X: Authorization required, but no authorization protocol specified

Markus Hoenicka markus.hoenicka@mhoenicka.de
Thu Aug 13 07:05:00 GMT 2015


At 2015-08-12 17:21, Jon TURNEY was heard to say:
> On 12/08/2015 07:22, Markus Hoenicka wrote:
>> At 2015-08-07 11:26, Jon TURNEY was heard to say:
>>> You might try modifying startxwin to remove the -q from xauth -q to
>>> see if that reveals a bit more information.
>> 
>> I finally got round to run this suggested test too. The first time I 
>> try
>> to start X I get the following output:
>> 
>> $ XAUTHORITY="" startxwin /usr/bin/emacs
>> Using authority file /home/<username>/.serverauth.1076
>> Writing authority file /home/<username>/.serverauth.1076
>> Using authority file /home/<username>/.Xauthority
>> Writing authority file /home/<username>/.Xauthority
>> xauth:  file /home/<username>/.Xauthority does not exist
>> xauth:  file /home/<username>/.Xauthority does not exist
>> Using authority file /home/<username>/.Xauthority
>> Writing authority file /home/<username>/.Xauthority
> 
>> Could this be a timing issue while writing to a network drive? 
>> Remember
>> that we use roaming profiles here.
> 
> Yes, I think that the fact it's a network drive is the significant 
> difference.
> 
> But the failure seems utterly crazy. xauth is used to write a file,
> and then moments later another instance of xauth claims it doesn't
> exist.
> 
> I've no idea if this is a problem with xauth, cygwin or your networked
> file system.  Do you know what kind of device the network share is on?
> 

I'm sorry but as a non-IT person I'm not familiar with the devices our 
IT folks run.

> There was another report of some problems with xauth and network file
> system (see the thread starting at [1]), but the symptoms seem very
> different.  Nevertheless you might like to try with xauth -i to see if
> the behaviour is any different.
> 

I've added the -i switch to all xauth calls in startxwin, but that does 
not make a difference except that the first attempt to start an X app 
succeeds. As reported earlier, without the -i switch the *first* attempt 
to start an X client fails, but a second try using the same command 
usually succeeds. However, in either case I cannot run any other X 
clients in addition to the first one.

> Possible workarounds:
> 
> You could edit /usr/bin/startxwin to change 'enable_xauth' to 0, or
> set the XAUTHORITY env var to a local path
> 

Yes, I've done the latter for the past couple of days, and this is 
indeed all it takes to make X work again. As not many seem to be 
affected by a similar setup, I think we should stop here looking for a 
fix until further evidence suggests a solution.

thanks a lot
Markus


-- 
Markus Hoenicka
http://www.mhoenicka.de
AQ score 38


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