PCM — Python Connection Manager

L'alternativa Linux a MobaXterm — tutto in una finestra: SSH, RDP, VNC, SFTP, FTP, Telnet, Mosh, Seriale.
Scritto in Python con GTK3 e terminale VTE nativo. Funziona su X11 e Wayland senza XWayland.

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Versioni disponibili

Versione	Cartella	Framework	Terminale	Wayland	Stato
GTK3	gtk3/	GTK3 (PyGObject)	VTE nativo	✅ Nativo	Sviluppo attivo
PyQt6	pyqt6/	PyQt6	xterm	XWayland richiesto	Solo bugfix critici

La cartella pyqt6/ contiene la versione legacy (solo bugfix critici); le nuove installazioni devono preferire GTK3.

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Perché PCM?

	PCM	Remmina	Asbru	mRemoteNG
SSH con terminale integrato	✅ VTE nativo	❌ solo RDP/VNC	✅ xterm	✅
RDP + VNC + SSH + FTP in un tool	✅	parziale	✅	✅
Browser SFTP/FTP integrato	✅ dual-pane	❌	parziale	❌
Tunnel SSH grafici	✅	❌	✅	❌
Broadcast a più terminali	✅	❌	✅ cluster	❌
KeePassXC integrato	✅	❌	❌	❌
Wayland nativo (no XWayland)	✅	parziale	❌	❌ Linux
Password MAI sulla command line	✅ feed_child	❌	⚠️ expect	—
Configurazione leggibile	✅ JSON	XML complesso	YAML	XML
Licenza	EUPL-1.2	GPL-2	GPL-3	GPL-2

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Protocolli supportati

SSH · SFTP · FTP/FTPS · RDP · VNC · Telnet · Mosh · Seriale · Exec · SSH Tunnel

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Funzionalità principali

🖥 Protocolli — tutto in una finestra

Protocollo	Come si apre	Punti di forza
SSH	Tab VTE interno o terminale esterno	Jump Host, X11, Agent Forward, pre-cmd VPN, macro
SFTP	Browser dual-pane integrato	Drag & drop, coda trasferimenti, rinomina
FTP / FTPS	Browser integrato o file manager	TLS esplicito, modalità PASV
RDP	Pannello interno o finestra esterna	xfreerdp3/xfreerdp/rdesktop, multi-monitor
VNC	gtk-vnc nativo o client esterno	Scala, grab input, screenshot
Telnet	Tab VTE interno	—
Mosh	Tab VTE interno	Resistente a disconnessioni
Seriale	Tab VTE interno	Baud, parità, stop bit configurabili
Exec	Tab VTE interno	Qualsiasi comando shell in una scheda
SSH Tunnel	Background gestito graficamente	SOCKS -D, locale -L, remoto -R

🔐 Sicurezza — sopra la media

• Password mai sulla command line: PCM digita la password nel terminale VTE quando il server la richiede (feed_child), come farebbe un utente. Nessun sshpass, nessun argomento visibile in ps aux.
• Fallback SSH_ASKPASS per OpenSSH ≥ 8.4: se SSH gestisce l'auth prima che appaia un prompt (keyboard-interactive), uno script helper temp mode 0700 passa la password silenziosamente.
• Cifratura AES-256 (Fernet + PBKDF2-SHA256, 480k iterazioni): utenti e password in connections.json cifrati con password master. La chiave non tocca mai il disco.
• KeePassXC integrato via Browser Protocol v2 (NaCl box): cerca e compila credenziali direttamente dal database KeePassXC aperto — nessun browser necessario.
• Gestione chiavi SSH: genera, copia sul server, visualizza la chiave pubblica.
• Agent Forwarding (-A): propaga le chiavi ssh-agent per hop multipli senza copiare le chiavi private.

