Issued:
2009-10-08
Updated:
2009-10-08

RHBA-2009:1489 - qspice bug fix update

Synopsis

qspice bug fix update

Type/Severity

Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated qspice packages that fix several bugs are now available.

Description

The Simple Protocol for Independent Computing Environments (SPICE) is a remote display protocol designed for virtual environments. SPICE users can view a virtualized desktop or server from the local system or any system with network access to the server. SPICE is available for a variety of machine architectures and operating systems. SPICE is used in Red Hat Enterprise Linux for viewing virtualized guests running on the KVM hypervisor or on Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Hypervisors.

These updated packages fix the following bugs:

  • the SPICE server uses a heuristic method for detecting video streams. Some sites, however, send two video frame pixmaps: the actual size of the frame and a variant that measures from the top-left of the web-page presenting the frame to the bottom-right of the video frame. Receiving two video pixmaps caused the SPICE heuristic to fail to detect the video stream. This failure also caused a dramatic increase in CPU use and network traffic. With this update, the heuristic detects dual-pixmap video streams accurately; video playback occurs as expected and CPU use and network traffic no longer spike. (BZ#521791)

  • previously the SPICE server used a fixed bit-rate for video streams. If external factors affected the data stream, this fixed bit-rate resulted in dropped frames and low quality playback. With this update, the SPICE server no longer uses a hard-coded bit-rate; instead it can choose a bit-rate that reflects current network conditions, improving video playback in low-bandwidth conditions. (BZ#521792)

  • on new client connections the SPICE server previously sent the client an uncompressed initial screen image. In low bandwidth conditions this resulted in a long period of apparent inactivity, with the client presenting an unsuable black screen. The SPICE server now compresses the initial screen image, greatly reducing initialization time. (BZ#522049)

Users requiring remote display capabilities for KVM hypervisors are advised to upgrade to these updated qspice packages, which resolve these issues.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at This content is not included.http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

ProductVersionArch
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support5.4x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server5x86_64

Updated Packages

  • qspice-libs-0.3.0-39.el5_4.3.x86_64.rpm
  • qspice-0.3.0-39.el5_4.3.x86_64.rpm
  • qspice-0.3.0-39.el5_4.3.src.rpm
  • qspice-libs-devel-0.3.0-39.el5_4.3.x86_64.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)

Additional information