[Spice-devel] RFC: XSpice shift to an 'x11spice' approach

[Jeremy White]

Hi folks,

As you know, I've done a lot of work on XSpice over the past few years.
 I plan to take a new approach by following the model of the excellent
'x11vnc' client.

That is, instead of having our own X server and capturing the output, I
plan to instead use an xdummy style server with a frame buffer which
then runs an x11spice client to push the display via the Spice protocol.

This should have a number of benefits.  First, it should create a new
capability - the ability to share an existing desktop via Spice.

Second, it should allow the x11spice process to run entirely as a non
privileged user.  This should simplify some of the existing Xspice
management headaches.  (Full candor note: it simplifies some of the
private use cases I have for Xspice, where security and process
isolation is vital).

Third, it should allow for some simplification by removing the need to
have our own X server.  That simplification does come with a cost - we
now have the expanded complexity of intercepting X events and managing
that at an application level, instead of at a driver level, so that's
arguably a wash.

Finally, I'm hoping that I may be able to do some thoughtful analysis of
the approach taken by Xpra, and either incorporate Xpra directly, or at
least leave a path open for it, so that we could have 'rootless' or
seamless applications as an option.

What do others think?  What am I over looking?

Cheers,

Jeremy