manpagez: man pages & more
man xauth(1)
Home | html | info | man
xauth(1)                    General Commands Manual                   xauth(1)


NAME

       xauth - X authority file utility


SYNOPSIS

       xauth [ -f authfile ] [ -vqibn ] [ command arg ... ]


DESCRIPTION

       The xauth program is used to edit and display the authorization
       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 interactively, on the xauth command line, or in scripts.  Note
       that this program does not contact the X server except when the
       generate command is used.  Normally xauth is not used to create the
       authority file entry in the first place; the program that starts the X
       server (often xdm or startx) does that.


OPTIONS

       The following options may be used with xauth.  They may be given
       individually (e.g., -q -i) or may combined (e.g., -qi).

       -f authfile
               This option specifies the name of the authority file to use.
               By default, xauth will use the file specified by the XAUTHORITY
               environment variable or .Xauthority in the user's home
               directory.

       -q      This option indicates that xauth should operate quietly and not
               print unsolicited status messages.  This is the default if an
               xauth command is given on the command line or if the standard
               output is not directed to a terminal.

       -v      This option indicates that xauth should operate verbosely 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.

       -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).

       -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.

       -n      This option indicates that xauth should not attempt to resolve
               any hostnames, but should simply always print the host address
               as stored in the authority file.

       -V      This option shows the version number of the xauth executable.


COMMANDS

       The following commands may be used to manipulate authority files:

       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 character hexkey would represent a
               128-bit value.  A protocol name consisting of just a single
               period is treated as an abbreviation for MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1.


       generate displayname protocolname [trusted|untrusted]
               [timeout seconds] [group group-id] [data hexdata]

               This command is similar to add.  The main difference is that
               instead of requiring the user to supply the key data, it
               connects to the server specified in displayname and uses the
               SECURITY extension in order to get the key data to store in the
               authorization file.  If the server cannot be contacted or if it
               does not support the SECURITY extension, the command fails.
               Otherwise, an authorization entry for the indicated display
               using the given protocol is added to the authorization file.  A
               protocol name consisting of just a single period is treated as
               an abbreviation for MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1.

               If the trusted option is used, clients that connect using this
               authorization will have full run of the display, as usual.  If
               untrusted is used, clients that connect using this
               authorization will be considered untrusted and prevented from
               stealing or tampering with data belonging to trusted clients.
               See the SECURITY extension specification for full details on
               the restrictions imposed on untrusted clients.  The default is
               untrusted.

               The timeout option specifies how long in seconds this
               authorization will be valid.  If the authorization remains
               unused (no clients are connected with it) for longer than this
               time period, the server purges the authorization, and future
               attempts to connect using it will fail.  Note that the purging
               done by the server does not delete the authorization entry from
               the authorization file.  The default timeout is 60 seconds.

               The group option specifies the application group that clients
               connecting with this authorization should belong to.  See the
               application group extension specification for more details.
               The default is to not belong to an application group.

               The data option specifies data that the server should use to
               generate the authorization.  Note that this is not the same
               data that gets written to the authorization file.  The
               interpretation of this data depends on the authorization
               protocol.  The hexdata is in the same format as the hexkey
               described in the add command.  The default is to send no data.


       [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 transmission (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.

       [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 command 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.

       [n]merge [filename...]
               Authorization entries are read from the specified files and are
               merged into the authorization database, superseding 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.

       remove displayname...
               Authorization entries matching the specified displays are
               removed from the authority file.

       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 single dash may be used to
               indicate the standard input, if it hasn't already been read.

       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.

       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.

       version This command shows the version number of the xauth executable.

       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.

       ?       A short list of the valid commands is printed on the standard
               output.


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 different
       machines may be stored in one authority file.


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:

               %  xauth extract - $DISPLAY | ssh otherhost xauth merge -

       The following command contacts the server :0 to create an authorization
       using the MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 protocol.  Clients that connect with this
       authorization will be untrusted.
            %  xauth generate :0 .


ENVIRONMENT

       This xauth program uses the following environment variables:

       XAUTHORITY
               to get the name of the authority file to use if the -f option
               isn't used.

       HOME    to get the user's home directory if XAUTHORITY isn't defined.


FILES

       $HOME/.Xauthority
               default authority file if XAUTHORITY isn't defined.


SEE ALSO

       X(7), Xsecurity(7), xhost(1), Xserver(1), xdm(1), startx(1), Xau(3).


BUGS

       Users that have insecure 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 insecure environments.  Sites that are interested in
       additional security may need to use encrypted authorization mechanisms
       such as Kerberos.

       Spaces are currently not allowed in the protocol name.  Quoting could
       be added for the truly perverse.


AUTHOR

       Jim Fulton, MIT X Consortium

X Version 11                      xauth 1.1.3                         xauth(1)

xauth 1.1.3 - Generated Sat Mar 16 16:15:31 CDT 2024
© manpagez.com 2000-2024
Individual documents may contain additional copyright information.