Release 23.07.1

Release 23.07.1

This release brings some enhancements in the Dockerfiles and the script user_generator.rc with the aim to better support extending the images.

Release 23.07

Release 23.07

This release introduces a new feature FEATURES_OVERRIDING_ENVV, which controls the overriding or adding of environment variables at the container startup-time.
Meaning, after the container has already been created.

The feature is enabled by default.
It can be disabled by setting the variable FEATURES_OVERRIDING_ENVV to zero when the container is created or the image is built.
Be aware that any other value than zero, even if unset or empty, enables the feature.

If FEATURES_OVERRIDING_ENVV=1, then the container startup script will look for the file $HOME/.override/.override_envv.rc and source all the lines that begin with the string 'export ' at the first position and contain the '=' character.

The overriding file can be provided from outside the container using bind mounts or volumes.

The lines that have been actually sourced can be reported into the container's log if the startup parameter --verbose or --debug is provided.

This feature is an enhanced implementation of the previously available functionality known as Overriding VNC/noVNC parameters at the container startup-time.

Therefore this is a breaking change for the users that already use the VNC/noVNC overriding.
They need to move the content from the previous file $HOME"/.vnc_override.rc into the new file $HOME/.override/.override_envv.rc.

Other changes:

• Script ci-builder.sh
  • group complete-vscode has been split into two groups
    • complete-vscode-all is the same as the former complete-vscode group and it includes all images that contain Visual Studio Code
    • complete-vscode includes only the accetto/debian-vnc-xfce-vscode-g3 images

Release 23.06

Release 23.06

The Postman company has decided to remove Scratch Pad from Postman App as of May 15, 2023. Therefore will Postman images from now on always include the version 10.13.6, the last one that still contains Scratch Pad.

Important for builders: Downloading Postman is prohibited. The file postman-10.13.6-linux-x64.tar.gz must be put into g3-cache.

Fixes:

• Node.js: Failing building because the version detection code needed adjustments.

Main changes:

• hooks/release_of: Node.js version detection code has been adjusted
• hooks/cache, Dockerfile.xfce.postman: Postman downloading is prohibited, g3-cache must be used.
• Postman image README files updated

Release 23.04

Release 23.04

Added a new image accetto/debian-vnc-xfce-vscode-g3.

Release 23.03.2

Release 23.03.2

This release mitigates the problems with the edge use case, when users bind the whole $HOME directory to an external folder on the host computer.

Please note that I recommend to avoid doing that. If you really want to, then your best bet is using the Docker volumes. That is the only option I've found, which works across the environments. In the sibling discussion thread #39 I've described the way, how to initialize a bound $HOME folder, if you really want to give it a try.

Main changes:

• file .initial_sudo_password has been moved from the $HOME to the $STARTUPDIR folder
• file .initial_sudo_password is not deleted, but cleared after the container user is created
• startup scripts have been adjusted and improved
• readme files have been updated

Release 23.03.1

Release 23.03.1

This is a maintenance release aiming to improve the scripts and documentation.

Release 23.03

Release 23.03

• updated with TigerVNC 1.13.1 bugfix release
• also some updates in readme files

Release 23.02

Release 23.02

This is the first G3v3 release, switching the images from Ubuntu 20.04 LTS to Debian 11 and introducing the updated startup scripts. The previous version G3v2 will still be available in this repository as the branch archived-generation-g3v2-ubuntu.

This release corresponds to the version G3v4 of the sibling project [accetto/ubuntu-vnc-xfce-g3][accetto-github-ubuntu-vnc-xfce-g3] (as of the release 23.02.1).

The updated startup scripts that support overriding the user ID (id) and group ID (gid) without needing the former build argument ARG_FEATURES_USER_GROUP_OVERRIDE, which has been removed.

• The user ID and the group ID can be overridden during the build time (docker build) and the run time (docker run).
• The user name, the group name and the initial sudo password can be overridden during the build time.
• The permissions of the files /etc/passwd and /etc/groups are set to the standard 644 after creating the user.
• The content of the home folder and the startup folder belongs to the created user.
• The created user gets permissions to use sudo. The initial sudo password is configurable during the build time using the build argument ARG_SUDO_INITIAL_PW. The password can be changed inside the container.
• The default id:gid has been changed from 1001:0 to 1000:1000.

Features NOVNC and FIREFOX_PLUS, that are enabled by default, can be disabled via environment variables:

• If FEATURES_NOVNC="0", then
  • image will not include noVNC
  • image tag will get the -vnc suffix (e.g. latest-vnc, 20.04-firefox-vnc etc.)
• If FEATURES_FIREFOX_PLUS="0" and FEATURES_FIREFOX="1", then
  • image with Firefox will not include the Firefox Plus features
  • image tag will get the -default suffix (e.g. latest-firefox-default or also latest-firefox-default-vnc etc.)

Changes in build arguments:

• removed ARG_FEATURES_USER_GROUP_OVERRIDE
• renamed ARG_SUDO_PW to ARG_SUDO_INITIAL_PW
• added ARG_HEADLESS_USER_ID, ARG_HEADLESS_USER_NAME, ARG_HEADLESS_USER_GROUP_ID and ARG_HEADLESS_USER_GROUP_NAME

Changes in environment variables:

• removed FEATURES_USER_GROUP_OVERRIDE
• added HEADLESS_USER_ID, HEADLESS_USER_NAME, HEADLESS_USER_GROUP_ID and HEADLESS_USER_GROUP_NAME

Main changes in files:

• updated Dockerfile.xfce.nodejs, Dockerfile.xfce.postman and Dockerfile.xfce.python
• updated startup.sh, user_generator.rc and set_user_permissions.sh
• updated hook scripts env.rc, build, pre_build and util.rc
• added tests/test-01.sh allows to quickly check the current permissions

Updated versions:

• TigerVNC to version 1.13.0
• noVNC to version 1.4.0

Release 22.12.1

Release 22.12.1

• Updated components:

  • websockify to version 0.11.0

Release 22.12

Release 22.12

This is a maintenance release.

• README files have been updated
• Folder examples/ has been moved up to the project's root folder
  • New example Dockerfile.extended shows how to use the images as the base of new images
  • New compose file example.yml shows how to switch to another non-root user and how to set the VNC password and resolution