💻 Terminale avanzato

• VTE nativo — zero dipendenze X11, funziona su Wayland puro
• Split verticale/orizzontale — più sessioni affiancate nella stessa finestra
• Temi: Dracula, Nord, Gruvbox, Solarized Dark/Light, One Dark, Monokai, Cobalt, Tomorrow Night e altri
• Macro per sessione — comandi inviati con un clic dalla sidebar
• Broadcast terminali — invia lo stesso testo a tutti i terminali selezionati contemporaneamente (ideale per cluster)
• Multi-exec — esegui un comando su più sessioni in sequenza
• Log output su file per ogni sessione (con script(1))
• Scrollback configurabile o infinito per sessione
• Pre-comando locale: attiva VPN o monta volume prima di aprire la connessione

📁 Gestione sessioni

• Organizzate per gruppo con barra di ricerca live
• Sezione Recenti in cima alla sidebar: ultime 20 sessioni con timestamp
• Quick Connect: utente@host:porta dalla toolbar — si connette senza salvare un profilo
• Doppio clic per connettere, tasto destro per menu contestuale ricco
• Ping TCP dalla sidebar — verifica raggiungibilità sulla porta configurata (ms)
• Duplica, modifica, elimina, esporta script .sh per riaprire da terminale
• Import da: Remmina (.remmina), Remote Desktop Manager (.rdm/.json), PuTTY (~/.putty/sessions/), ~/.ssh/config

🛠 Strumenti integrati

• Tunnel SSH grafici — avvia, ferma, monitora tunnel in background
• Server FTP locale (pyftpdlib) — espone una cartella locale via FTP/FTPS in un clic
• Variabili globali {NOME} — riutilizzabili nei comandi di tutte le sessioni
• Wake-on-LAN — invia magic packet prima di connettersi
• Audit log — storico connessioni con timestamp, durata, protocollo, stato; esportabile CSV
• Verifica dipendenze — controlla automaticamente quali tool sono installati

🌍 Internazionalizzazione

5 lingue complete: 🇮🇹 Italiano · 🇬🇧 English · 🇩🇪 Deutsch · 🇫🇷 Français · 🇪🇸 Español
Cambio lingua immediato dalle impostazioni senza riavvio.

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Screenshot — Versione GTK3 (sviluppo attivo)

Finestra principale: sidebar con gruppi e sezione Recenti, terminale SSH integrato aperto, status bar connessione

Dialogo nuova sessione — SSH

Tab Connessione — host, porta, utente, password, chiave privata, gestione chiavi SSH (genera ed25519/RSA, copia sul server), integrazione KeePassXC	Tab Terminale — tema, font, dimensione, scrollback, conferma chiusura, avviso incolla, log su file, modalità apertura SSH

Tab Avanzate — X11 forwarding, compressione, keepalive, strict host, SFTP browser automatico, Agent Forwarding (-A), startup command, jump host, Wake-on-LAN, pre-comando locale	Tab Tunnel — tipo SOCKS proxy (-D) o port forwarding, porta locale, host e porta remoti

Tab Macro — comandi rapidi per sessione (nome → comando), inviati al terminale con un clic dalla sidebar	Tab Note — campo testo libero per annotazioni associate alla sessione

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Dialogo nuova sessione — RDP

Tab Connessione RDP — host, porta 3389, utente, integrazione KeePassXC	Tab Avanzate RDP — client xfreerdp3, autenticazione NTLM/Kerberos, dominio, fullscreen, clipboard, cartelle locali, monitor, modalità apertura

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Dialogo nuova sessione — VNC e FTP/SFTP

Tab Connessione VNC — host, porta 5900, utente, integrazione KeePassXC	Tab Avanzate VNC — apertura con gtk-vnc integrato o client esterno, profondità colore, qualità

Tab Connessione FTP/SFTP — host, porta, utente, password, chiave privata, sottoprotocollo (SFTP/FTP/FTPS), gestione chiavi SSH, KeePassXC	Tab Connessione Telnet — host, porta 23, utente, password, integrazione KeePassXC

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Dialogo nuova sessione — Mosh, Seriale, Exec

