From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Tue Jul 25 19:06:59 2017 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8000BCFF89B for ; Tue, 25 Jul 2017 19:06:59 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mailrelay13.qsc.de (mailrelay13.qsc.de [212.99.187.253]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (Client CN "*.antispameurope.com", Issuer "TeleSec ServerPass DE-2" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id E7CAA32AE for ; Tue, 25 Jul 2017 19:06:58 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx01.qsc.de ([213.148.129.14]) by mailrelay13.qsc.de; Tue, 25 Jul 2017 21:06:48 +0200 Received: from r56.edvax.de (port-92-195-203-176.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.203.176]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx01.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 283A33CBF9; Tue, 25 Jul 2017 21:06:47 +0200 (CEST) Received: from r56.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r56.edvax.de (8.14.5/8.14.5) with SMTP id v6PJ6lqT002738; Tue, 25 Jul 2017 21:06:47 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2017 21:06:47 +0200 From: Polytropon To: byrnejb@harte-lyne.ca Cc: "James B. Byrne via freebsd-questions" Subject: Re: FreeBSD-11, Mate, Terminal, Gvim Message-Id: <20170725210647.6f4c8fcd.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: References: Reply-To: Polytropon Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 3.1.1 (GTK+ 2.24.5; i386-portbld-freebsd8.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-cloud-security-sender: freebsd@edvax.de X-cloud-security-recipient: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-cloud-security-Virusscan: CLEAN X-cloud-security-disclaimer: This E-Mail was scanned by E-Mailservice on mailrelay13.qsc.de with 7FF7868378C X-cloud-security-connect: mx01.qsc.de[213.148.129.14], TLS=1, IP=213.148.129.14 X-cloud-security: scantime:.1290 X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2017 19:06:59 -0000 On Tue, 25 Jul 2017 10:39:29 -0400, James B. Byrne via freebsd-questions wrote: > When setting up new hosts I usually open an especially coloured > terminal instance and use 'su -l' to become root. I also typically > edit using gvim. However, this combination does not work for me on > FreeBSD with Mate as it did for me under CentOD-6 and Gnome2. When > inside a terminal window as root instead of opening an Xwindow editor > when running gvim I get a 'E233: cannot open display' error. This is to be expected. With "su -l", a full login is simulated, so all environmental variables will be reset - but $DISPLAY is needed for X. There are basically two solutions: 1. Set $DISPLAY accordingly, for example to :0.0. Refer to the documentation of your shell on how to do it, for example in C shell "setenv DISPLAY :0.0", in sh/bash "export DISPLAY=:0.0". 2. Use "su -m" instead, which will preserve the environment of your user, and $DISPLAY will be kept set. See "man su" for details. -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...