Xvfb Problems with xhost

[Allen Wong_1]

On two of our HP-UX systems, xhost +someotherhost doesn't seem to be working. Here's what I mean:

$ xhost +
access control disabled, clients can connect from any host
$ xhost
access control disabled, clients can connect from any host


# /usr/bin/X11/xhost +
access control disabled, clients can connect from any host
# /usr/bin/X11/xhost
access control enabled, only authorized clients can connect

I know that xhost + is bad, this is just an example. Both systems run HP-UX 11i, but they have different patchsets installed. How would I go about troubleshooting this? Thanks.

[Caesar_3]

Hello!

You probably have problem with display output,
you need to make the xhost + with the
user that started the Xserver.
Like this (csh):
open new window (shell) - will get promt
then run
setenv DISPLAY :0
xhost +
That should help

Caesar

[Allen Wong_1]

Caesar,

Thanks for the quick response. I neglected to mention that the DISPLAY environment variable has been set.

[Mike Stroyan · Accepted solution]

You need a placeholder client of the Xvfb X server or the server will reset every time it gets down to zero clients. I would bet that the xhost on the bad xvfb is its only client. As soon as xhost disconnects the X server resets its access control list.

If you use an Xf86 based Xvfb such as /usr/bin/X11/Xvfb from the X server patches, then you can use the -noreset option. That will prevent the X server from resetting and loosing changes to the access control.

[Steven E. Protter]

Security Reminder.

Don't run the X display xhost + for very long its a big security hazard.

Just in case you are running xvfb for oracle I'm uploading my config file because to make oracle reports work right you must change the base configuration.

Attached:
/etc/rc.config.d/xvfb
SEP

[Allen Wong_1]

Mike,

Thanks! That solved the problem.