RE: multiple X sessions
On 25-Nov-97 E Papantoniou wrote:
> Hi,
>
> when I am logged in as a user and I run X windows, I press Ctrl-Alt-F2
> and as expected a new terminal comes up. Then I log in as a different user
> and I type startx. I get some errors:
>
> Fatal server error
> Server is already active for display 0
> If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock and start again
>
> Xlib: connection to ":0.0" refused by server
> Xlib: Invalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 key
> giving up
> xinit: unable to connect to X server
> xinit: no such process (errno 3): Server error
>
> does anybody know how to correct this?
You don't correct it: it is correct already. You cannot run 2 X sessions on the
same display (:0.0 in your case).**
If you need to, you can start an independent X session on a different display
(say :1.0; if your first was on VT7 then the next will be on VT8), but probably
you only need to get xterm windows owned by a different user opened on the X
display you already have.
To do this, all you need to do is, say, "Ctrl-Alt-F2", login as the new user,
and then, from this terminal, do "xterm [options] -display :0.0 &".
Then (Alt-F7) switch back to the X display and you will have a new xterm owned
as a logged-in window by the user newly logged in on VT2. From this xterm, the
new user can start up any applications all of which will be owned by him. (This
user may then log out from VT2, provided the "&" was used).
In this way, any number of users can have their own user-owned windows on a
single X display, just as if each user had started up X -- with the difference
that the X "background", or root window, and the window manager, will be owned
by the user who originally started X, so that all applications started up by
clicking on root-window menus or on button-bars will again be owned by the
original user.
If you don't want that, and you do need to start an independent X session on
display :1.0, then do something like
startx -- :1 [other server options e.g. -bpp 16] &
and you will then have 2 X displays, and you switch between them with
Ctrl-Alt-F7, Ctrl-Alt-F8
However, the switch is always cumbersome and the previous approach is usually
preferable, provided it is sufficient.
Hope this helps.
Ted.
** Actually, while this is a correct statement, you CAN run "startx &" as a new
user provided your xinitrc and wmrc are set up in a certain way: the attempt to
start a new X session will fail, for the reason given, likewise for the WM, but
you can persuade the applications which the WM would have started up to be
started up on behalf of the new user, and they will overlay the old ones; but
this is a perverse way to achieve the "multi-user in one X" result,
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E-Mail: Ted Harding <Ted.Harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk>
Date: 25-Nov-97 Time: 17:55:44
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