The Windows client no longer depends on the Hummingbird Exceed X server.

- Each client uses its native windowing and drawing tools, resulting in potentially improved client performance.

- The applications look the same on the server and on the client (in terms of windows decoration etc.).

- Most of the limitations imposed by the client's X server capabilities are removed.

• OpenGL Vizserver server can now run on Silicon Graphics Octane, Octane2 and Fuel workstations.
  
  
• The compression module (libvsCCC.so) was replaced by a new compression module - libvsIFCCC.so. This module includes all the old compression schemes, modified to send only image changes rather than the whole image, resulting in improved compression ratio in most cases. A lossless interframe compression was also added. The old non-interframe, fixed-latency decompression module (libvsCCC.so) is still available, as a non-default component (see section 2.3 for details).
  
  
• The server can now allocate graphics pipes which are used by non-logged-in xdm(1) X servers to OpenGL Vizserver sessions (Dynamic Pipe Allocation). Refer to OpenGL Vizserver Administrator's Guide for details.
  
  
• Performance Monitoring tools were added to the server. The Performance Co-Pilot OpenGL Vizserver PMDA allows for session performance monitoring using Performance Co-Pilot (pmchart(1)). vsmonitor(1m) is a text based tool for session performance monitoring. Refer to OpenGL Vizserver Administrator's Guide for more details on OpenGL Vizserver sessions' performance monitoring.
  
  
• An OpenGL Vizserver web page is installed on the server. This web page includes links to the Reservation Web Interface, to all OpenGL Vizserver's documentation in html format, and to external links which are relevant to OpenGL Vizserver users (such as OpenGL Vizserver software download pages).
  
  
• OpenGL Vizserver Administrator's Guide was added to the server. This guide covers in detail subjects like OpenGL Vizserver server installation, configuration, performance tuning and troubleshooting. This is a recommended reading also for experienced OpenGL Vizserver users and administrators.
  
  

Release 2.0.1

• Running multi-pipe sessions is now possible. This can be done both in collaborative sessions (number of pipes is determined by the local client'sX server configuration) and in single-user sessions (number of pipes selected in the "Start Session" window on the client's GUI). Reservation of more then one pipe is now also possible.
  
  
• Single user sessions are now logged to the wtmpx database on the server. This allows the use of utmpx-based commands (like last(1)) for session accounting. Refer to vsserver(1m) for details.

Release 2.0

• Running an OpenGL Vizserver session in collaboration between a local client (running on the server machine) and a remote client is now possible. Refer to vizserver(1) and to OpenGL Vizserver User's Guide for details.
  
  
• An API for development of authentication modules is provided. Refer to vsAuth(3) for details.
  
  
• OpenGL Vizserver now allows for pipes to be reserved for use. The reservation system should be activated using the config file (see vsserver(1m)). Reservations should be made using a reservation client - see the next two items.
  
  
• A simple reservation web interface is provided. Refer to vsreservation(1m) for administration details and to OpenGL Vizserver User's Guide for usage instructions.
  
  
• An API for development of custom reservation clients is provided. refer to vsReservation(3) for details.
  
  
• Dynamic configuration of the server is now possible. For details about dynamic configuration refer to vsconfig(1m) and vsserver(1m).

4. Bug Fixes

Release 3.5.2

• 919386: SESSION/IA64: no handling of iconified windows with gnome and kde
• 936172: Linux Client: Title of vizserved windows is hidden by top panel
• 941884: CLIENT: Closing desktop sharing window kills client
• 941918: Prism session: windows moved to other desktops are lost
• 941984: Xmute conflicts with SuSEconfig, makes KDM unusable
• 941995: server: closing vsserver while session is active leaves port busy
• 942276: Windows XP client randomly crashes when connected to a Prism server
• 946044: Vizserver 3.5 does not read nis groups correctly
• 946110: Client/Server: Various GUI, command line and error reporting issues
• 946196: Session: SEGV error and session disconnect at app with zlib
• 946202: linux client: client crashes on X Error (BadWindow)

