Date: Sat, 5 Oct 2002 11:36:21 +0100 From: Matthew Seaman <m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk> To: "Weston M. Price" <wmprice@direcway.com> Cc: FreeBSD Questions <questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: XDMCP -- FreeBSD / Solaris -- will this work????? Message-ID: <20021005103620.GA298@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophi> In-Reply-To: <200210041932.33404.wmprice@direcway.com> References: <200210041932.33404.wmprice@direcway.com>
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On Fri, Oct 04, 2002 at 07:32:33PM +0000, Weston M. Price wrote:
> I have question regarding the nature of XDMCP. What I would like to
> do is sit down at my FreeBSD workstation and have the option of
> logging into my Solaris machine or my FreeBSD machine via XDMCP. I
> use KDE 3.0.3 as my desktop manager and I can login to my FreeBSD
> machine via the Solaris machine but not the other way around. I am
> not really sure if I am even trying to do something remotely
> possible. I mean, I would think it would should be viable because I
> can go one way, but not the other. I know that this question is not
> necessarily germane to this list, however, if anyone has this sort
> of configuration I would appreciate any help you can provide.
XFree86 supports XDMCP, but the FreeBSD ports disable that
functionality on security grounds. The principal objection is that a
remote X session (as obtained through XDMCP, for example) allows all
sorts of potentially sensitive data across the network in plain text
--- it's at least as snoopable as using telnet(1). The preferred
method of remote X display is by tunnelling through ssh(1), but that
doesn't permit the sort of remote login you're talking about.
To re-enable the XDMCP functionality, you need to be running a display
manager (xdm(1) or kdm(1)) and you need to edit some config files in
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11. This describes what you need to modify to make
things work with xdm(1) --- I assume that kdm(1) would be pretty
similar if that's what you're using.
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm/Xaccess
You need to uncomment one of the CHOOSER lines as shown in the
comments in the file. The most convenient and least secure
option is:
* CHOOSER BROADCAST
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm/xdm-config
Comment out the last line to make the X server listen out for
XDMCP broadcasts.
Now, logout and restart your X server --- Ctr-Alt-Bksp from the
console usually does the trick. You should see a chooser window,
rather than the usual login screen.
Note: be sure that your X server is configured to listen for network
connections, or this won't have a hope of working. 'netstat -a' or
'fstat | grep X' should show that the X server is listening on port
6000. (startx(1) turns off listening on network ports by default.
xdm(1) leaves that on --- you can turn this off for xdm(1) by adding
'-nolisten tcp' to the end of the :0 line in
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm/Xservers).
Note also: You should keep backups of your customised files: if you
update your XFree86-clients port, it has a nasty tendency to wipe out
your modifications without asking.
Cheers,
Matthew
--
Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 26 The Paddocks
Savill Way
Marlow
Tel: +44 1628 476614 Bucks., SL7 1TH UK
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