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NAME

       dxpc - Differential X Protocol Compressor

RELEASE

       3.9.1

SYNOPSIS

       dxpc [common] [client | server] [connect]

       [common] options are:
            -p port_num -f -k -v -s debug_level -l log_file

       [client] options (valid for CLIENT process) are:
            -i compression_lvl -d display_num -u

       [server] options (valid for SERVER process) are:
            -D display -b(a|w)

       [connect] options are:
            hostname -w

DESCRIPTION

       dxpc  is  an X protocol compressor designed to improve the speed of X11
       applications  run  over  low-bandwidth  links  (such  as   dialup   PPP
       connections).

       dxpc  must  be  run  at both ends of a low-bandwidth link.  On the host
       where the real X server is, dxpc runs in "Server Proxy" mode.   On  the
       host  at  the  other end of the link, dxpc runs in "Client Proxy" mode.
       The Client Proxy dxpc must be started first.   When  the  Server  Proxy
       dxpc  is started, it connects to the Client Proxy.  (Note that versions
       of dxpc before 3.3.1 used the opposite convention.)  If either  of  the
       two  communicating dxpc instances is subsequently terminated, the other
       one automatically shuts down.

       The Client Proxy mimics an X server.  X client applications connect  to
       the  Client  Proxy  using  display  "unix:8"  (or  "<hostname>:8"; dxpc
       supports both UNIX domain and TCP sockets).  The Client Proxy  receives
       X requests from the application, compresses them, and sends them to the
       Server Proxy.  The Server Proxy uncompresses  the  requests  and  sends
       them  to  the  real  X  server.  Similarly, the Server Proxy receives X
       events, replies, and errors from the  real  X  server.   It  compresses
       these  messages  and sends them to the Client Proxy, which uncompresses
       them and sends them to the client application.

       The compression performance  of  dxpc  depends  upon  the  types  of  X
       applications  being  run.  For many applications, dxpc achieves between
       3:1 and 6:1 compression of the X protocol traffic.

MODES

       dxpc has two modes; the connection mode, which is either  listening  or
       connecting; and the X mode, which is either client or server.

       The  listening  process  waits for a connecting process to initiate the
       TCP connection between the two processes. The  listening  process  must
       always   be   started  first.  The  connecting  process  initiates  the
       connection to the listening process. dxpc will run  as  the  connecting
       process  if  a  hostname  argument  is  supplied  (see connect options,
       above). Otherwise it will run as the listening process.

       The server process is typically located on the same machine as the real
       X server, and is responsible for displaying the output of applications.
       The client process is typically located on the same machine  as  the  X
       applications,  and  is  responsible  for forwarding the output of those
       applications to the server process. By default, dxpc runs as the client
       process  if  it is the listening process (due to the lack of a hostname
       argument) and the server process if it is the connecting  process,  but
       the -w switch reverses this.

       For  example,  the  command  dxpc  myhost.work.com  starts  dxpc as the
       connecting process (because a host name is  supplied)  and  the  server
       process  (because it is the connecting process and -w is not supplied).
       The command dxpc -w starts dxpc as the listening  process  (because  no
       hostname  is  supplied)  and  the  server  process  (because  it is the
       listening process, and -w reverses the usual logic).

Options

       -b(a|w)     This option specifies that any windows  created  should  be
                   created with the BackingStore option set to Always (-ba) or
                   WhenMapped (-bw), if the application has not set the option
                   itself.   Using the BackingStore option will reduce traffic
                   to repaint exposed regions of the window, at  the  cost  of
                   extra  memory  use in the X server itself.  (This option is
                   ignored in Client Proxy mode.)

                   NOTE: The -ba option can cause Expose  events  to  be  sent
                   before the client has mapped its windows.  This can confuse
                   some client programs, notably GNU Emacs version 20.3.   The
                   "bug"  in  this  case  is  that  dxpc  shouldn’t be setting
                   BackingStore  to  Always  behind  the  application’s  back.
                   Neverless,  the option is available, if you want to try it;
                   many client programs still function fine with  it,  and  it
                   will   cause  the  contents  of  iconified  windows  to  be
                   retained.

       -d displaynum
                   This option specifies the number of the X display that dxpc
                   imitates.  The default value is 8.  (This option is ignored
                   in Server Proxy mode.)

       -f          This option tells dxpc to fork and run as a daemon process.
                   All  subsequent  non-error  output is suppressed, including
                   statistics reports.  The daemon can be killed by use of the
                   -k option.

       -k          This  option  tells dxpc to read a pid from the lockfile in
                   the user’s home directory and then send a  SIGKILL  to  the
                   old  process.  It does some error checking to try to ensure
                   that the file contains a valid pid file (and nothing else).
                   The pidfile will exist only if dxpc was started with the -f
                   option.

       -l          This option is used to tell  dxpc  to  write  messages  and
                   statistics to a logfile.  Very useful with the -f option.

       -p portnumber
                   This  option  specifies  the TCP port number to be used for
                   communication between  the  Client  Proxy  and  the  Server
                   Proxy.  The default value is 4000.

       -s(1|2)     Print  a  report on dxpc’s compression performance for an X
                   application when the application exits.   In  Client  Proxy
                   mode, dxpc displays a report on the compression of messages
                   generated by the X client.   In  Server  Proxy  mode,  dxpc
                   displays  a report on the compression of messages generated
                   by the X server.  The -s1 option  yields  a  simple  report
                   that  provides  the  overall  compression  ratio.   The -s2
                   option yields a far more detailed report on the compression
                   ratios achieved for all the individual message types in the
                   X protocol.  The -s2 option is the  "hacker  option";  most
                   people will probably want the -s1 report instead.

