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Re: how does root run a graphical prog



On Mon, May 20, 2002 at 08:10:10PM +0100, Frank Zimmermann wrote:
> On Mon, May 20, 2002 at 11:29:14AM -0700, Vineet Kumar wrote:
...
> > Use su and read the originating user's ~/.Xauthority, or use ssh's X
> > forwarding.
> > 
> 
> On my Debian system root can automatically run X-Apps (after an su). I was
> wondering why but haven't figurerd it out yet. It's not what I was used to
> before.

I think you did `su', not `su -'.

A mere `su' merely changes your identity, but the environment stays the
same.  In particular $HOME. So when you launce an X-appl, the authorisation
cookie is read from /home/other-user/.Xauthority, and you really being root
and allowed to read anything this works.

A `su -' on the other hand behaves like you logon, so $HOME now points
to root's home dir and X tries to read /root/.Xauthority.  Unless you've
merged in the .Xauthority from the user you su-ed from this will fail.
Simply running `xauth merge /home/other-user/.Xauthority' fixes this for
as long as the X-cookie of that other user doesn't chance.



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