Release 3.5.1

• 920257: Prism session: support stereo applications
• 920258: Prism client: support stereo applications
• 930056: Prism server: Dynamic pipe allocation doesn't work on 1cpu Prism Deskside
• 936888: Prism session: X_GetGeometry server error follows glXCreateGLXPixmap call
• 937333: Client: non-existetnt video group in command line results in 1-pipe session
• 937334: Documentation: no documentation on kill session in vsadmin
• 937439: Client: start session offers wrong number of pipes when changing server
• 937517: Prism session: deadlock in vssession when switching off time-based readback
• 937524: Client: aborts with core dump on startup
• 937886: Server: vsserver wastes time looking up for the client's hostname
• 937909: Prism vscfg: vscfg should report that it must run as root to change config
• 938643: Client: Wrong configuration option - number of pipes
• 938809: Client: video groups cause wrong configuration options
• 939464: Prism client: performance is low due to non-alligned glDrawPixels
• 939550: Prism server: system 'collapse' when pointing to wrong base XFree86 config file
• 939715: Client: Update vizserver Usage and correct error msg
• 940502: Prism vscfg: vscfg does not use Xmute
• 940885: Prism server: Xmute leaves orphan sleep processes after being killed
• 940891: Client: Gui widgets should be disabled when input is owned by other client
• 941346: Performance Monitor: Output rate in vsmonitor is always zero
• 941683: Linux client: wrong stacking order of session window with KDE 3.2/3.4

Release 3.5

• 926881: Prism server: Client error message misleading when no gfx pipes available on the server
• 927273: Prism session: vssession gets <defunct> when killing Vizserver's owned X server
• 927673: Prism session: vssession thread starvation issues
• 929384: Prism session: race condition between coverage and geometry updates
• 931552: Prism local collab sessions: must set "xhost +localhost" for session to start
• 932019: Prism server: vizserver starts session on a managed, logged in pipe
• 932877: Linux Client: Xerror when switching desktops with CeiEnsight
• 934096: PAM authentication: doesn't handle account and session features of PAM
• 934932: Prism server: -disabledForVizserver in gdm.conf prevents GFX from starting
• 935646: Prism server: vsserver subprocesses don't die with vsserver
• 936262: Prism vscfg: vscfg should quit with an error when run as non-previliged user
• 936491: Prism server: dynamic pipe allocation fails if XKeepsCrashing runs console prompt
• 936531: Prism server: vsserver hangs while waiting for its subprocess to die

Release 3.4.4

• 918530: SGIvizdev can't be used on RedHat 9 - libelf dependency and compiler version
• 923925: Prism server: sticky window moves
• 927621: Linux client: vizserver seg faults when ypbind deamon is stopped on client
• 927657: Vizserver/LSPrepost: session crash when gl window fully out of screen bounds
• 927658: Vizserver/LSPrepost: session crashed when synchronizing splitted windows' draw
• 927768: UNIX Client: bad GUI state after logging out during a session
• 927772: Prism server: restarting the server daemon sometimes fails due to race condition
• 928129: Prism server PCP: vizserver pmda dies when closing session
• 928371: Prism server: X server + kernel crash when exiting Paradigm RNAV
• 928423: Prism server: clipping error on RNAV startup causes vssession crash
• 928424: Linux client: Windows can be placed on top of KDE3.x panel
• 928452: Prism server: vizserver console sometimes disappears when closing an app
• 928683: Prism server: server daemon crashes in SEGV when session dies
• 929870: O2 IRIX Client: Delta lossless compressor doesn't work on O2
• 930455: Linux client: vizserver seg faults on logout
• 931004: Prism server: UI and EV threads starvation in time-based readback
• 932516: Linux client: wrong stacking order of console window with KDE 3.x

