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[packages/mkxauth.git] / mkxauth.1x

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.TH mkxauth 1x "12-Dec-1996" "Red Hat Software" "Linux User's Manual"
.SH NAME
mkxauth \- create and merge .Xauthority files
.SH SYNOPSIS
(1)
.B mkxauth
[ \-q ] [ \-u
.I login
] \-c [
.I host
[
.I host
\|.\|.\|. ] ]
.PP
(2)
.B mkxauth
[ \-q ] [ \-u
.I login
] \-m
.I login
.PP
(3)
.B mkxauth
[ \-q ] [ \-u
.I login
] \-f
.I host
.PP
(4)
.B mkxauth
[ \-q ] [ \-u
.I login
] \-r
.I host
[ \-l
.I login
]
.PP
(5)
.B mkxauth
[ \-q ] [ \-u
.I login
] \-z
.I host
[ \-l
.I login
]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B mkxauth 
aids in the creation and maintenance of X authentication databases
(.Xauthority files).  Use it to create a ~/.Xauthority file or merge
keys from another local or remote .Xauthority file.  Remote .Xauthority
files can be retrieved via FTP (using 
.BR ncftp (1)) 
or via 
.BR rsh (1).
For a slight measure of security,
.B mkxauth 
does not create any temporary files containing authentication keys
(although anyone spying on network packets can see the authentication
key data as they pass through the network; for secure network
communications, use 
.BR ssh (1)).
.SS Creating and Adding to a .Xauthority File
To create a .Xauthority file, use
.B mkxauth \-c 
(see (1) above).
.B mkxauth 
creates a .Xauthority file in the user's home directory (~/),
containing a `key' or `magic cookie' for the host it was run on (the
one returned by
.BR hostname (1)).  
If a .Xauthority file already exists, the keys are added to it.  If
keys for that host already exist, they are replaced.
.PP
To create or add to a .Xauthority file for another user, use
.B mkxauth \-u
.I login
.BR \-c .
.B mkxauth
adds keys to
.RI ~ login /.Xauthority
(only the root user is allowed to do this).
.PP
To add a key for more than one host, specify all hosts on the command
line:
.B mkxauth \-c daffy porky 
.BR bugs .
All hosts specified on the same command line receive the same key.  To
create different keys for multiple hosts, run
.B mkxauth
for each host in succession:
.PP
.RS
.TQ
mkxauth \-c daffy
.TQ
mkxauth \-c porky
.TQ
mkxauth \-c bugs
.RE
.SS Merging Keys from Local .Xauthority Files
To merge keys from another local user's .Xauthority file, use
.B mkxauth \-m
.I login 
(see (2) above).
.B mkxauth
adds the keys in 
.RI ~ login /.Xauthority
to ~/.Xauthority, replacing any keys which already exist.
.RI ~ login /.Xauthority
must be readable by the user running
.B mkxauth
(normally only the root user can read other people's .Xauthority files).
.SS Merging Keys via FTP
To merge keys from a remote .Xauthority file via FTP, use
.B mkxauth \-f
.I host
(see (3) above).
.B mkxauth 
retrieves the remote .Xauthority from
.I host
using
.BR ncftp (1)
and adds those keys to ~/.Xauthority, replacing any keys which already
exist.
.RI [ NOTE :
you must have a ~/.netrc file set up to automatically log you into
.IR host ,
otherwise the FTP login attempt will fail.]
.SS Merging Keys via rsh(1)
To merge keys from remote .Xauthority file via
.BR rsh (1),
use
.B mkxauth \-r
.I host
(see (4) above).
.B mkxauth
retrieves the remote .Xauthority from
.I host
using
.BR rsh (1)
and adds those keys to ~/.Xauthority, replacing any keys which already
exist.  To login as a different user, use
.B \-l
.IR login .
.RI [ NOTE :
you must have a .rhosts file set up properly for this to work,
otherwise the remote login attempt will fail].
.SS Merging Keys via rsh(1) and gzip(1)
If your remote .Xauthority file is large, or to make it slightly less
obvious that you're transferring authentication keys over the network,
.B mkxauth
can
.BR gzip (1)
your .Xauthority file before retrieving it via 
.BR rsh (1).
To do this, use
.B mkxauth \-z
.I host
(see (5) above).
.B mkxauth
retrieves the remote .Xauthority from
.I host
using
.BR rsh (1)
and adds those keys to ~/.Xauthority, replacing any keys which already
exist.  To login as a different user, use
.B \-l
.IR login .
.RI [ NOTE :
you must have a .rhosts file set up properly for this to work,
otherwise the remote login attempt will fail].
.SS Options
To make 
.B mkxauth
operate quietly, use the
.B \-q
option.
.PP
To add to 
.RI ~ login /.Xauthority,
use the
.B \-u
.I login
option.
.PP
To use 
.I login
for the remote login in 
.B mkxauth 
.BR \-f ,
.B mkxauth
.BR \-r ,
and
.B mkxauth
.BR \-z ,
use the
.B \-l
.I login 
option.
.SS Getting Help
To get quick help about
.BR mkxauth ,
use 
.B mkxauth 
.BR \-\-help .
.SH FILES
.TQ
~/.Xauthority
.TQ
~/.netrc
.TQ
~/.rhosts
.SH COMMENTS
.B mkxauth
is mostly useful for maintaining .Xauthority files in an environment
which uses
.BR startx (1x).
.BR xdm (1x)
uses its own method of generating .Xauthority files.  However, 
.B mkxauth
is still useful for transferring .Xauthority information to remote
login sessions so that the user can display remote X clients on the
local host without too much trouble.
.PP
Note, however, that using 
.BR rsh (1)
is inherently insecure, and sites concerned about security should use
.BR ssh (1)
instead (see http://www.cs.hut.fi/ssh/ for more information).
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR X (1x),
.BR Xsecurity (1x),
.BR gzip (1),
.BR mcookie (1),
.BR md5sum (1),
.BR ncftp (1),
.BR rsh (1),
.BR startx (1x),
.BR xauth (1x),
.BR xdm (1x)
.SH BUGS
Does not respect the XAUTHORITY environment variable.
.SH AUTHOR
Conceived and written by Jim Knoble <jmknoble@redhat.com>.  Copyright
1996 by Jim Knoble and Red Hat Software.  Distributed under the GNU GPL
(General Public License); see ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/COPYING for
more information.