Re: Logging on to X as root?

[David Krider <david@davidkrider.com>]

Kent West wrote:

> Basically, logging in as root is strongly discouraged. There are better 
> ways to accomplish what you want (su -m, or sudo), but if you insist, 
> the answer's in the previous threads.

Something has just come up for me, and I don't see it mentioned in the 
previous messages. I want to install the new OpenOffice 1.0.3. When I 
try to run the "setup" program for it as root (so that I can put it in 
/opt/openoffice), it won't let me run the X application. I've even set 
`xhost +' from a user terminal and tried both DISPLAY=localhost:0 and 
DISPLAY=<machinename>:0. Nothing works. I can't make the system allow me 
run an su'ed X command. Is there some config file someplace preventing 
this? It would be news to me, but then I'm new to Debian. The timeout 
before the error (cannot connect to X server localhost:0), only gets 
longer when I actually set a DISPLAY variable. This ought to be telling 
me something; I just know it...

Thanks,
dk