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- XAUTH(1) USER COMMANDS XAUTH(1)
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- NAME
- xauth - X authority file utility
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- SYNOPSIS
- xauth [ -f authfile ] [ -vqib ] [ command arg ... ]
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- DESCRIPTION
- The xauth program is used to edit and display the authoriza-
- tion information used in connecting to the X server. This
- program is usually used to extract authorization records
- from one machine and merge them in on another (as is the
- case when using remote logins or granting access to other
- users). Commands (described below) may be entered interac-
- tively, on the xauth command line, or in scripts. Note that
- this program does not contact the X server. Normally xauth
- is not used to create the authority file entry in the first
- place; xdm does that.
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- OPTIONS
- The following options may be used with xauth. They may be
- given individually (e.g., -q -i) or may combined (e.g.,
- -qi).
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- -f authfile
- This option specifies the name of the authority file
- to use. By default, xauth will use the file speci-
- fied by the XAUTHORITY environment variable or .Xau-
- thority in the user's home directory.
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- -q This option indicates that xauth should operate
- quietly and not print unsolicited status messages.
- This is the default if an xauth command is is given
- on the command line or if the standard output is not
- directed to a terminal.
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- -v This option indicates that xauth should operate ver-
- bosely and print status messages indicating the
- results of various operations (e.g., how many
- records have been read in or written out). This is
- the default if xauth is reading commands from its
- standard input and its standard output is directed
- to a terminal.
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- -i This option indicates that xauth should ignore any
- authority file locks. Normally, xauth will refuse
- to read or edit any authority files that have been
- locked by other programs (usually xdm or another
- xauth).
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- -b This option indicates that xauth should attempt to
- break any authority file locks before proceeding.
- Use this option only to clean up stale locks.
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- XAUTH(1) USER COMMANDS XAUTH(1)
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- COMMANDS
- The following commands may be used to manipulate authority
- files:
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- add displayname protocolname hexkey
- An authorization entry for the indicated display
- using the given protocol and key data is added to
- the authorization file. The data is specified as an
- even-lengthed string of hexadecimal digits, each
- pair representing one octet. The first digit of
- each pair gives the most significant 4 bits of the
- octet, and the second digit of the pair gives the
- least significant 4 bits. For example, a 32 charac-
- ter hexkey would represent a 128-bit value. A pro-
- tocol name consisting of just a single period is
- treated as an abbreviation for MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1.
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- [n]extract filename displayname...
- Authorization entries for each of the specified
- displays are written to the indicated file. If the
- nextract command is used, the entries are written in
- a numeric format suitable for non-binary transmis-
- sion (such as secure electronic mail). The
- extracted entries can be read back in using the
- merge and nmerge commands. If the filename consists
- of just a single dash, the entries will be written
- to the standard output.
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- [n]list [displayname...]
- Authorization entries for each of the specified
- displays (or all if no displays are named) are
- printed on the standard output. If the nlist com-
- mand is used, entries will be shown in the numeric
- format used by the nextract command; otherwise, they
- are shown in a textual format. Key data is always
- displayed in the hexadecimal format given in the
- description of the add command.
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- [n]merge [filename...]
- Authorization entries are read from the specified
- files and are merged into the authorization data-
- base, superceding any matching existing entries. If
- the nmerge command is used, the numeric format given
- in the description of the extract command is used.
- If a filename consists of just a single dash, the
- standard input will be read if it hasn't been read
- before.
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- remove displayname...
- Authorization entries matching the specified
- displays are removed from the authority file.
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- XAUTH(1) USER COMMANDS XAUTH(1)
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- source filename
- The specified file is treated as a script containing
- xauth commands to execute. Blank lines and lines
- beginning with a sharp sign (#) are ignored. A sin-
- gle dash may be used to indicate the standard input,
- if it hasn't already been read.
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- info Information describing the authorization file,
- whether or not any changes have been made, and from
- where xauth commands are being read is printed on
- the standard output.
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- exit If any modifications have been made, the authority
- file is written out (if allowed), and the program
- exits. An end of file is treated as an implicit
- exit command.
-
- quit The program exits, ignoring any modifications. This
- may also be accomplished by pressing the interrupt
- character.
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- help [string]
- A description of all commands that begin with the
- given string (or all commands if no string is given)
- is printed on the standard output.
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- ? A short list of the valid commands is printed on the
- standard output.
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- DISPLAY NAMES
- Display names for the add, [n]extract, [n]list, [n]merge,
- and remove commands use the same format as the DISPLAY
- environment variable and the common -display command line
- argument. Display-specific information (such as the screen
- number) is unnecessary and will be ignored. Same-machine
- connections (such as local-host sockets, shared memory, and
- the Internet Protocol hostname localhost) are referred to as
- hostname/unix:displaynumber so that local entries for dif-
- ferent machines may be stored in one authority file.
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- EXAMPLE
- The most common use for xauth is to extract the entry for
- the current display, copy it to another machine, and merge
- it into the user's authority file on the remote machine:
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- % xauth extract - $DISPLAY | rsh otherhost xauth merge -
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- ENVIRONMENT
- This xauth program uses the following environment variables:
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- XAUTHORITY
- to get the name of the authority file to use if the
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- XAUTH(1) USER COMMANDS XAUTH(1)
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- -f option isn't used.
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- HOME to get the user's home directory if XAUTHORITY isn't
- defined.
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- FILES
- $HOME/.Xauthority
- default authority file if XAUTHORITY isn't defined.
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- BUGS
- Users that have unsecure networks should take care to use
- encrypted file transfer mechanisms to copy authorization
- entries between machines. Similarly, the MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1
- protocol is not very useful in unsecure environments. Sites
- that are interested in additional security may need to use
- encrypted authorization mechanisms such as Kerberos.
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- Spaces are currently not allowed in the protocol name.
- Quoting could be added for the truly perverse.
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- AUTHOR
- Jim Fulton, MIT X Consortium
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