Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Thu, 3 Feb 2005 14:58:35 -0800
From:      "Loren M. Lang" <lorenl@alzatex.com>
To:        Chuck Swiger <cswiger@mac.com>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: xhost +localhost
Message-ID:  <20050203225835.GX8619@alzatex.com>
In-Reply-To: <42014E0A.5070003@mac.com>
References:  <ef60af09050202095829be3b6f@mail.gmail.com> <20050202210526.GC77499@keyslapper.net> <42014E0A.5070003@mac.com>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Wed, Feb 02, 2005 at 05:02:50PM -0500, Chuck Swiger wrote:
> Louis LeBlanc wrote:
> >On 02/02/05 06:58 PM, Gert Cuykens sat at the `puter and typed:
> >>i want a screensaver but the ....... xscreensaver daemon wont start
> >>complaining about acces controle. I did xhost +localhost but it still
> >>wont start :(
> >
> >If you're trying this on 5.3, the syntax has changed.  Try something
> >like this:
> >
> >xhost local:
> >
> >Exactly as typed above.
> 
> Please tell me you are joking.

This enable all programs to have access that are using unix domain
sockets to not need the MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE stored in the .Xauthority file
in the users home directory so any user can open a program on that
display.  xhost +localhost adds all programs from localhost using tcp
connections instead.  DISPLAY=:0 causes a program to use fast unix
domain sockets where DISPLAY=localhost:0 causes a program to use slow
tcp sockets instead.  tcp sockets are really only needed for remote
connections and xhost +localhost won't allow any local programs to
access X unless they use tcp, not unix.  See my first response for more
information.

> 
> I remember learning to use "xhost +" in 1989 or '90 on X11--, before the 
> command improved to take hostnames as arguments to control which 
> connections were allowed and which should be refused on a per-host basis.  
> At the time, there were so few machines running X that malicious X 
> connections were not a significant concern.
> 
> Having "xhost +localhost" work the same way as "xhost +foo.cmu.edu"-- to 
> avoid treating the local host as a special case-- was a good idea fifteen 
> years ago.
> 
> I do not have a perfect record of suggesting things in a way that does not 
> break backwards compatibility, but one should attempt to make the 
> distinction between "changing something which was broken in order to get to 
> something reasonable" and "changing something reasonable into something 
> broken".
> 
> -- 
> -Chuck
> 
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list
> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"

-- 
I sense much NT in you.
NT leads to Bluescreen.
Bluescreen leads to downtime.
Downtime leads to suffering.
NT is the path to the darkside.
Powerful Unix is.

Public Key: ftp://ftp.tallye.com/pub/lorenl_pubkey.asc
Fingerprint: B3B9 D669 69C9 09EC 1BCD  835A FAF3 7A46 E4A3 280C
 



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20050203225835.GX8619>