Release 3.4.3

• 913094: LINUX CLIENT: served windows appear in all of the multiple desktops
• 923998: IA64: init attempts to start vizserver in every runlevel change
• 925035: LINUX CLIENT: console disappears when it's focus is lost
• 925153: IA64 Server: Wrong message when user not in users DB
• 925154: SERVER: user can't log in if not in users DB, hence can't join session
• 925647: APP: client crash with ICEMSURF and ivview's bg color editor
• 925718: SESSION: no stereo when No Compression
• 926964: CLIENT/Win32: Black image on 16-bit display
• 927123: compressor crash with small gl drawables
• 927449: killing vsserver makes it exit with SEGV
• 927757: SESSION/Onyx4: Performance regression with SGC readback

Release 3.4.2

• 922257: Vizserver UNIX CLIENT: empty hostname means local host
• 922270: Vizserver SESSION: vssession crashed when a client left
• 923620: Vizserver IRIX SESSION: Maximized OpenGL windows corrupted by consol window
• 923644: Vizserver IA64 SERVER: "chkconfig vizserver on" overwrites vsserver log
• 923664: Vizserver IA64 APP: session exits when running inView
• 923667: Vizserver IA64 APP: vssession crash when running scirun
• 923879: Vizserver SERVER: Dynamic pipe allocation overrides static pipe allocation
• 923975: Vizserver SERVER: vsserver does not update display manager's running status
• 924346: Vizserver SESSION: deadlock on exit
• 924379: Vizserver SERVER: xf86Parser fails violantly on erronous XF86Config files
• 924729: Vizserver APP: in ivview's bg color editor, small gl drawables are not vizserved

Release 3.4.1

• 918596: SESSION: wrong 'total frames' in vsmonitor when SGC+Time-based
• 918508: Compressors: minor artifacts with scaled compressors
• 921046: Vizserver Server: sometimes crash / wrong tag when trying to write to the syslog
• 919547: local client: if no -A switch is specified, only screen 0 is active by default

Release 3.4

• 870519: MPK applications cannot vizserve only one pipe
• 873559: QE: mpk2.1 sdk 2-pipe configs do not work when running with a script
• 880970: Windows vizserver crashed when running MPK SDK 2.1.1
• 886234: CLIENT: Solaris client exhibits small problem with MPK
• 893960: SESSION: MPK support problems with Pbuffer pipe compositing
• 900652: Clients: crash when different screen area between the client and server
• 900812: SERVER: external (non-xdm) pipe usage is not updated
• 905211: VOYAGER: sometimes XFree86 fails to start
• 908532: Occasional hang during collaborative session
• 911708: VSCONFIG: On Onyx4, when mutipipe X server are defined, screens order is inverse
• 911719: Client: on Opteron+Suse64 client, image colors are psychedelic
• 914501: CLIENT: solaris 2.8 client hangs
• 915283: Floating license issue with Vizserver
• 915387: APP: CEI Ensight fails in stereo mode
• 915393: SESSION: hang when using the DVI splitter between the pipe and Vanier
• 916207: CLIENT: win32 client crash with OpenDX
• 917209: Vizserver 3.3 vsserver starts before xdm
• 917210: Vizserver 3.3 vsserver overwrites its log
• 917549: O2 Vizserver client: iv models disappears when compression is on
• 917823: Vizserver 3.3 does not support FireGL X2/R350 on Onyx4.
• 917861: APP: lsprepost has latency problems
• 918055: CLIENT: pixel-padding problem on O2
• 918080: CLIENT: crash on O2 in GL decompressor code
• 918598: SERVER: BaseXF86Config is not updated by vsconfig until vsserver restart

Release 3.3

• 907464: Linux Client: No vizserved windows on Linux with Gnome/Enlightment, metacity.
• 908447: Session: Periodic pauses during Vizserver GL image streaming.
• 908459: Server: Wrong error message when reservation active.
• 908523: Linux Client: OpenGL Vizserver Windows can't be lowered when using metacity window manager.
• 909193: libvsx: Performance waste with glXSwapBuffers and glXMakeCurrent.
• 909194: libvsx: crashes when calling glFlush out of GL context.