       -u -t       Normally,  dxpc in Client Proxy mode imitates an X display,
                   :8 by default, by listening on both a  UNIX  domain  socket
                   and  a  TCP  socket.  The -u option tells it not to use the
                   UNIX domain port, and the -t option tells it not to use the
                   TCP  port.   (These  options  are  ignored  in Server Proxy
                   mode.)

       -v          This option tells dxpc to print out its version number  and
                   copyright message and exit.

       -w          Use of this option swaps the connection sequence.  That is,
                   the client will initiate  the  connection  to  the  server.
                   Thus,  instead  of starting the client like dxpc -f and the
                   server as dxpc -f workserver, you can start the  client  as
                   dxpc  -w  -f  homepc  and  the  server as dxpc -w -f.  This
                   option is intended to be  useful  for  people  running  the
                   client proxy on a machine behind a firewall.

       hostname    This  argument  must  be  used in Server Proxy mode to tell
                   dxpc the hostname or IP address of the machine where  other
                   dxpc (the one in Client Proxy mode) is running.  (Note that
                   the presence of this argument is what puts dxpc  in  Server
                   Proxy  mode.   If  this  argument is not used, dxpc runs in
                   Client Proxy mode.)

       -D display  Specify X host on which to  display  proxied  applications.
                   Defaults to value of the DISPLAY environment variable.

       -i(0..9|99|999)
                   This  option controls bitmap image compression. This option
                   is  only  valid  on  the  instance   which   is   accepting
                   connections;  usually this is the client, but the -w option
                   will reverse this, making the -i option valid only  on  the
                   server.  The  specified  number  is  the  image compression
                   level; higher levels offer better compression at  the  cost
                   of greater CPU and memory utilization (mostly on the client
                   proxy). The actual behavior of each level is given below.

                   0 : No compression (except for the very limited compression
                   supported  in  dxpc  3.7.0).  In  other words, behaves like
                   3.7.0 (but is incompatible with it)

                   1 : LZO lzo1x_1 compression; very fast, low CPU and  memory
                   use, reasonable compression.

                   2-9:  LZO lzo1c_... variant compression algorithms. lzo1c_2
                   actually seems to be worse than lzo1x_1...

                   99:  LZO  lzo1c_99  algorithm.  Slow,   but   pretty   good
                   compression.  NB:  I  have  seen  a  couple  of unexplained
                   crashes when using this level. Not recommended.

                   999: LZO lzo1x_999 compression. Slow (but  fast  enough  to
                   feed  a  128K  ISDN  link  when  hosted on a Pentium II/300
                   without maxing out the processor),  but  good  compression.
                   This is the default and recommended value.

EXAMPLES

       Assume  that  you’re  running a real X server on the console of a local
       workstation called homepc, and that you want to run some X applications
       on  a  remote  system  called  workserver  and have them display on the
       console of the local system.

       On workserver, run
            $ export DISPLAY=homepc:0
           $ dxpc -f
           $ export DISPLAY=unix:8

       On homepc, run
           $ export DISPLAY=unix:0
           $ dxpc -f workserver

       Now on workserver,
           $ xterm&
           $ xemacs&
           etc...

DXPC AND XAUTH

       If you use X authorization, with a .Xauthority file on the  workstation
       where your real X server runs, you’ll need to set up a .Xauthority file
       on the host where the ClientProxy runs.  One way to do this is:

       Copy your ~/.Xauthority file from the host where the real X server runs
       to the host where the Client Proxy runs.

       Run
           xauth list
       to  see  the  authorization  keys.  There should be one for your real X
       display.  It will look something like this:
           <hostname>/unix:0   MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1   <hex string>
       On the host where the Client Proxy is located, add a new entry  to  the
       .Xauthority  file  with  the  display  name  of  the fake X server (the
       DISPLAY where the Client Proxy is  listening)  and  all  of  the  other
       values  from the entry for the real X display.  The xauth "add" command
       can be used, like this:
           xauth add <hostname>/unix:8 MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1  <hex string>
       where <hostname> is the name of the host  where  the  Client  Proxy  is
       running  and  <hex  string>  has  the  same  value  as the <hex string>
       obtained for the real X display in step  2.   Once  you  do  this,  you
       should be able to run X clients through dxpc successfully.

TROUBLESHOOTING

       Some  windows dont appear.  This can happen if the -ba option is used,
       and a client program (such as GNU Emacs version 20.3) does not  request
       backing store and thus assumes that Expose events imply that the window
       has been mapped.  Use -bw, or leave out the -b option altogether.

       No windows appear.  This can happen if you are using a newer version of
       dxpc  with  an  older one, from before the client and server roles were
       changed.  A connection can be established between them, but both  sides
       believe  themselves  to  be  the  client  side,  or  both sides believe
       themselves to be the server side.  Make  sure  you’re  using  the  same
       version of dxpc at both ends of the connection.

AUTHOR

       Brian Pane

MAINTAINER

       Kevin Vigor (kevin@vigor.nu)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

       dxpc  has  adopted  many  good  ideas  from  the  HBX  and FHBX systems
       (http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~jmd/decs/DECSpage.html).

       Thanks to all of the users of dxpc who have  contributed  feedback  and
       suggestions.

SEE ALSO

       xauth(1), README file from dxpc distribution