XAUTH(1)
Contents
xauth - X authority file utility
xauth [ -f authfile ] [ -vqib ] [ command arg ... ]
The xauth program is used to edit and display the autho
rization information 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 access to
other users). Commands (described below) may be entered
interactively, on the xauth command line, or in scripts.
Note that this program does not contact the X server
except when the generate command is used. Normally xauth
is not used to create the authority file entry in the
first place; xdm does that.
The following options may be used with xauth. They may be
given individually (e.g., -q -i) or may combined (e.g.,
-qi).
-f authfile
This option specifies the name of the authority
file to use. By default, xauth will use the file
specified by the XAUTHORITY environment variable
or .Xauthority in the user's home directory.
-q This option indicates that xauth should operate
quietly and not print unsolicited status messages.
This is the default if an xauth command is is
given on the command line or if the standard out
put is not directed to a terminal.
-v This option indicates that xauth should operate
verbosely and print status messages indicating the
results of various operations (e.g., 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 output is
directed to a terminal.
-i 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).
-b This option indicates that xauth should attempt to
break any authority file locks before proceeding.
Use this option only to clean up stale locks.
The following commands may be used to manipulate authority
files:
add displayname protocolname hexkey
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 representing 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.
generate displayname protocolname [trusted|untrusted]
[timeout seconds] [group group-id] [data hexdata]
This command is similar to add. The main differ
ence is that instead of requiring the user to sup
ply the key data, it connects to the server speci
fied in displayname and uses the SECURITY exten
sion in order to get the key data to store in the
authorization file. If the server cannot be con
tacted or if it does not support the SECURITY
extension, the command fails. Otherwise, an
authorization entry for the indicated display
using the given protocol is added to the autho
rization file. A protocol name consisting of just
a single period is treated as an abbreviation for
MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1.
If the trusted option is used, clients that con
nect using this authorization will have full run
of the display, as usual. If untrusted is used,
clients that connect using this authorization will
be considered untrusted and prevented from steal
ing or tampering with data belonging to trusted
clients. See the SECURITY extension specification
for full details on the restrictions imposed on
untrusted clients. The default is untrusted.
The timeout option specifies how long in seconds
this authorization will be valid. If the autho
rization remains unused (no clients are connected
with it) for longer than this time period, the
server purges the authorization, and future
attempts to connect using it will fail. Note that
the purging done by the server does not delete the
authorization entry from the authorization file.
The default timeout is 60 seconds.
The group option specifies the application group
that clients connecting with this authorization
should belong to. See the application group
extension specification for more details. The
default is to not belong to an application group.
The data option specifies data that the server
should use to generate the authorization. Note
that this is not the same data that gets written
to the authorization file. The interpretation of
this data depends on the authorization protocol.
The hexdata is in the same format as the hexkey
described in the add command. The default is to
send no data.
[n]extract filename displayname...
Authorization entries 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 file
name consists of just a single dash, the entries
will be written to the standard output.
[n]list [displayname...]
Authorization entries for each of the specified
displays (or all if no displays are named) are
printed on the standard output. If the nlist com
mand 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
always displayed in the hexadecimal format given
in the description of the add command.
[n]merge [filename...]
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 hasn't been read before.
remove displayname...
Authorization entries matching the specified dis
plays are removed from the authority file.
source filename
The specified file is treated as a script contain
ing 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 hasn't already been read.
info Information describing the authorization file,
whether or not any changes have been made, and
from where xauth commands are being read is
printed on the standard output.
exit If any modifications 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.
quit The program exits, ignoring any modifications.
This may also be accomplished by pressing the
interrupt character.
help [string]
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 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 information (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 hostname/unix:displaynumber so that local
entries for different machines may be stored in one
authority file.
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 authority file on the remote machine:
% xauth extract - $DISPLAY | rsh otherhost xauth merge -
The following command contacts the server :0 to create an
authorization using the MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 protocol.
Clients that connect with this authorization will be
untrusted.
% xauth generate :0 .
This xauth program uses the following environment vari
ables:
XAUTHORITY
to get the name of the authority file to use if
the -f option isn't used.
HOME to get the user's home directory if XAUTHORITY
isn't defined.
$HOME/.Xauthority
default authority file if XAUTHORITY isn't
defined.
Users that have unsecure networks should take care to use
encrypted file transfer mechanisms to copy authorization
entries between machines. Similarly, the MIT-MAGIC-
COOKIE-1 protocol is not very useful in unsecure environ
ments. Sites that are interested in additional security
may need to use encrypted authorization mechanisms such as
Kerberos.
Spaces are currently not allowed in the protocol name.
Quoting could be added for the truly perverse.
Jim Fulton, MIT X Consortium
X Version 11 Release 6.4 5
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