FastX 4.0 Server Release Notes

Release Channel: 4.0.51

Preview Channel: FastX 4.0.57

* denotes Release Channel Release

4.0.57
October 2, 2024

  • Case 93717: Configuration on the server allows the suppression of the “FastX web server is not running …” message, and also allows a SSH connection to be rejected if the web server is not running.
  • Case 93734: The status/update connection between FastX sessions and the FastX web server is more robust.
  • Case 93715: Added a tool to migrate FastX 3 configuration
  • Case 93713: A tmpfiles.d configuration is added that causes FastX files in /tmp to be removed on a system reboot. The files had been left in /tmp if the system were rebooted while FastX sessions were still running.
  • SELinux fixes for RHEL 8
  • Case 93689: Handle misconfiguration of the SERVICES configuration variable in a more user friendly way
  • Case 93684: Prevent a crash when an invalid TCP port is received

4.0.55
August 27, 2024

  • Case 93691: Node.JS version 18 or later is now required
  • The install/activate script can be used for fastx-web licenses
  • Case 93642: Advanced services will work with node 18
  • Case 93600: Fix tools/reset-admin to work in interactive mode
  • Case 93595: SELinux fixes for fastx4-nats

4.0.53
August 7, 2024

  • Case 93588: Auto-connect to a session even when the session scheduler takes up to 60 seconds before the session is started.
  • Case 93522: The FX_VAR_DIR directory can now be in a location other than the default (/var/fastx), and the “license” subdirectory can still be found by the FastX sessions.
  • Case 93604: License key “fastx-advanced” has been replaced with “fastx-web” (since it is only used by the FastX web server). This license is also available to FlexLM customers.
  • Case 90388: Fixes for session sharing
  • Disable clipboard if browser doesn’t support it
  • Case 93572: More reliable communication with sessions in cluster
  • Case 93156: Minor changes to the way D-Bus is launched
  • Case 93576: Launching custom session from default app
  • Case 93569: Fixes to launcher scripts

4.0.51*
July 19, 2024

  • Case 93511, case 93556, case 93566: This version will work on FIPS-enabled systems
  • Case 93534, case 93537: Minor changes to admin license page
  • Case 93554: Fix issue when creating forms

4.0.49
July 15, 2024

  • FastX version now appears at the bottom of the sessions page
  • Logging improvements
  • Case 93547: Initial install now works properly
  • Case 93544: Login on cluster system works properly
  • Case 92655: FX_VAR_DIR/env is unneeded and no longer used. Instead local settings (e.g. certificate file) can be set in FX_LOCAL_DIR/fastx.env file.
  • Case 93523: Sessions will be removed from sessions window when cluster member on which they are running disconnects (or is shut down)
  • Case 93514: Fixes for connecting to sessions running on a different cluster member

4.0.47
July 8, 2024

  • Case 93529, 93523: Cluster support
  • Case 93476: FastX Advanced is included in package
  • Case 93514: SELinux: Allow NFS-mounted /var/fastx for clustering
  • Case 93533: New RLM version 16.0 (licensing)
  • Case 93495: Fix permissions problem preventing login
  • Case 93524: Report hostname where session is running
  • Case 93516: XFCE4 on Ubuntu needed D-Bus
  • Case 93511: VirtualGL detection is enabled by default
  • Case 93503: Fix “missing” apps based on saved filter
  • Case 90388: Fixes to session sharing
  • ARM builds are available

4.0.45
June 5, 2024

  • Case 93132, 93148: SSH connection loads application icons asynchronously. (Note: This feature requires client 4.0.1 or later and will be most helpful in installations with a large number of FastX applications.)
  • Case 93410: When connecting with SSH, create the authentication file in FX_TEMP_DIR (unless FX_LINK_DIR or TMPDIR are set)
  • SELinux fix: Allow fastx-sshd (and sshd) to listen to port 3322 (and other ports)
  • RedHat 8 installation: Require Node.JS version at least 1:14, instead of 0:14

4.0.43
May 14, 2024

  • Case 93407: Allow FastX 3 to run after a FastX 4 install

4.0.41
May 9, 2024

  • Case 93376: Allow the customer to remove welcome messages, etc.
  • Case 92215: Performance settings menu is now backwards compatible with FastX 3 desktop client
  • Case 92215: Performance settings added to web client
  • SELinux: Make the fastx_t label not “permissive”. This is more secure and the correct thing to do, but could potentially cause issues that we should monitor.
  • Case 92405: Added SAML metadata
  • Case 93394: Old “profile” label removed in session popup window
  • Case 93393: Allow a cloned session to run as soon as it is saved
  • Case 93358: Fix welcome page
  • Case 93407: Fixes to the SELinux module

4.0.39
April 30, 2024

  • Case 93358: An option to add the admin login button has been added.
  • Case 93384: When a license server is added from the Admin page, the file is named after the hostname of the license server.
  • Case 93383: saving HTTP headers fixed
  • Case 93379: Don’t ship a copy of VirtualGL. Instead add it as a “suggested package”. If VirtualGL is on the system, use it.
  • Case 93387: Since performance settings are not yet implemented, the menu to set them has been removed from the Admin page.

