Citrix ICA Client install on Ubuntu (Feisty and Gutsy)
by Soddengecko @ 19:42
Citrix is a system that allows you to run applications you have at work/home from anywhere in the world or on your local area network (LAN) from a remote workstation.
You have real time access to run your applications as fast as if you are in the office. It does not matter if you’re using a dialup modem, DSL, ISDN, or T1 to access citrix remotely. Connection speeds become even less of an issue with high speed broadband connections pretty much the norm around the world now.
Citrix was built for virtualisation in mind, and obvioulsy owing to the fact that Microsoft is pretty much everywhere these days the main applications are easy to install on a windows machine, I am not going to cover that in the slightest.
To install Citrix ICA presentation client on your Ubuntu PC then follow the steps below.
Open a Terminal session
The three links below are using the new AptURL command which is installed by default on Ubuntu Gutsy and allows people like myself and any other tutorial writer to make it easier for you to install the packages you need. Just click the link and it will install the package for you. If this does not work, type the following command into the terminal window.
- sudo apt-get install apturl
Now that is out of the way, continue on.
- Click here to install libxaw6
- Click here to install libmotif3
- Click here to install alien (used to convert RPM to DEB packages)
You will now need to download the RPM file from Citrix. NOTE: It is version 10.6 (at time of writing) and is the second download icon (again, at time of writing). As the file names will change with new releases you will need to modify the tutorial to reflect this. You can however just grab the file from me.
Grab the file from here. I believe it is version 10.0 which is slightly out of date but works solidly so I recommend using it.
- http://www.citrix.com/site/SS/downloads/details.asp?dID=2755&downloadID=3323#top
Save the file to your desktop (this tutorial assumes you save it to your desktop, if not please change commands accordingly)
In your terminal window you now need to change to the directory where you saved the file, then we will begin converting and installing.
- cd Desktop
Now that you are on the desktop we now need to convert the file into a .Deb package that Ubuntu can handle.
- sudo alien ICAClient-10.0-2.i386.rpm
Once the file is converted we now need to install it.
- sudo dpkg -i icaclient_10.0-3_i386.deb
Now need to make this work through Firefox web-browser. We will create some symbolic links for Firefox so that it knows how to open the Citrix application file when you attempt to login.
- sudo ln -s /usr/lib/ICAClient/npica.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/npica.so
- sudo ln -s /usr/lib/ICAClient/npica.so /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox/plugins/npica.so
Restart Firefox
Navigate to your Citrix server and login. Click on the application you want to launch. If it asks you to save/open with you will need to choose “open with” and navigate to the following folder:
- /usr/lib/ICAClient
and choose to open with the following application.
- wfica
You should now be good to go.
Edit
I am aware that some people get Font errors with the Citrix Client, it is safe to ignore but if you wish to fix them you can drop me a line in the comments and I will write up the fix.
Comment posted by:
kevin
Posted on:
19-03-2008 @ 19:38:54
Thanks for the instructions. The second symlink didn’t work for me on Ubuntu Gutsy (7.10). I used this instead:
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/ICAClient/npica.so /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/npica.so
When I tried to start the client, I got an error about “You have chosen not to trust…” The solution to that was to go here: http://www.thawte.com/roots/ and download their root certificates. The one I needed was ThawtePremiumServerCA.cer. After unzipping the supplied certificates, I copied the one I wanted to
/usr/lib/ICAClient/keystore/cacerts renaming it to ThawtePremiumServerCA.crt along the way.
In SLED10 SP1, I had to edit .ICAClient/wfclient.ini to tell it about the new certificate, but in Ubuntu I didn’t. Also, in Gutsy, the client opened automatically without having to chose wfica.
Comment posted by:
kevin
Posted on:
19-03-2008 @ 19:43:20
I forgot to mention that in addition to installation instructions (I used the ones here instead), there are instructions for mapping a Citrix drive to a directory on your system at this site: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CitrixICAClientHowTo
Comment posted by:
Soddengecko
Posted on:
19-03-2008 @ 20:44:12
Hi Kevin
Thank you for updating me with the info that worked for you. I will admit that I wrote this primarily for Feisty, and all worked after upgrading to Gutsy, with a work colleague also implying that it worked without issue.
I will take your comments on board and probably write a separate tutorial for Gutsy after testing it.
As for the root certificate, I have never come across that nor would I like to advocate anyone getting it until it is verified. I will take a look and post my findings here in the comments. This of course does not stop anyone using it, I would just like to check it out for myself.
Comment posted by:
Kevin
Posted on:
1-05-2008 @ 02:11:30
Me again. Installed Citrix client on a fresh Hardy (8.04) release this time. There were a few changes.
The libxaw6 package is no longer required.
Hardy’s default browser is Firefox 3. The plugin location has changed yet again (at least for me). So the second link is now:
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/ICAClient/npica.so /usr/lib/firefox-addons/plugins/npica.so
I tried starting the client without the Thawte certificate. I still get this error message:
You have not chosen to trust "Thawte Premium Server CA", the issuer of the server's security certificate (SSL error 61).
I suppose it depends on your server configuration. If you Google, you’ll find that others have similar problems.
Although I followed the drive mapping directions again this time. Drive mapping is not working for me. I will update when I get it working.
Once again, thanks for the installation guide.
Comment posted by:
Soddengecko
Posted on:
13-05-2008 @ 20:18:50
Kevin,
Once again thank you so much for adding your comments here. I have yet to install the client on Heron, have not had the time yet.
I will write up a new tutorial for Hardy Heron using your comments as a starting place. If you drop me your website/email address I will make sure you get credited for your input.
I will look into the certificate issue when I do my install, I will post my findings in the new tute.
Thanks again
Comment posted by:
Garyae
Posted on:
15-06-2008 @ 03:32:49
I just used this to install on Heron 8.04. Installed without a hitch following the instructions with ICAClient-10.6-1.i386.rpm. I generally use .ica text files to connect to published apps, not through a web interface. It seems to work once I associated the ica file with wfica as you noted. The only strange thing is that after double clicking I get a dialog box, and have to click Display instead of Run.
I had tried many other instructions and yours is the only one that worked.
Comment posted by:
Shawn
Posted on:
2-07-2008 @ 20:26:56
I’m a linux newb, and I installed Hardy on a laptop from work half as a testing measure (new HD - windows installs kept giving unmountable boot volume).
I did all the updates at the top, then visited my work’s citrix (4.5 servers) web logon page and on the bottom right there were links for ICA client 10 linux x86 and Arm.
I clicked the x86 one and it saved to my desktop. I double clicked on the box icon (tar.gz) and it opened in a packaging window. I hit extract, and it spilled its guts onto my desktop.
I double clicked the “setupwfc” and chose the “Run in Terminal” button. In a small black window it asked me a series of simple questions, like:
“Do you want to install or exit?”
“Do you agree to that we own this code?”
“Do you want to install it in the default location?”
“Do you want to integrate with KDE and Gnome?”
It installed, and then offered the “install or exit” choice again and I exited.
I then logged into our citrix web site and clicked on the application I wanted to access, and it worked perfectly, just as smoothly and almost as easily as a fresh windows setup. Didn’t have to install any extra packages, reboot the box or the Firefox, or even sudo my password (it installed into my user folder, just for that account).
Hella nice new client Citrix!
Comment posted by:
Soddengecko
Posted on:
2-07-2008 @ 20:41:17
Hi Shawn
I recently wiped my machine and did a fresh install of Heron. I am yet to put citrix back on here but I will give your method a shot and update my procedures where necessary
Thank you for sharing
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