This plugin lets you run an Xvnc session during a build. This is handy if your build includes UI testing that needs a display available.
Each build using the plugin gets its own display allocated from a free
list, by default starting with :10 and ending with :99.
(The $DISPLAY environment variable is set for the build by the
plugin.)
Thus you can freely run builds on multiple executors without fear of
interference.
If there is some problem starting a display server with a given number,
that number will be blacklisted
for the remainder of the Hudson session and the plugin will try ten more
times before giving up.
This is commonly due to stale locks that did not get cleaned up
properly.
There is also an option to clean up locks when starting the first
Xvnc-enabled build in a given session.
You can record your vnc session with VncRecorder
Plugin.
Note: you must have started the vncserver at least one time before you use it with hudson. This is to create a password. Otherwise Jenkins fails. This blog post describes how.
If you are running Windows you probably do not want this plugin. This blog post offers an alternative suggestion.
Version History
Version 1.24 (Jul 22 2015)
- JENKINS-36845: ConcurrentModificationException when using Xvnc plugin on Pipeline.
Version 1.23 (Aug 28 2015)
- A small bugfix when overwriting the XAUTHORITY env var during vnc setup retry.
- A workaround for JENKINS-19139 where the xautority file is placed in the slave fs root if the build's workspace contains a space, or in tmp if that also contains a space.
Version 1.22 (Jun 10 2015)
- Requires 1.609.1+.
- JENKINS-26477 Workflow plugin support.
Version 1.20 (Nov 12 2014)
- JENKINS-25424 Exception when editing nodes
Version 1.19 (skipped)
Version 1.18 (Oct 15 2014)
- JENKINS-24773 Allocated and blacklisted display number are shared accross all slaves
Version 1.17 (Mar 16 2014)
- JENKINS-22105 Client
is not authorized to connect to Server.
This will reintroduce the problem with spaces in job names. To avoid that bug:- avoid using spaces in job names, or
- fix the vncserver script: add qoutes around the xauthority filename when xauth is called, or
- turn off per job xauthority file generation.
Version 1.16 (Mar 5 2014)
- JENKINS-19139 Xvnc plugin fails if the job has a space in the name
- JENKINS-18108 "Unrecognized option: UI" in v1.14
Version 1.14 (Apr 10 2013)
- JENKINS-17280 Display number out of bounds, no way to reset
- JENKINS-17550 Xvnc plugin tries to use already allocated displays
Version 1.13 (Apr 9 2013)
- Automatic clearing of blacklist when run out of available ports
Version 1.12 (Apr 4 2013)
- Changed the configurable base display number to a configurable range of display numbers.
- Randomly retry ten times to find a working display number before giving up.
- JENKINS-16879 More robust display detection needed - builds fail when many builds require Xvnc
Version 1.11 (Jan 14 2012)
- JENKINS-8670 Bind vncserver to localhost for enhanced security.
Version 1.10 (Jul 19 2010)
- JENKINS-3285 Option to clean up stale locks & processes.
- JENKINS-3680 Do
not run
vncserver -killin workspace directory.
Version 1.9 (Jun 21 2010)
- Added a mechanism to exclude Xvnc execution on specific nodes
- Added an option to skip Xvnc execution on all Windows machines
Version 1.8 (Jan 9 2010)
- Ensure screenshot is taken when selected
- Update code for more recent Hudson
Version 1.7 (Apr 15 2009)
- Retry several times before giving up on attempt to get a display, blacklisting displays each time.
Version 1.6 (Apr 14 2009)
- If the user forgot to put
:$DISPLAY_NUMBERin the command line, issue a warning (report) - Better help.
- Updated to new form validation style.
Version 1.5 (August 11, 2008)
- Can be configured to take a screenshot of the X session upon build completion. These screenshots are treated as build artifacts. This functionality requires Imagemagick
Version 1.4
- Updated to work with the latest Hudson patch