Release 3.2.1

• 878773: client crashes due to failed XConfigureWindow.
• 892190: ICEM CFD doesn't work with Vizserver.
• 896705: double clicking on an iconed vizsered window causes invalid state.
• 896729: WIN32 client: Scroll bar is disabled when no input control.
• 899235: vsmonitor crashes server after running for a while.
• 900361: vizserver sometimes crashes when querying the serial number on SN1 machines with IRIX 6.5.13 or lower.
• 900468: very high latency with more than 4 collab users.
• 900807: rejecting joined request from queue of users.
• 901268: TCL/TK apps crash session.

Release 3.2

• 859420: Running Opus Realizer causes fault.
• 866116: CATIA: problem with overlapping gl windows in MDI.
• 873249: GOCAD - performance and rendering problems with Vizserver.

Release 3.1.1

• None

Release 3.1

• 872299: If OpenGL Vizserver session fails for some reasons after the client received the successful session start signal, the client might hang.
• 881494: OpenGL Vizserver 3.0.2 Window clients does not work through NAT firewall.
• 881688: OpenGL Vizserver cannot start a session if NIS user has permission 750(drwxr-x---) at the user's home directory.
• 882326: Using an alternate network interface for starting a session does not work.

Release 3.0.2

• None

Release 3.0.1

• 859144: Window manager system menu is not served.
• 869286: OpenGL Vizserver 3.0 does not support numeric keypad.
• 864180: Non served windows show up and accept input.
• 871273: On multi-pipe sessions, the tracked cursor showed up on multiple screens.
• 871420: Shared memory and message queue leaks.
• 871772: Clip GL Window to parent.

Release 3.0

• Applications support is much improved.
• 780944: The server now detects client disconnects using TCP's keep alive mechanism.
• 802557: XSGIvc applications are now supported.
• 804307: multiple application stacking order is enforced.
• 837280: X server commandline is configurable.

Release 2.0

• Color index rendering is now supported.
• User Names more than 8 characters long are now supported (same as IRIX).
• If OpenGL Vizserver server software detects that it cannot obtain X access to the client machine, a warning message is presented.
• The IP address of the client is logged to the syslog on failed login attempts.
• Drawables which update infrequently are guaranteed not to be starved.
• The client's display name is identified by the client's IP address, thus removing the NIS/WINS conflict with the Windows client.
• The Windows client displays a message box to indicate a fatal error (instead of just writing the error to the Event Log).

5. Known Problems and Workarounds

This chapter lists the known problems in this version of OpenGL Vizserver and, where known, ways to work around them. Bug numbers from the SGI bug tracking system are included for reference.

5.1 Open bugs

• 863426 - When moving or resizing a window, its changing frame is not seen. The workaround is to set the "Opaque Window Move" to on in the window manager (this is the default behavior on Prism, while on IRIX the change is in the toolchest->Customize->Windows window).
  
• 885738 - Setting 4Dwm "Auto Window Placement" to "Off" is incompatible with OpenGL Vizserver. In a single-user session or remote collaborative session, if server side doesn't use Auto Window Placement(window manager option), the session appears to be hung. However, in reality, the server is just waiting for input from the client to place a window. So a workaround is to turn on the option.
  

5.2 Limitations

• Only one master client per user is allowed on a single server: Currently the server manager only supports one master client per user in the server system. That is, user can be a master on only one session -- either a single-user session or a collaborative session.
  


• Windows client display issues: In the current release, an 8-bit (256 color) desktop is not supported. Supported desktop modes include: 32-bit, 24-bit, and 16-bit color. Also the client will work properly on multiple screen desktops as one large virtual screen. This is the default desktop configuration. However, the OpenGL Vizserver client will not work with independent displays and may not work well with Win32 applications that use this configuration.
  


• OpenGL Vizserver is currently not compatible with the OpenGL Multipipe transparent interface running on the server.
  


• 896375 - On the server, changing the license file and then using update will not reload the license file.
  

