Xauthority Problem

davcefai · 10-02-2011, 03:34 PM

After resolving a problem with xorg I have been left with this problem:

Kdesudo returns an "Invalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1" message.

I can copy my user .Xauthority file to /home/root and all will be well - until the next boot.

How can I permanently cure this problem? I've read the xauth man page but do not seem to have understood it

Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

lugoteehalt · 10-03-2011, 09:57 PM

Do not know what I am talking about really. But this sort of thing is often resolved by destroying, perhaps to be on the sage side moving, all xauthority files and then restarting X.

davcefai · 10-05-2011, 01:34 PM

Thanks for the response. Unfortunately it didn't work

lugoteehalt · 10-05-2011, 09:03 PM

As I said I don't know the answer. But did you shut down X, then destroy the files, then restart it again? You know, shut X down first.

If it were me. I'd try the above and if that did not work reinstall it, it is not a big thing to do that.

Perhaps apt-get remove --purge x-window-system (or whatever it is called) and then reinstall it.

davcefai · 10-06-2011, 11:29 PM

I tried again, exactly as you specified. Sadly it did not work.

This is silly! How does root get a valid .Xauthority in the first case?

Thanks for the help

cynwulf · 10-07-2011, 07:47 AM

You need to exit from your DE and display manager and rm all .Xauthority files, then just reboot. If that doesn't solve it have a look at this old thread:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-1-key-278821/

davcefai · 10-07-2011, 11:31 AM

Linking to my normal user .Xauthority file did the trick!

I am kicking myself for not thinking of this myself!

Many Thanks.

lugoteehalt · 10-07-2011, 08:41 PM

As you may well know running X as root is a security melt down http://fairewinds.com/updates. Perhaps the thing was trying to protect you from yourself??

davcefai · 10-07-2011, 11:38 PM

Running X as root is, I agree, unsmart.

However there are times when I want to run say, Dolphin with root privileges for system maintainance.

Whilst I am quite capable of doing this with ls, vim etc I am a spoiled brat and prefer to do it with Dolphin and Kwrite.

As to protecting me from myself, warning me is OK but it's *my* computer and *my* data.

And my tears if I make a mistake :-(

Thanks to all for the help. I'm sure that if this were a Windows forum most replies would have suggested formatting and reinstalling.

widget · 10-08-2011, 12:24 AM

I am sure that no one here meant any different. This is Linux and it is your choice.

I, of coarse, never do anything that is not recommended as safe and secure. I am pretty sure. At least in my sleep.

cynwulf · 10-08-2011, 02:43 AM

Unless I'm missing something obvious, kdesu/gksu does not equate to "running X as root".