Connessione Mosh — host, porta SSH, utente, password, chiave privata	Connessione Seriale — device (/dev/ttyUSB0), baud rate, data bit, parity, stop bit

Protocollo Exec — esegui qualsiasi comando shell in un tab VTE dedicato

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Browser SFTP dual-pane

Browser SFTP integrato — pannello locale e remoto affiancati, upload/download, coda trasferimenti, drag & drop

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Strumenti integrati

SSH Tunnel Manager — elenco tunnel con tipo, host, porte, stato; pulsanti Add/Edit/Delete/Start/Stop; log output integrato	Menu applicazione — Tunnel Manager, Broadcast, Variabili globali, Server FTP locale, Import, Audit log, KeePassXC, Dipendenze

Quick Connect — connessione rapida senza salvare il profilo, scelta protocollo, host, porta, utente, password	Sblocco credenziali — master password per decifrare le credenziali salvate (AES-256)

Import sessioni — da Remmina (.remmina), Remote Desktop Manager (.rdm/.json), PuTTY, ~/.ssh/config

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Installazione

GTK3 — versione raccomandata

Automatica

git clone https://github.com/buzzqw/Python_Connection_Manager.git
cd Python_Connection_Manager
bash setup.sh

Lo script rileva la distribuzione (Debian/Ubuntu, Arch, Fedora, openSUSE, FreeBSD) e installa tutte le dipendenze di sistema e Python. Crea anche un launcher .desktop nel menu applicazioni.

# Solo verifica dipendenze, senza installare:
bash setup.sh --check

Avvio

cd Python_Connection_Manager/gtk3
python3 PCM.py

Al primo avvio PCM crea connections.json con sessioni di esempio e propone di abilitare la cifratura AES-256 delle credenziali.

Manuale per distribuzione

Debian / Ubuntu / Linux Mint

sudo apt install \
    python3 python3-gi python3-gi-cairo \
    gir1.2-gtk-3.0 gir1.2-vte-2.91 gir1.2-gtkvnc-2.0 \
    openssh-client freerdp3-x11 tigervnc-viewer \
    xdotool xdg-utils wakeonlan

pip install --user cryptography paramiko pyftpdlib

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -Sy --needed \
    python python-gobject gtk3 vte3 gtk-vnc \
    openssh freerdp tigervnc xdotool xdg-utils wol \
    python-cryptography python-paramiko python-pyftpdlib

Fedora

sudo dnf install \
    python3-gobject gtk3 vte291 gtk-vnc2 \
    openssh-clients freerdp tigervnc xdotool xdg-utils

pip install --user cryptography paramiko pyftpdlib

openSUSE

sudo zypper install \
    python3-gobject typelib-1_0-Gtk-3_0 \
    typelib-1_0-Vte-2.91 typelib-1_0-GtkVnc-2_0 \
    openssh freerdp tigervnc xdotool xdg-utils

pip install --user cryptography paramiko pyftpdlib

FreeBSD

sudo pkg install \
    python3 py311-gobject gtk3 vte3 gtk-vnc \
    mosh freerdp3 tigervnc-viewer xdotool wakeonlan \
    py311-cryptography py311-paramiko py311-pyftpdlib

PyQt6 — versione legacy

Riceve solo bugfix critici. Istruzioni di installazione in pyqt6/README.md.

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Dipendenze opzionali

Pacchetto	Funzionalità abilitata
gir1.2-gtkvnc-2.0 / gtk-vnc	VNC integrato nativo (raccomandato)
tigervnc-viewer / xtightvncviewer	VNC via client esterno (fallback)
freerdp3-x11 / xfreerdp	RDP
mosh	Connessioni Mosh
picocom / minicom	Porte seriali
xdotool	RDP in pannello interno (richiede XWayland)
wakeonlan / wol	Wake-on-LAN
keepassxc	Integrazione KeePassXC
pynacl	Cifratura protocollo KeePassXC Browser v2

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Note Wayland

GTK3 + VTE funzionano nativamente su Wayland senza XWayland.