4.0.37
April 22, 2024

  • When connecting to localhost, allow a non-encrypted connection
  • Fix tools/fastx-cli
  • Case 93313: The UI will show if the fastx4-advanced package is active
  • Case 93331: Fix reset-admin script
  • Case 93356: Fix checking if FX_CONFIG_DIR is read-only
  • Case 93358: Re-added welcome page
  • Case 93349: New install/license-server script
  • Added VirtualGL logging for better debugging

4.0.35
April 2, 2024

  • Case 93280: Allow the login name to be modified. (E.g. transform “user@AD-domain” to “user”.)
  • Case 92937: “Click to activate license” successfully goes to “admin license” page. Other admin pages can now be bookmarked in the browser.
  • Miscellaneous SELinux fixes
  • Case 93293: Fix tools/fastx-cli
  • Case 93284, case 93285, case 93295: Fixes and improvements to “user applications”. (A user application is a FastX Application created by a non-admin as a “personal application”. They can be created and edited from the main Sessions page.)
  • Case 93290: Fix for Applications with non-ascii characters (e.g. Japanese or Greek, like π).
  • Case 93294: When an admin creates a new Application (in /etc/fastx/apps) it is now world-readable. This allows it to be used even in failsafe mode (when the FastX web server is not running).
  • Case 93164: The Advanced repository has been created with the fastx4-advanced and fastx4-nats packages.
  • Case 93084: Fixes to fastx4-nats package.
  • Case 93125: BMP (uncompressed) codec added in preparation for possible future external compressor, for possible video compression.

4.0.33
February 8, 2024

  • A “fastx2” license key will no longer work. Only “fastx” keys are supported.
  • Case 93163: Automatically update apps when a file in the apps directory is changed, added, or deleted.
  • Case 92775: Allow the /etc/fastx and /var/fastx directories to be shared among several FastX servers.
  • If a license file has a bad hostname, give a better error. Previously it said: “Error -43”. (This fix has also been applied to the FastX 3 branch, if we build another 3.3 version.)
  • Case 93190: Don’t generate build_id links (used for debugging), because this caused conflicts with certain other packages installed on RedHat 8.

4.0.29
January 31, 2024

  • Case 93174: Fixed the ability to upload an icon (e.g. for a new app)
  • Case 93172: Fixed the ability for an admin to add HTTPS headers
  • Case 93173: Cloning an app will copy the command
  • Case 93169: When restarting the fastx4 service, give it time to shut down
  • Case 93183: If a load balancer script returns an unknown code, translate that to an HTTP 500 error
  • Case 93182: The name is LOAD_BALANCER_SCRIPT, not LOAD_BALANCER_CUSTOM_SCRIPT
  • Case 93186: Installing on Ubuntu/Debian without SELinux no longer shows an error

4.0.29
January 26, 2024

  • Debian build fixed
  • Case 93170: The “install” directory has been cleaned. There are now only 3 scripts:
    • activate – Generate license file from activation key
    • apps – (Re)generate FastX apps from apps on system (e.g. Gnome, xterm)
    • non-root – Setup a non-root installation of the package
  • Case 93169: Space is saved by moving common node packages to a single directory. (This reduced the package size by 4M.)

4.0.27
January 24, 2024

  • Early Access Release
    • RHEL 8 or higher is required

4.0 beta build 2011
January 23, 2024

  • Case 93156: D-Bus is launched before GNOME desktop and GNOME Terminal.
  • Several Debian/Ubuntu installation fixes
  • Case 93160: License activation on clean install

4.0 beta build 2009
January 18, 2024

  • Case 93145: Allows the user to save the connection type (web client)
  • Case 93148: This should show the application icons in a browser client web connection.
  • SELinux permissions added (mostly for fastx4-rlm)

4.0 beta build 2007
January 16, 2024

  • Case 93135: Desktop client can now make web connections to server.
  • Case 92939: A session can be launched via fastx4-sshd (when the user’s link script is not running).
  • Case 93142: Fix “uptime” value in session list
  • Case 93034: Fix background color
  • Case 93140: An newly created application can now be deleted.
  • Case 93139: Make an appropriate default icon for newly created application.

Changes in FastX 4