Re: can't use editor when su... why?
On 22 Dec, Kirk Hogenson wrote:
> The problem is that "you" own the X session, "root" doesn't.
>
> The easiest way to get this to work is to type
>
> xhost + localhost
>
> before you do your su. This means that you'll let anyone
> from the host "localhost" (ie, your computer) connect to your
> X.
>
> However, I recall there were some security risks associated with
> using xhost like this... maybe someone else will point them out.
> If you aren't connected to a network (or just dial up occasionally
> using, eg, ppp) then you should have no problems. (Using
> "xhost + localhost" helps, lots of people just use "xhost +",
> which allows *anyone* from *anywhere* access -- bad idea.)
>
> If you don't trust people who might be logging in to your
> machine remotely, you probably don't want to do this.
>
> Kirk
>
>
> Jesse Evans wrote:
>>
>> Hi, folks!
>>
>> I like to use fte as my default editor, however, when I su to modify
>> my system I cannot use it. I get the following messages:
>>
>> Xlib: connection to ":0.0" refused by server
>> Xlib: Client is not authorized to connect to Server
>> Could not open display: :0.0
>>
>> However, if I log in as root (as opposed to su from my users
>> account, it works just fine. Any ideas as to what's up?
>>
>
xhost + localhost
allows anyone logged in to open new windows on the display, capture
keystrokes, etc.
An alternate method (without the security problems of xhost + ______)
is to do
export XAUTHORITY=/home/_user_currently_logged_in_/.Xauthority
after the 'su'. This gives root the same permissions that the
currently logged in user has over the X display, without extending
those permissions to anyone else at the same time.
--
Stephen Ryan Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College
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