The winswitch repo for centos/redhat based distros doesn't seem to contain the actual winswitch RPM

root /etc/yum.repos.d # cat winswitch.repo
[winswitch]
name=Winswitch
enabled=1
metadata_expire=1d
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=http://winswitch.org/gpg.asc
baseurl=http://winswitch.org/dists/CentOS/7/x86_64/
root /etc/yum.repos.d # yum install winswitch
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, langpacks, ps
Repository winswitch is listed more than once in the configuration
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * elrepo: repos.ord.lax-noc.com
 * elrepo-kernel: repos.ord.lax-noc.com
 * epel: mirror.steadfast.net
 * nux-dextop: mirror.li.nux.ro
 * ovirt-4.1: mirrors.rit.edu
 * ovirt-4.1-epel: mirror.steadfast.net
No package winswitch available.
Error: Nothing to do
root /etc/yum.repos.d #

For software installed from source, it is essential to be able to specify the installation directory tree (eg /usr/local) in order to avoid conflicts with OS installed software from packages.

And for those of us that manage installed local software with GNU stow,

(see ​https://www.gnu.org/software/stow if not familiar with the approach)

it is even more important that files get installed under the specified directory tree.

Now winswitch does this for most of the install if --prefix is used

/usr/bin/python "/usr/src/build/winswitch-0.12.23/setup.py" install --prefix="/usr/local/stow/Network/winswitch-0.12.23/usr/local"

creating /usr/local/stow/Network/winswitch-0.12.23/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/winswitch
creating /usr/local/stow/Network/winswitch-0.12.23/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/winswitch/ui
copying build/lib.linux-i686-2.7/winswitch/ui/window_fake_tray.py -> /usr/local/stow/Network/winswitch-0.12.23/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/winswitch/ui
...
byte-compiling /usr/local/stow/Network/winswitch-0.12.23/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/winswitch/ui/window_fake_tray.py to window_fake_tray.pyc
...

but for a number of items the install process ignores the prefix and installs directly under system directories /etc and /usr/lib

creating /etc/winswitch

and

creating /usr/lib/winswitch

For installs under "/usr/local" these should instead be accessible under /usr/local/etc/winswitch and /usr/local/lib/winswitch respectively when installation is complete.

Now after checking the setup.py file, it seems a non-standard (?) method of specifying the destination for installs works, by specifying the environmental variable PREFIX="prefix_dir" get the etc/winswich and lib/winswitch installed under the prefix dir BUT --prefix prefix_dir is still needed to get all the other items to the prefix directory.

Please ensure that the --prefix prefix_dir variable is applied to all items being installed without the need for adding the environmental variable, or at the very minimum, mention this double requirement in the README file.

Thank you for your assistance in resolving this issue.

When the client connects to the server, there are port forwarding and application startup errors.

