X(?) newbie question

[Senate]

Hello!

I have installed Debian on a computer I only connect to using Putty. The hardware configuration should not be important.

My question is about X I think. While connected to the computer through SSH I want to be able to bring for example emacs up in X. Look at the following:

~# emacs &
[3] 24831
~#
[3]+ Stopped emacs
~#

The job is stopped and I can bring it up using fg in "non-X mode". Why does this happen? I have already installed the packages discover, mdetect, read-edid and x-window-system and enable X11 forwarding in Putty. What is missing? Is it not configured correctly?

Thanks in advance...

/Senate

[mr.MikyMaus]

Could you please be more specific? Like from where are you
trying to connect to your box (putty runs afaik on many platforms),
what do you mean by 'running an X application', i.e. if you want
to see your whole X "desktop" in a window on the client computer
or you just want to forward remote X apps to your local Xserver,
etc...

-M.

[Senate]

I connect to my linux box (a) from my desktop computer (b) using ssh. The client I use to connect to (a) is Putty and my client computer (b) runs Windows. I dont want to bring up the entire desktop from (a) I just want to forward X from (a) to my Xserver on (b) when running applications like emacs. I have already set 'X11 forwarding' in Putty on (b).

It's hard for me to be that specific about it since I really don't know much about this, but I hope it is enough information...

[mr.MikyMaus]

So, you are running an X server on Windows box. Well, have
you tried some other apps (xterm, xclock, xeyes, etc.)? What
was the result? Were there any error messages? Are some
messages in the (b)'s X server log? Are you sure putty knows
about your X server on (b) / is it set up properly (according to
putty documentation and your (b)'s X server documentation) ?
Don't you have some sort of internal "firewall" in Windows,
which prevents applications to connect together (afaik Kerio
4.x does that) ?

-M.

[bigtomrodney]

From my understanding you will need to have an X/*nix environment like cygwin running on your Windows box to receive Xforwarding. If you do not want to / cannot install cygwin you should probably remote your box using vnc.

[Senate]

So, you are running an X server on Windows box. Well, have
you tried some other apps (xterm, xclock, xeyes, etc.)? What
was the result?

Yes, I have. The result is the same...

Were there any error messages? Are some
messages in the (b)'s X server log?

No there are no error messages. I am sure that this is setup correctly since I use it to connect to other Linux boxes with this configuration. I can for example log in to these machines and start xclock and see it on my Windows box.

Are you sure putty knows
about your X server on (b) / is it set up properly (according to
putty documentation and your (b)'s X server documentation) ?
Don't you have some sort of internal "firewall" in Windows,
which prevents applications to connect together (afaik Kerio
4.x does that) ?
-M.

Yes, I'm sure. I am currently using this from another Linux box setup at the university I study in.

What I want to do is to run "X-apps" through a ssh connection using a local X server on my windows box. When I used mandrake this was installed per default. I know that I just need to install /configure something on my Linux box.

By the way. The problem is the same if I connect to the linux box from another linux box with ssh -X ip. It is like the X is not forwarded from the linux box (a)?

[mr.MikyMaus]

Well, at least we know for sure the problem is in your
server (a) Linux box. I've just installed a Debian Etch
system on my friend's PC, set up a two pc local network,
just by adding some static information to
/etc/network/interfaces on both computers and ran
'ssh -X' from my box.

I've done no sshd/X server setup at all (using Debian's
installation defaults) and everything seems fine since I'm
just writing from Firefox ran via ssh and forwarded to my
X server.

Check the sshd configuration file for 'ForwardX11 yes'
or something similar: run

grep 'X11' < /etc/ssh/sshd_config

and watch what it returns. If there is any line with the
word 'forward' and it ends by 'yes' than the ssh daemon
should be configured properly. Otherwise check

man sshd_config

for details.

The error may also be in X server configuration, but I'm
not your man in this sine I do not know much about it. However
I play with it from time to time so I may figure out something,
eventually. Speaking very relatively

Oh, you may also convince your application to use your
X server directly just by adding a '-display' parameter:

xapp -display your.ip:0.0

It's quite tricky since you have to configure your X server and
firewall properly. And you need public IP address of course.

-M.

[spoon!]

Check the sshd configuration file for 'ForwardX11 yes'
or something similar

or "X11Forwarding yes"

[Senate]

Thanks... It worked