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xauth(1X) xauth(1X) NAME xauth - X authority file utility SYNOPSIS xauth [-f authfile] [-vqib] [commandarg...] OPTIONS The following options may be used with xauth. They may be given indi- vidually (for example, -q -i) or may combined (for example, -qi). This option specifies the name of the authority file to use. By default, xauth will use the file specified by the XAUTHORITY environment vari- able or in the user's home directory. 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. This option indi- cates that xauth should operate verbosely and print status messages in- dicating the results of various operations (for example, 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 out- put is directed to a terminal. 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). This option indicates that xauth should attempt to break any authority file locks before proceeding. Use this option only to clean up stale locks. DESCRIPTION The xauth program is used to edit and display the authorization infor- mation 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 ac- cess to other users). Commands (described below) may be entered inter- actively, on the xauth command line, or in scripts. Note that this program does not contact the X server. Normally xauth is not used to create the authority file entry in the first place; xdm does that. COMMANDS The following commands may be used to manipulate authority files: 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 represent- ing 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. Authorization en- tries 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. Authoriza- tion 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 al- ways displayed in the hexadecimal format given in the description of the add command. Authorization entries are read from the specified files and are merged into the authorization database, superceding 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 has not been read before. Authorization entries matching the specified displays are removed from the authority file. The speci- fied 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 has not already been read. Information describing the authorization file, whether or not any changes have been made, and from where xauth com- mands are being read is printed on the standard output. If any modifi- cations 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. The program exits, ignoring any modifications. This may also be accomplished by pressing the interrupt character. 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 informa- tion (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 host- name/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 au- thority file on the remote machine: % xauth extract - $DISPLAY | rsh otherhost xauth merge - ENVIRONMENT This xauth program uses the following environment variables: to get the name of the authority file to use if the -f option is not used. to get the user's home directory if XAUTHORITY is not defined. FILES default authority file if XAUTHORITY is not defined. BUGS Users that have unsecure networks should take care to use encrypted file transfer mechanisms to copy authorization entries between ma- chines. Similarly, the MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 protocol is not very useful in unsecure environments. Sites that are interested in additional se- curity may need to use encrypted authorization mechanisms such as Ker- beros. Spaces are currently not allowed in the protocol name. Quoting could be added for the truly perverse. AUTHOR Jim Fulton, MIT X Consortium xauth(1X)