When I try to run an X application as root from a terminal. I get I get a Gtk-WARNING about display. From other threads I read, running export DISPLAY=:0 and then xhost + local:localhost fixes the problem. I tried that and it worked. Therefore it creates security vulnerability and also I have to do this at every boot. Does anyone know a permanent solution to this problem?
Thanks
JP

How do you get to root? For me, if I just use 'su', GUI apps work fine. If I use 'su -', then I have problems.

Thanks! I used "su -" instead of "su". I tried "su" and it works fine. Whats the difference between "su -" and "su" anyways?

I believe that "su -" loads the user specific settings such as their paths, etc.

T

We had a long thread going about this a while ago, but nobody came up with a solution. In Slackware 9.1 neither "su" or "su -" will allow you to launch an X application from a terminal.

Which is a bit of a pain if you've installed your kernel sources in /usr/src/ and want to run make xconfig as root to configure them (the workaround is to do "kdesu make xconfig" as a normal user in /usr/src/linux).

I've just been reading the UK Edition of Linux Magazine and there it tells you how to change this behaviour (it looks similar to jplev22's solution and is also temporary, until the next reboot).

Basically my question is the same as jplev22's, how do I permanently allow X applications to be launched by a user who has "su"-ed into root in an xterm?

Cheers
Amos

add the line
xhost +localhost
to /etc/profile

actually, i found the easiers way is to just do this:

su -c "nameofprogram"
then type password

it lets you run the program as root

vinay_s_s your suggestion works! Excellent!

Thanks a million.

Cheers
Amos

amos, I hunted through the docs a while ago and came up with: