1mkxauth(1x) Linux User's Manual mkxauth(1x)
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6 mkxauth - create and merge .Xauthority files
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9 (1) mkxauth [ -q ] [ -u login ] -c [ host [ host ... ] ]
10 (2) mkxauth [ -q ] [ -u login ] -m login
12 (3) mkxauth [ -q ] [ -u login ] -f host
14 (4) mkxauth [ -q ] [ -u login ] -r host [ -l login ]
16 (5) mkxauth [ -q ] [ -u login ] -z host [ -l login ]
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20 mkxauth aids in the creation and maintenance of X authentication data‐
21 bases (.Xauthority files). Use it to create a ~/.Xauthority file or
22 merge keys from another local or remote .Xauthority file. Remote .Xau‐
23 thority files can be retrieved via FTP (using ncftp(1)) or via rsh(1).
24 For a slight measure of security, mkxauth does not create any temporary
25 files containing authentication keys (although anyone spying on network
26 packets can see the authentication key data as they pass through the
27 network; for secure network communications, use ssh(1)).
28 Creating and Adding to a .Xauthority File
30 To create a .Xauthority file, use mkxauth -c (see (1) above). mkxauth
31 creates a .Xauthority file in the user's home directory (~/), contain‐
32 ing a `key' or `magic cookie' for the host it was run on (the one
33 returned by hostname(1)). If a .Xauthority file already exists, the
34 keys are added to it. If keys for that host already exist, they are
35 replaced.
36 To create or add to a .Xauthority file for another user, use mkxauth -u
38 login -c. mkxauth adds keys to ~login/.Xauthority (only the root user
39 is allowed to do this).
40 To add a key for more than one host, specify all hosts on the command
42 line: mkxauth -c daffy porky bugs. All hosts specified on the same
43 command line receive the same key. To create different keys for multi‐
44 ple hosts, run mkxauth for each host in succession:
45 mkxauth -c daffy
47 mkxauth -c porky
48 mkxauth -c bugs
49 Merging Keys from Local .Xauthority Files
51 To merge keys from another local user's .Xauthority file, use mkxauth
52 -m login (see (2) above). mkxauth adds the keys in ~login/.Xauthority
53 to ~/.Xauthority, replacing any keys which already exist. ~login/.Xau‐
54 thority must be readable by the user running mkxauth (normally only the
55 root user can read other people's .Xauthority files).
56 Merging Keys via FTP
58 To merge keys from a remote .Xauthority file via FTP, use mkxauth -f
59 host (see (3) above). mkxauth retrieves the remote .Xauthority from
60 host using ncftp(1) and adds those keys to ~/.Xauthority, replacing any
61 keys which already exist. [NOTE: you must have a ~/.netrc file set up
62 to automatically log you into host, otherwise the FTP login attempt
63 will fail.]
64 Merging Keys via rsh(1)
66 To merge keys from remote .Xauthority file via rsh(1), use mkxauth -r
67 host (see (4) above). mkxauth retrieves the remote .Xauthority from
68 host using rsh(1) and adds those keys to ~/.Xauthority, replacing any
69 keys which already exist. To login as a different user, use -l login.
70 [NOTE: you must have a .rhosts file set up properly for this to work,
71 otherwise the remote login attempt will fail].
72 Merging Keys via rsh(1) and gzip(1)
74 If your remote .Xauthority file is large, or to make it slightly less
75 obvious that you're transferring authentication keys over the network,
76 mkxauth can gzip(1) your .Xauthority file before retrieving it via
77 rsh(1). To do this, use mkxauth -z host (see (5) above). mkxauth
78 retrieves the remote .Xauthority from host using rsh(1) and adds those
79 keys to ~/.Xauthority, replacing any keys which already exist. To
80 login as a different user, use -l login. [NOTE: you must have a
81 .rhosts file set up properly for this to work, otherwise the remote
82 login attempt will fail].
83 Options
85 To make mkxauth operate quietly, use the -q option.
86 To add to ~login/.Xauthority, use the -u login option.
88 To use login for the remote login in mkxauth -f, mkxauth -r, and mkx‐
90 auth -z, use the -l login option.
91 Getting Help
93 To get quick help about mkxauth, use mkxauth --help.
94
96 ~/.Xauthority
97 ~/.netrc
98 ~/.rhosts
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101 mkxauth is mostly useful for maintaining .Xauthority files in an envi‐
102 ronment which uses startx(1x). xdm(1x) uses its own method of generat‐
103 ing .Xauthority files. However, mkxauth is still useful for transfer‐
104 ring .Xauthority information to remote login sessions so that the user
105 can display remote X clients on the local host without too much trou‐
106 ble.
107 Note, however, that using rsh(1) is inherently insecure, and sites con‐
109 cerned about security should use ssh(1) instead (see
110 http://www.cs.hut.fi/ssh/ for more information).
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113 X(1x), Xsecurity(1x), gzip(1), mcookie(1), md5sum(1), ncftp(1), rsh(1),
114 startx(1x), xauth(1x), xdm(1x)
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117 Does not respect the XAUTHORITY environment variable.
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120 Conceived and written by Jim Knoble <jmknoble@redhat.com>. Copyright
121 1996 by Jim Knoble and Red Hat Software. Distributed under the GNU GPL
122 (General Public License); see ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/COPYING for
123 more information.
124Red Hat Software 12-Dec-1996 mkxauth(1x)