[II] 2018/13/04 09:38:53.375532 ConchConnection.forward_port(12497,127.0.0.1,24065)
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:31.742001 WinSwitchApplet.do_start_session(ServerConfig(desktop:158515233878749),Command(Mousepad: mousepad %F),xpra,None,{},False)
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:31.742075 WinSwitchApplet.attention(Starting Mousepad,None)
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:31.742134 StatusIconTray.animate_status_icon(Starting Mousepad,5) now=1523601571.74, tray_widget_animate_until=1523601505.56
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:31.908503 ServerLink.add_port_forward(None,127.0.0.1,15071) adding new port forward
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:31.908637 ConchConnection.forward_port(12498,127.0.0.1,15071)
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:35.937471 ServerLineConnection.do_message(9e007000aad84b759b6f03735717ba4d,Session Mousepad Failed,Session failed to start,)
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:54.238773 UI_Util.get_command_menu_entry(ServerConfig(desktop:158515233878749),Command(Gscriptor: gscriptor)) missing icon!
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:54.239043 UI_Util.get_command_menu_entry(ServerConfig(desktop:158515233878749),Command(Jaxx: "/home/username/cryptowallets/jaxx-1.3.13-x86_64.AppImage" %U)) missing icon!
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:54.240210 UI_Util.get_command_menu_entry(ServerConfig(desktop:158515233878749),Command(TurboVNC Viewer: /opt/TurboVNC/bin/vncviewer)) missing icon!
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:54.241673 UI_Util.get_command_menu_entry(ServerConfig(desktop:158515233878749),Command(OpenCity: opencity)) missing icon!
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:54.247141 UI_Util.get_command_menu_entry(ServerConfig(desktop:158515233878749),Command(aMule: amule %u)) missing icon!
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:54.251555 UI_Util.get_command_menu_entry(ServerConfig(desktop:158515233878749),Command(Power Manager: xfce4-power-manager-settings)) missing icon!
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:54.252573 UI_Util.get_command_menu_entry(ServerConfig(desktop:158515233878749),Command(TeXdoctk: texdoctk)) missing icon!
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:54.253640 UI_Util.get_command_menu_entry(ServerConfig(desktop:158515233878749),Command(PyCrust: pycrust)) missing icon!
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:54.255005 UI_Util.get_command_menu_entry(ServerConfig(desktop:158515233878749),Command(LMMS: env QT_X11_NO_NATIVE_MENUBAR=1 lmms %f)) missing icon!
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:54.257128 UI_Util.get_command_menu_entry(ServerConfig(desktop:158515233878749),Command(GAdmin-Rsync: su-to-root -X -c /usr/sbin/gadmin-rsync)) missing icon!
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:54.257361 UI_Util.get_command_menu_entry(ServerConfig(desktop:158515233878749),Command(GSmartControl: "/usr/bin/gsmartcontrol-root")) missing icon!
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:54.259273 UI_Util.get_command_menu_entry(ServerConfig(desktop:158515233878749),Command(UNetbootin: /usr/bin/unetbootin)) missing icon!
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:54.287996 WinSwitchApplet.do_start_session(ServerConfig(desktop:158515233878749),Desktop(Xfce Session: startxfce4),vnc,None,{},False)
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:54.288073 WinSwitchApplet.attention(Starting Xfce Session,None)
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:54.288128 StatusIconTray.animate_status_icon(Starting Xfce Session,5) now=1523601594.29, tray_widget_animate_until=1523601576.74
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:54.547923 ServerLink.add_port_forward(None,127.0.0.1,16072) adding new port forward
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:54.548147 ConchConnection.forward_port(12499,127.0.0.1,16072)
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:55.599431 ProtocolHandler.do_encrypted_command(78296cadaa664db4903f9daf30f421f5e745774aa2ab268880acc074aa64e8b4be461c80a2b4e9d6cb5be604d2dc6d8d7...) decrypted command=send_session '4011ea7ccbbf4b4caa82f47d86bb0b98','9e007000aad84b759b6f03735717ba4d','base64:N2UyNGMwMmE= '
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:55.599610 VNCClientUtil.attach(ServerConfig(desktop:158515233878749),ClientSession(:71 - vnc - connecting),127.0.0.1,12499)
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:55.625427 VNCClientUtil.do_real_attach(ServerConfig(desktop:158515233878749),ClientSession(:71 - vnc - connecting),127.0.0.1,12499) saved password '#######' in /home/username/.winswitch/client/sessions/4011ea7ccbbf4b4caa82f47d86bb0b98/session.pass
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:55.625532 VNCClientUtil.exec_client(ServerConfig(desktop:158515233878749),ClientSession(:71 - vnc - connecting),['/usr/bin/vncviewer', 'PasswordFile=/home/username/.winswitch/client/sessions/4011ea7ccbbf4b4caa82f47d86bb0b98/session.pass', 'name=Xfce Session on desktop', '127.0.0.1::12499'],None,None,available,True) starting SimpleLineProcess
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:55.634440 VNCClientUtil.started(<winswitch.util.process_util.SimpleLineProcess instance at 0x7f5abbdf4dd0>) pid=None
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:55.634966 SimpleLineProcess.start() process(['/usr/bin/vncviewer', 'PasswordFile=/home/username/.winswitch/client/sessions/4011ea7ccbbf4b4caa82f47d86bb0b98/session.pass', 'name=Xfce Session on desktop', '127.0.0.1::12499'])=<Process pid=6419 status=-1>
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:56.214816 PortForwardChannel.__init__(<winswitch.net.conch_util.ConchConnection instance at 0x7f5ac06b5b48>,<function forwarding_ready at 0x7f5abbdd7578>,<function forwarding_failed at 0x7f5abbdd7aa0>)
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:56.214968 ConchConnection.openChannel(<winswitch.net.conch_util.PortForwardChannel instance at 0x7f5abbdf4758>,'\x00\x00\x00\t127.0.0.1\x00\x00>\xc8\x00\x00\x00\t127.0.0.1\x00\x00\xcf\xde')
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:56.215638 VNCClientUtil.handle_line_connected(ClientSession(:71 - vnc - connecting), CConn:       connected to host 127.0.0.1 port 12499) ServerConfig(desktop:158515233878749)
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:56.215699 WinSwitchApplet.update_session_status(ServerConfig(desktop:158515233878749),ClientSession(:71 - vnc - connecting),connected)
[II] 2018/13/04 09:39:56.243185 ServerLink.forwarding_ready()