5.3 Platform Support Issues

• 921019 - On Silicon Graphics Prism servers, s-bit applications won't work under vsx. setuid applications, such as su, mount, umount, ping, traceroute, rsh, rlogin, rcp, crontab and passwd, require that all the libraries which appear in the LD_PRELOAD variable have also the s-bit set. This is not the case for libvsx.so, nor for libGL.so and libX11.so. This causes setuid applications to fail, with an error message saying that the shared library could not be found. A workaround is to temporarily unset LD_PRELOAD in the OpenGL Vizserver console before running a setuid application.
  


• Message queues limit on Silicon Graphics Prism - by default there is a system limit of 16 message queues in the system. Since every process of a Vizserver served application opens a message queue, this limit can be a problem when running many applications (typically when running multiple sessions concurrently). The solution is to change this limit - for instance, to change it to 32 use the command:
  echo 32 > /proc/sys/kernel/msgmni.
  


• 894873 - Sometimes, on Linux clients, messages might be hidden below OpenGL Vizserver windows.
  


• 896274 - In rare occasions, on Windows client, while running a session, the main OpenGL Vizserver window vanishes. This is harmless to the ongoing session. Stopping the session causes the window to reappear.
  


• 865943 - Different X Window Managers have different features and special key combinations. In general, the OpenGL Vizserver client should work correctly with most Window Managers on the supported platforms. However, some Window Managers were tested to be fully compliant with OpenGL Vizserver client:
  

- Linux - Metacity (Gnome), Kwin (KDE)

5.4 Application Support Issues

• Applications which use a shared arena: The transparent interface of OpenGL Vizserver uses a shared arena for its uses. This might decrease the size of shared arena available for an application, not allowing it to run. If such a problem occurs, the shared arena size limit in the server should be increased. Refer to vsx(1) man page (SHARED MEMORY section) for details.
  
  
• MPSDK support: In order to visual serve the destination pipe of an MPSDK application, the MPSDK configuration file should leave the corresponding 'display' field unspecified. The application will then use the X display value which is set by OpenGL Vizserver into the OpenGL Vizserver console, for this pipe. The source pipes contributing to the MPSDK application must be managed by an Xsgi server, and the name of this server must be specified as part of the corresponding 'display' fields in the MPSDK configuration file.
  
  
• Voxel Geo support: 877782 - The "Auto" rendering mode in Voxel Geo does not swap the double buffered drawable correctly, thus disabling an OpenGL Vizserver's capture operation when using the "spoiling on" and "spoiling off" modes. OpenGL Vizserver operates correctly when using the "Box" style rendering, or by setting the spoiling mode to "time-based".
  
  

6. Documentation Resources and Last-Minute Updates

6.1 Documentation Resources

6.1.1 Manual Pages

These manual pages can be viewed using man(1) on Linux and Macintosh. The administrator's manual pages are available only on Silicon Graphics Prism systems.

• User's manual pages: vizserver(1), vsx(1)
• Administrator's manual pages: vsserver(1m), vsadmin(1m), vsacct(1m), vsmonitor(1m)
• Developer's manual pages: the list is availabale in /usr/man/man3 (on Linux) and in /usr/share/man/man3 (on Macintosh).

6.1.2 HTML Manual Pages

All the above mentioned manual pages can be viewed in HTML versions on all platforms:

• User's: /usr/share/vizserver/doc/user (Linux and Macintosh) or <Installation directory>\doc\user (on Windows).
• Developer's: /usr/share/vizserver/doc/developer (on Linux and Macintosh) or <Installation directory>\doc\developer (on Windows).

6.1.3 User's Guide

A user's guide is available in HTML version on all platforms:

• Linux: /usr/share/doc/vizserver/books/user/html
• Macintosh: /usr/share/vizserver/doc/books/user/html
• Windows: <Installation directory>\books\user\html

6.1.4 Administrator's Guide

An administrator's guide is available in HTML version on server machines:

• Linux: /usr/share/doc/vizserver/books/admin/html

6.2 Documentation Last-Minute Updates

N/A