Re: Make xconfig

["David Z. Maze" <dmaze@donut.mit.edu>]

AJ  <artlu@intergrafix.net> writes:
AJ> or if your a normal user in xwindows type:
AJ> xhost + localhost  (note you must have X started to do this)
AJ> su root
AJ> cd /usr/src/linux
AJ> make xconfig

You shouldn't use xhost, and for exactly this reason: you meant to say 
'xhost +localhost', which would let any user on the local machine
connect to your X server (possibly questionable in and of itself).
Instead, you said 'xhost + localhost', which disables X access control 
(anybody on any machine anywhere can connect to your X server, and say 
watch the password you type when you 'su root') and incidentally lets
localhost connect if access control was enabled.

A much better way is to su to root, and then do something like

XAUTHORITY=/home/me/.Xauthority
export XAUTHORITY

(assuming root uses some Bourne-shell derivative), replacing "me" with 
your username.  This tells X to get access-control cookies from your
home directory, where things should already be set up properly.

-- 
 _____________________________
/                             \       "Dad was reading a book called
|          David Maze         |     _Schroedinger's Kittens_.  Asexual
|         dmaze@mit.edu       |  reproduction?  Only one cat is in the box."
| http://donut.mit.edu/dmaze/ |               -- Abra Mitchell
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