I have xinetd set up to start my Xvnc server. Occaisionally, my VPN hangs or disconnects and so I lose my vncviewer/client session. I would expect to be able to reconnect to the Xvnc server by restarting vncviewer, but xinetd seems to be terminating the server when my vncviewer session ends. I would like the Xvnc server to stay alive so I can reconnect to it with vncviewer.

As a workaround, I've stopped xinetd and started a Xvnc session from the command line, and this works exactly as I want. But I have to stop xinetd to accomplish this, or else my vncviewer sessions only connect to the Xvnc server which is started by xinetd.

I've tried many different Xvnc opions to accomplish this (-noreset, removed
the -once, etc) but none seem to matter. I've also changed the xinetd WAIT
from no to yes, but that doesn't work either. (In fact, it has a wierd
side effect of spinning on starting a Xvnc server, which immediately dies,
and so it starts another one.)

And as long as we're on this subject, what is the ":42" in the server options in /etc/xinetd.d/vnc? The normal way to start Xvnc is the :1, :2 etc which correspond to the display for the vncviewer session.

I guess I just need to learn where can I learn more about how xinetd controls Xvnc.

Thanks!
Craig

It's not an (x)inetd issue. It's about X11vnc's default behaviour. Just put a -forever option and you've got it.
Like so :

/usr/bin/x11vnc -rfbauth ~/.vnc/passwd -display :0 -forever &

I'm not running X11vnc, which is another version of the server. It's just Xvnc, and -forever is not a valid option (I tried it).