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startx and ssh


I have been trying to de-bug a problem with startx. 

When I tried to run the file, I would get a server window,
no clock and no terminal windows. The command-line
errors were: 
	..
	Xlib: connection to "0.0" refused by server
	Xlib: No Protocol specified

These error messages would repeat until I hit ^Z 
from the console command line.

I found that the script would fail if a .Xauthority file
existed in my home directory. If I removed the file,
startx ran without errors; the server, the clock and
the terminal windows all opened successfully when
there was no .Xauthority file in my home directory.

I found that the .Xauthority file was being created 
when I logged onto my Cygwin machine from another 
machine using ssh with the same login name.

I am proposing a fix for this problem:

In /usr/X11R6/bin/startx, add the following code before 
the block that exports the XAUTHORITY variable:

	# remove $HOME/.Xauthority if it exists	
	if [ -f $HOME/.Xauthority ]; then
	  rm $HOME/.Xauthority
	fi

This code just removes .Xauthority if it exists. 
If .Xauthority doesn't exist, it does nothing.

I tested whether removing the file would disrupt
a running ssh session; it didn't.

Some content causes errors; some content may not. 
(When I followed the rm $HOME/.Xauthority command
with a touch $HOME/.Xauthority command,
the X server and xterms started without errors. Can
someone explain that?)

When a client tries to create an ssh session, xauth 
will create a new .Xauthority file, if one does not exist.

One email in the archives suggested avoiding startx 
altogether, in favor of xinit. Using xinit gave me no 
problems, even when .Xauthority was present. 
I just wanted to find out, for my own reasons, why 
startx was not working.

Does anyone have any feedback?

Is there a down-side to removing .Xauthority which I
haven't considered? Is there some reason this fix won't 
work? Has anyone done something that solves this
problem more elegantly?

Gary



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