Improve references to contributing to noVNC

[mirror_novnc.git] / README.md

## noVNC: HTML VNC Client Library and Application

[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/novnc/noVNC.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/novnc/noVNC)

### Description

noVNC is both a HTML VNC client JavaScript library and an application built on
top of that library. noVNC runs well in any modern browser including mobile
browsers (iOS and Android).

Many companies, projects and products have integrated noVNC including
[OpenStack](http://www.openstack.org),
[OpenNebula](http://opennebula.org/),
[LibVNCServer](http://libvncserver.sourceforge.net), and
[ThinLinc](https://cendio.com/thinlinc). See
[the Projects and Companies wiki page](https://github.com/novnc/noVNC/wiki/Projects-and-companies-using-noVNC)
for a more complete list with additional info and links.

### News/help/contact

The project website is found at [novnc.com](http://novnc.com).
Notable commits, announcements and news are posted to
[@noVNC](http://www.twitter.com/noVNC).

If you are a noVNC developer/integrator/user (or want to be) please join the
[noVNC discussion group](https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/novnc).

Bugs and feature requests can be submitted via
[github issues](https://github.com/novnc/noVNC/issues). If you have questions
about using noVNC then please first use the
[discussion group](https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/novnc).
We also have a [wiki](https://github.com/novnc/noVNC/wiki/) with lots of
helpful information.

If you are looking for a place to start contributing to noVNC, a good place to
start would be the issues that are marked as
["patchwelcome"](https://github.com/novnc/noVNC/issues?labels=patchwelcome).
Please check our
[contribution guide](https://github.com/novnc/noVNC/wiki/Contributing) though.

If you want to show appreciation for noVNC you could donate to a great non-
profits such as:
[Compassion International](http://www.compassion.com/),
[SIL](http://www.sil.org),
[Habitat for Humanity](http://www.habitat.org),
[Electronic Frontier Foundation](https://www.eff.org/),
[Against Malaria Foundation](http://www.againstmalaria.com/),
[Nothing But Nets](http://www.nothingbutnets.net/), etc.
Please tweet [@noVNC](http://www.twitter.com/noVNC) if you do.


### Features

* Supports all modern browsers including mobile (iOS, Android)
* Supported VNC encodings: raw, copyrect, rre, hextile, tight, tightPNG
* WebSocket SSL/TLS encryption (i.e. "wss://") support
* 24-bit true color and 8 bit colour mapped
* Supports desktop resize notification/pseudo-encoding
* Local or remote cursor
* Clipboard copy/paste
* Clipping or scolling modes for large remote screens
* Easy site integration and theming (3 example themes included)
* Licensed under the [MPL 2.0](http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/)

### Screenshots

Running in Firefox before and after connecting:

<img src="http://novnc.com/img/noVNC-1-login.png" width=400>&nbsp;
<img src="http://novnc.com/img/noVNC-3-connected.png" width=400>

See more screenshots
[here](http://novnc.com/screenshots.html).


### Browser Requirements

* Chrome 49, Firefox 44, Safari 10, Opera 36, IE 11, Edge 12, etc.

* HTML5 Canvas, WebSockets and Typed Arrays, etc.

* Fast Javascript Engine: this is not strictly a requirement, but without a
  fast Javascript engine, noVNC might be painfully slow.

* See the more detailed
[browser compatibility wiki page](https://github.com/novnc/noVNC/wiki/Browser-support).


### Server Requirements

Unless you are using a VNC server with support for WebSockets connections (such
as [x11vnc/libvncserver](http://libvncserver.sourceforge.net/),
[QEMU](http://www.qemu.org/), or
[MobileVNC](http://www.smartlab.at/mobilevnc/)), you need to use a
WebSockets to TCP socket proxy. There is a python proxy included
('websockify').


### Quick Start

* Use the launch script to start a mini-webserver and the WebSockets proxy
  (websockify). The `--vnc` option is used to specify the location of a running
  VNC server:

    `./utils/launch.sh --vnc localhost:5901`

* Point your browser to the cut-and-paste URL that is output by the launch
  script. Enter a password if the VNC server has one configured. Hit the
  Connect button and enjoy!


### Authors/Contributors

* Core team:
    * [Joel Martin](https://github.com/kanaka)
    * [Samuel Mannehed](https://github.com/samhed) (Cendio)
    * [Peter Åstrand](https://github.com/astrand) (Cendio)
    * [Solly Ross](https://github.com/DirectXMan12) (Red Hat / OpenStack)
    * [Pierre Ossman](https://github.com/CendioOssman) (Cendio)

* Notable contributions:
    * UI and Icons : Pierre Ossman, Chris Gordon
    * Original Logo : Michael Sersen
    * tight encoding : Michael Tinglof (Mercuri.ca)

* Included libraries:
    * as3crypto : Henri Torgemane (code.google.com/p/as3crypto)
    * base64 : Martijn Pieters (Digital Creations 2), Samuel Sieb (sieb.net)
    * DES : Dave Zimmerman (Widget Workshop), Jef Poskanzer (ACME Labs)
    * Pako : Vitaly Puzrin (https://github.com/nodeca/pako)

Do you want to be on this list? Check out our
[contribution guide](https://github.com/novnc/noVNC/wiki/Contributing) and
start hacking!