".... Its X session is being cancelled"
Hello, I keep getting this error. I am connecting through a SSH session via a VPN tunnel. I have *some* X available [such as a rxvt
X-terminal] but anything more complicated gives this error. I am using Absolute Telnet 2.11 on windows 2000.
Can you help me work out what is causing this error message to appear please?
I have been through help and can find nothing relevant.
Thanks
Lee
[size=1][ February 27, 2003, 11:41 AM: Message edited by: Brian T. Pence ][/size]
oh, and the other end is running openssh 3.1 on mandrake linux 8.2 if that helps.
1. What exactly do you mean by 'more complicated'?
2. Does it do it immediately at program startup or sometime during the session?
Hi Brian
Thanks for replying.
I realise that this was a little vague... 😉
OK - rxvt [X terminal] or gimp work fine in my Xwindow.
however, MandrakeUpdate [the automatic package update program - needs su to root to run] and Mozilla [run by normal user] both give this error on loading and immediately break the X session.
It can happen at any time in the life of the SSH connection.
I do not think that it is AbsoluteTelnet's problem since these programs both work on a local machine. It is something to do with the X session via the VPN, however nothing is showing on the firewall logs nor on the linux box. So I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction?
Thanks
Lee
[size=1][ February 27, 2003, 12:10 PM: Message edited by: lee ][/size]
I run RedHat 8 and have not been able to replicate this so far. Can you give me access to your box??
unfortunately not, it is on a client's corporate network behind TWO sets of firewalls.
not sure they would be too happy!
if nothing obvious springs to mind I will just work around it.
thanks for trying
Lee
I seem to remember this problem from *way* back when I was using RedHat 7. Trying to 'su' to root would result in an inability to run X. Unfortunately, I can't reproduce this problem in RedHat 8 to diagnose it, but I have been doing some reading in deja.com about the issue. These findings *may* be specific to OpenSSH, so your solution may be different....
Two things happen when you login via SSH with X11 Forwarding enabled. First, your DISPLAY environment variable is set to point to the X proxy in sshd. Second, a file called .Xauthority is created in your home directory that contains your 'Magic Cookie' that proves you are authorized to access the X server. Optionally, the environment variable XAUTHORITY may be set to point to the path of your .Xauthority file.
When you su to another user, in order for X forwarding to continue to work, you have to carry over the value for the DISPLAY variable in addition to retaining a pointer to (and read access to) your original .Xauthority file. Failure to use the correct .Xauthority file will result in the error message you're seeing.
After looking over the RedHat 8 behaviour, it seems that a 'su' to root results in creating a new (session specific) Xauthority file with XAUTHORITY pointing to it. The file contains the original 'Magic Cookie' from the SSH login, resulting in successful X forwarding.
You might try to just ssh into the server as 'root'. You might be able to avoid the problem altogether this way.
Let me know if this helps!!!
A good article in Google Groups....
[url= http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=E15HQez-0004fv-00%40rakefet ]http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=E15HQez-0004fv-00%40rakefet[/url]
Brian
Many thanks for your help. It has taken me till now to have a go and you were quite correct.
That link proved crucial to finding the information I needed.
Best regards
Lee
Glad to help!!