L'unica eccezione è la modalità RDP pannello interno (embedding xfreerdp tramite xdotool) che richiede XWayland. Per uso Wayland puro, impostare RDP su "Finestra esterna".

Il viewer VNC gtk-vnc funziona nativamente su Wayland.

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File di configurazione

File	Contenuto
gtk3/connections.json	Profili sessione — JSON leggibile, modificabile a mano
gtk3/pcm_settings.json	Impostazioni globali, scorciatoie, sessioni recenti
gtk3/audit_log.json	Log audit connessioni (solo metadata, nessuna credenziale)
/tmp/pcm_logs/	Log output terminali, percorso configurabile

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Supporta il progetto

Se PCM ti è utile e vuoi ringraziare lo sviluppatore, puoi offrire un caffè tramite PayPal. Ogni contributo è molto apprezzato e aiuta a mantenere il progetto attivo!

Grazie mille!

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Autore

Andres Zanzani — licenza EUPL-1.2

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PCM — Python Connection Manager 🇬🇧

The Linux alternative to MobaXterm — everything in one window: SSH, RDP, VNC, SFTP, FTP, Telnet, Mosh, Serial.
Written in Python with GTK3 and native VTE terminal. Works on X11 and Wayland without XWayland.

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Available versions

Version	Folder	Framework	Terminal	Wayland	Status
GTK3	gtk3/	GTK3 (PyGObject)	Native VTE	✅ Native	Active development
PyQt6	pyqt6/	PyQt6	xterm	XWayland required	Critical bugfixes only

The pyqt6/ folder contains the legacy version (critical bugfixes only); new installations should prefer GTK3.

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Why PCM?

	PCM	Remmina	Asbru	mRemoteNG
SSH with integrated terminal	✅ Native VTE	❌ RDP/VNC only	✅ xterm	✅
RDP + VNC + SSH + FTP in one tool	✅	partial	✅	✅
Integrated SFTP/FTP browser	✅ dual-pane	❌	partial	❌
Graphical SSH tunnels	✅	❌	✅	❌
Broadcast to multiple terminals	✅	❌	✅ cluster	❌
KeePassXC integration	✅	❌	❌	❌
Native Wayland (no XWayland)	✅	partial	❌	❌ Linux
Password NEVER on command line	✅ feed_child	❌	⚠️ expect	—
Human-readable config	✅ JSON	complex XML	YAML	XML
License	EUPL-1.2	GPL-2	GPL-3	GPL-2

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Supported protocols

SSH · SFTP · FTP/FTPS · RDP · VNC · Telnet · Mosh · Serial · Exec · SSH Tunnel

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Key features

🖥 Protocols — everything in one window

Protocol	How it opens	Strengths
SSH	Internal VTE tab or external terminal	Jump Host, X11, Agent Forward, VPN pre-cmd, macros
SFTP	Integrated dual-pane browser	Drag & drop, transfer queue, rename
FTP / FTPS	Integrated browser or file manager	Explicit TLS, PASV mode
RDP	Internal panel or external window	xfreerdp3/xfreerdp/rdesktop, multi-monitor
VNC	Native gtk-vnc or external client	Scale, grab input, screenshot
Telnet	Internal VTE tab	—
Mosh	Internal VTE tab	Resilient to disconnections
Serial	Internal VTE tab	Baud, parity, stop bits configurable
Exec	Internal VTE tab	Any shell command in a tab
SSH Tunnel	Background, managed graphically	SOCKS -D, local -L, remote -R

🔐 Security — above average

• Password never on command line: PCM types the password into the VTE terminal when the server asks for it (feed_child), just like a user would. No sshpass, nothing visible in ps aux.
• SSH_ASKPASS fallback for OpenSSH ≥ 8.4: if SSH handles auth before a prompt appears (keyboard-interactive), a temp helper script (mode 0700) passes the password silently.
• AES-256 encryption (Fernet + PBKDF2-SHA256, 480k iterations): usernames and passwords in connections.json encrypted with a master password. The key never touches the disk.
• KeePassXC integration via Browser Protocol v2 (NaCl box): find and fill credentials directly from the open KeePassXC database — no browser needed.
• SSH key management: generate, copy to server, display public key.
• Agent Forwarding (-A): propagates ssh-agent keys for multiple hops without copying private keys.

