startx and ssh

[Dr.D.J.Picton]

> Mail-Followup-To: cygwin-xfree@cygwin.com
> Delivered-To: mailing list cygwin-xfree@cygwin.com
> To: cygwin-xfree@cygwin.com
> Subject: Re: startx and ssh
> Date: Sat, 16 Aug 2003 03:39:02 -0400
> From: "John P. Rouillard" <rouilj@cs.umb.edu>
> x-scan-bham: no

> Even better, don't leave the X server wide open for everybody to screw
> with.  

I'm puzzled by this assertion.  The default is to allow access only from the
local machine, and in my view this is secure enough for most people!

The XFree-86 server includes the security extension (see
> xdpyinfo) so you should be able to generate a proper X authentication
> token for the display. Something like:
> 
>   xauth generate :0 .
> 
> or
> 
>   xauth add $DISPLAY . `mcookie`
> 
> added to the top of your ~/.xinitrc should do the trick.

I would like to add a note of caution here.  For some reason, Magic Cookie
authorization only works for truly local connections i.e. :0, but the
server throws up a 'Protocol Not Specified' error for network displays,
e.g. 127.0.0.1:0.  If you set up the server with Magic Cookie authorization
as the only means of access, you will have to make sure that DISPLAY is set
to :0, and change any scripts which specify -display 127.0.0.1:0.

> 
> 				-- rouilj
> John Rouillard
> ===========================================================================
> My employers don't acknowledge my existence much less my opinions.