View source for How to run Spice Agent

=How To Run Spice Agent in Alpine=

This is a guide on how to run Spice Agent in Alpine Linux 3.12.1-standard. 

The Spice Agent can be used to get some additional features when running Alpine Linux in a Qemu/Libvirt VM.

=Features=
Working:
* Client mouse mode
* Automatic adjustment of the X-session resolution
* Clipboard sharing

Not working:
* The <code>State</code> field in Libvirt - it always shows "disconnected", even when it is working

Not tested:
* Transferring files
* Multiple displays/screens

=Before You Start=
Most features of the Spice Agent are only useful when running a graphical interface.
I roughly followed the [[Awesome(wm)_Setup]] guide, but substituted <code>awesome</code> with <code>i3wm</code> as that has my preference (you have to install <code>i3status</code> manually, and use <code>i3</code> in the <code>.xinitrc</code> file).

For the Spice Agent to work, don't remove the <code>Channel spice</code> that is automatically added by Libvirt.

=Building the Spice Agent=
Install the dependencies:
  # apk add alpine-sdk autoconf automake glib-dev libxfixes-dev libxrandr-dev libxinerama-dev spice-protocol alsa-lib-dev dbus-dev libdrm-dev libpciaccess-dev

Get the source code:
  $ git clone https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/spice/linux/vd_agent.git
  $ cd vd_agent
  $ git checkout spice-vdagent-0.20.0
We need this specific version because the newest version requires a newer <code>spice-protocol</code> version than is provided by the repositories (version 0.14.1). If you follow this guide with a later version of Alpine, you may want to get a newer version from git as well.

Build the code (still in the <code>vd_agent</code> directory):
  $ ./autogen.sh
  $ make

Install the program (should be optional, but I haven't tried it without yet):
  # make install


=Running the Spice Agent=
{{Draft|While this works, it's very rough and the steps need to be performed every time you want to run it. It would be nice to have init scripts to do this.}}

First start the <code>spice-vdagentd</code>:
  # modprobe uinput
  # mkdir /run/spice-vdagentd
  # spice-vdagentd -d -x -X
<small>You can also remove the lower-case <code>-x</code> flag to deamonize the <code>spice-vdagentd</code>.</small>

Then start the <code>spice-vdagent</code>:
  $ spice-vdagent -x -d
Notice that there is no need to run this last command as root.

=Using the virt edition of Alpine=
This currently does not work on the virt edition (version 3.12.1), as it doesn't have the <code>uinput</code> module enabled in the kernel.

You can still make the <code>spice-vdagentd</code> work by starting it as follows, but it will disable the cursor while the <code>spice-vdagent</code> is running:
  # mkdir /run/spice-vdagentd
  # spice-vdagentd -d -x -X -u /dev/null -f