💻 Advanced terminal

• Native VTE — zero X11 dependencies, works on pure Wayland
• Vertical/horizontal split — multiple sessions side by side in one window
• Themes: Dracula, Nord, Gruvbox, Solarized Dark/Light, One Dark, Monokai, Cobalt, Tomorrow Night and more
• Per-session macros — commands sent with one click from the sidebar
• Terminal broadcast — send the same text to all selected terminals simultaneously (ideal for clusters)
• Multi-exec — run a command across multiple sessions in sequence
• File output logging per session (via script(1))
• Configurable or infinite scrollback per session
• Local pre-command: activate VPN or mount volume before opening the connection

📁 Session management

• Organized by group with live search bar
• Recent sessions section at the top of the sidebar: last 20 sessions with timestamps
• Quick Connect: user@host:port from the toolbar — connects without saving a profile
• Double-click to connect, right-click for rich context menu
• TCP Ping from the sidebar — checks reachability on the configured port (ms)
• Duplicate, edit, delete, export .sh script to reopen from terminal
• Import from: Remmina (.remmina), Remote Desktop Manager (.rdm/.json), PuTTY (~/.putty/sessions/), ~/.ssh/config

🛠 Integrated tools

• Graphical SSH tunnels — start, stop, monitor background tunnels
• Local FTP server (pyftpdlib) — expose a local folder via FTP/FTPS in one click
• Global variables {NAME} — reusable in commands across all sessions
• Wake-on-LAN — sends magic packet before connecting
• Audit log — connection history with timestamp, duration, protocol, status; exportable to CSV
• Dependency checker — automatically checks which tools are installed

🌍 Internationalization

5 complete languages: 🇮🇹 Italiano · 🇬🇧 English · 🇩🇪 Deutsch · 🇫🇷 Français · 🇪🇸 Español
Instant language change from settings without restart.

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Screenshots — GTK3 version (active development)

Main window: group sidebar with Recent section, embedded SSH terminal tab open, connection status bar

New session dialog — SSH

Connection tab — host, port, user, password, private key, SSH key management (generate ed25519/RSA, copy to server), KeePassXC integration	Terminal tab — theme, font, size, scrollback, close confirmation, paste warning, file logging, SSH open mode

Advanced tab — X11 forwarding, compression, keepalive, strict host, auto-open SFTP browser, Agent Forwarding (-A), startup command, jump host, Wake-on-LAN, local pre-command	Tunnel tab — SOCKS proxy (-D) or port forwarding, local port, remote host and port

Macros tab — per-session quick commands (name → command), sent to the terminal with one click from the sidebar	Notes tab — free-text field for annotations attached to the session

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New session dialog — RDP

Connection tab — host, port 3389, user, KeePassXC integration	Advanced tab — xfreerdp3 client, NTLM/Kerberos auth, domain, fullscreen, clipboard, local folders, monitor, open mode

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New session dialog — VNC and FTP/SFTP

Connection tab — host, port 5900, user, KeePassXC integration	Advanced tab — open with embedded gtk-vnc or external client, color depth, quality

FTP/SFTP connection tab — host, port, user, password, private key, sub-protocol (SFTP/FTP/FTPS), SSH key management, KeePassXC	Telnet connection tab — host, port 23, user, password, KeePassXC integration

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New session dialog — Mosh, Serial, Exec

Mosh connection — host, SSH port, user, password, private key	Serial connection — device (/dev/ttyUSB0), baud rate, data bits, parity, stop bits

Exec protocol — run any shell command in a dedicated VTE tab

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Integrated SFTP dual-pane browser

Integrated SFTP browser — local and remote panels side by side, upload/download, transfer queue, drag & drop

