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Date:      Sat, 5 Oct 2002 11:36:21 +0100
From:      Matthew Seaman <m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk>
To:        "Weston M. Price" <wmprice@direcway.com>
Cc:        FreeBSD Questions <questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   Re: XDMCP -- FreeBSD / Solaris -- will this work?????
Message-ID:  <20021005103620.GA298@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophi>
In-Reply-To: <200210041932.33404.wmprice@direcway.com>
References:  <200210041932.33404.wmprice@direcway.com>

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On Fri, Oct 04, 2002 at 07:32:33PM +0000, Weston M. Price wrote:

> I have question regarding the nature of XDMCP. What I would like to
>  do is sit down at my FreeBSD workstation and have the option of
>  logging into my Solaris machine or my FreeBSD machine via XDMCP. I
>  use KDE 3.0.3 as my desktop manager and I can login to my FreeBSD
>  machine via the Solaris machine but not the other way around. I am
>  not really sure if I am even trying to do something remotely
>  possible. I mean, I would think it would should be viable because I
>  can go one way, but not the other. I know that this question is not
>  necessarily germane to this list, however, if anyone has this sort
>  of configuration I would appreciate any help you can provide.

XFree86 supports XDMCP, but the FreeBSD ports disable that
functionality on security grounds.  The principal objection is that a
remote X session (as obtained through XDMCP, for example) allows all
sorts of potentially sensitive data across the network in plain text
--- it's at least as snoopable as using telnet(1).  The preferred
method of remote X display is by tunnelling through ssh(1), but that
doesn't permit the sort of remote login you're talking about.

To re-enable the XDMCP functionality, you need to be running a display
manager (xdm(1) or kdm(1)) and you need to edit some config files in
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11.  This describes what you need to modify to make
things work with xdm(1) --- I assume that kdm(1) would be pretty
similar if that's what you're using.

    /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm/Xaccess

        You need to uncomment one of the CHOOSER lines as shown in the
        comments in the file.  The most convenient and least secure
        option is:

            *              CHOOSER BROADCAST

    /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm/xdm-config

        Comment out the last line to make the X server listen out for
        XDMCP broadcasts.

Now, logout and restart your X server --- Ctr-Alt-Bksp from the
console usually does the trick.  You should see a chooser window,
rather than the usual login screen.

Note: be sure that your X server is configured to listen for network
connections, or this won't have a hope of working. 'netstat -a' or
'fstat | grep X' should show that the X server is listening on port
6000.  (startx(1) turns off listening on network ports by default.
xdm(1) leaves that on --- you can turn this off for xdm(1) by adding
'-nolisten tcp' to the end of the :0 line in
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm/Xservers).

Note also: You should keep backups of your customised files: if you
update your XFree86-clients port, it has a nasty tendency to wipe out
your modifications without asking.

	Cheers,

	Matthew

-- 
Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil.                       26 The Paddocks
                                                      Savill Way
                                                      Marlow
Tel: +44 1628 476614                                  Bucks., SL7 1TH UK

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