{
  "id": 6958935,
  "title": "I refuse to let SPICE die",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/12/i-refuse-to-let-spice-die",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-12T14:25:07.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Hacker News",
    "slug": "hacker-news",
    "url": "https://github.com/nefarius/vd_agent/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "An abandoned SPICE project, now maintained by a community fork, ensures the Windows guest agent remains functional for current guests, particularly those running Windows 11 on Linux. This fork, a public mirror on GitHub, carries the GPL-2.0-or-later license and preserves the original copyright of Red Hat and upstream authors. The repository avoids bumping build-time submodules, maintains historical WiX UpgradeCode, and removes related products post-install. It utilizes the Autotools + MinGW-w64 UCRT64 path for installer production, with CMake + MSVC for local development. The x64 installer places vdagent.exe and vdservice.exe in C:\\Program Files\\SPICE agent\\bin. The freedesktop GitLab remote remains as upstream after the mirror creation. The build.sh script configures, compiles, and runs tests, while package.sh creates an MSI with version strings derived from git describe. Release tags must follow a specific format to display accurately in Programs and Features. Untagged builds incorporate commit counts. Local builds sign executables and MSI before packaging, and the Windows SignRelay agent handles code-signing. Testing on a Windows 11 SPICE guest validates the MSI installation and checklist. GitHub Actions CI is the primary method for building the x64 UCRT64 MSI, with the SignRelay composite action ensuring certificate security.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}