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Integrated tools

SSH Tunnel Manager — tunnel list with type, host, ports, status; Add/Edit/Delete/Start/Stop buttons; integrated output log	Application menu — Tunnel Manager, Broadcast, Global variables, Local FTP server, Import, Audit log, KeePassXC, Dependencies

Quick Connect — instant connection without saving a profile, choose protocol, host, port, user, password	Credential unlock — master password to decrypt saved credentials (AES-256)

Import sessions — from Remmina (.remmina), Remote Desktop Manager (.rdm/.json), PuTTY, ~/.ssh/config

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Quick install (GTK3 — recommended)

git clone https://github.com/buzzqw/Python_Connection_Manager.git
cd Python_Connection_Manager
bash setup.sh
cd gtk3
python3 PCM.py

The setup.sh script detects the distribution and installs system dependencies (GTK3, VTE, gtk-vnc) and Python packages (paramiko, cryptography, pyftpdlib). It also creates a .desktop launcher in the application menu.

# Check dependencies only, without installing:
bash setup.sh --check

Manual install by distribution

Debian / Ubuntu / Linux Mint

sudo apt install \
    python3 python3-gi python3-gi-cairo \
    gir1.2-gtk-3.0 gir1.2-vte-2.91 gir1.2-gtkvnc-2.0 \
    openssh-client freerdp3-x11 tigervnc-viewer \
    xdotool xdg-utils wakeonlan

pip install --user cryptography paramiko pyftpdlib

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -Sy --needed \
    python python-gobject gtk3 vte3 gtk-vnc \
    openssh freerdp tigervnc xdotool xdg-utils wol \
    python-cryptography python-paramiko python-pyftpdlib

Fedora

sudo dnf install \
    python3-gobject gtk3 vte291 gtk-vnc2 \
    openssh-clients freerdp tigervnc xdotool xdg-utils

pip install --user cryptography paramiko pyftpdlib

openSUSE

sudo zypper install \
    python3-gobject typelib-1_0-Gtk-3_0 \
    typelib-1_0-Vte-2.91 typelib-1_0-GtkVnc-2_0 \
    openssh freerdp tigervnc xdotool xdg-utils

pip install --user cryptography paramiko pyftpdlib

FreeBSD

sudo pkg install \
    python3 py311-gobject gtk3 vte3 gtk-vnc \
    mosh freerdp3 tigervnc-viewer xdotool wakeonlan \
    py311-cryptography py311-paramiko py311-pyftpdlib

PyQt6 — legacy version

Critical bugfixes only. See pyqt6/README.md for installation instructions.

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Optional dependencies

Package	Feature enabled
gir1.2-gtkvnc-2.0 / gtk-vnc	Native embedded VNC (recommended)
tigervnc-viewer / xtightvncviewer	VNC via external client (fallback)
freerdp3-x11 / xfreerdp	RDP
mosh	Mosh connections
picocom / minicom	Serial ports
xdotool	RDP in internal panel (requires XWayland)
wakeonlan / wol	Wake-on-LAN
keepassxc	KeePassXC integration
pynacl	KeePassXC Browser Protocol v2 encryption

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Wayland notes

GTK3 + VTE work natively on Wayland without XWayland.

The only exception is the RDP internal panel mode (embedding xfreerdp via xdotool), which requires XWayland. For pure Wayland use, set RDP to "External window".

The gtk-vnc VNC viewer works natively on Wayland.

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Configuration files

File	Contents
gtk3/connections.json	Session profiles — human-readable JSON, editable by hand
gtk3/pcm_settings.json	Global settings, shortcuts, recent sessions
gtk3/audit_log.json	Connection audit log (metadata only, no credentials)
/tmp/pcm_logs/	Terminal output logs, path configurable

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Support the project

If you find PCM useful and want to thank the developer, you can buy him a coffee via PayPal. Any contribution is greatly appreciated and helps keep the project alive!

Thank you so much!

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Author

Andres Zanzani — license EUPL-1.2