Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2017 21:53:38 +0200 From: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> To: Manish Jain <bourne.identity@hotmail.com> Cc: "byrnejb@harte-lyne.ca" <byrnejb@harte-lyne.ca>, "James B. Byrne via freebsd-questions" <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: FreeBSD-11, Mate, Terminal, Gvim Message-ID: <20170725215338.41ea83f0.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <VI1PR02MB1200A48204221928325FC148F6B80@VI1PR02MB1200.eurprd02.prod.outlook.com> References: <a973035703bd510d1226163df5ac9a34.squirrel@webmail.harte-lyne.ca> <20170725210647.6f4c8fcd.freebsd@edvax.de> <VI1PR02MB1200A48204221928325FC148F6B80@VI1PR02MB1200.eurprd02.prod.outlook.com>
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On Tue, 25 Jul 2017 19:45:18 +0000, Manish Jain wrote: > > > On 07/26/17 00:36, Polytropon wrote: > > 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. > > Hi Poly, > > I found this relevant too. Under Linux. it appears that root is somehow > able to connect to the X server of the current user. But under FreeBSD, > this does not work and occasionally I need to run X applications as root. > > Your steps should in theory work. But apparently, they don't on my box. > > export DISPLAY=:0.0 > su -m my_normal_user_name -c gvim > > I get : > > No protocol specified > E233: cannot open display > Press ENTER or type command to continue Use "su -m" from your user's account, not from the root account. This should work - you can test if $DISPLAY is still set. Example: % su -l Password: # echo $DISPLAY DISPLAY: Undefined variable. # xlogo Error: Can't open display: # exit % su -m Password: # echo $DISPLAY :0.0 # xlogo (X logo is being shown) ^C # exit % _ This is C shell "decoration": % for user, # for root. :-) > Actually, xhost itself is unable to access the display : > > /root <<: xhost +local: > No protocol specified > xhost: unable to open display ":0.0" That is correct. Like "su -m", "xhost" is to be executed from the (non-root) user that controls the display. But when you're using the "su -m" approach, it usually isn't even needed. -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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