xauth(1X)																 xauth(1X)

NAME

       xauth - X authority file utility

SYNOPSIS

       xauth [-f authfile] [-vqib] [commandarg...]

OPTIONS

       The  following  options	may  be  used with xauth.  They may be given individually (for example, -q -i) or may combined (for example, -qi).
       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  in  the user's home directory.  This option indicates that xauth should operate quietly and not print unsolicited status mes-
       sages.  This is the default if an xauth command is given on the command line or if the standard output is not directed to a terminal.  This
       option  indicates  that xauth should operate verbosely and print status messages indicating the results of various operations (for example,
       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 stan-
       dard  output  is  directed  to  a terminal.  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).  This  option  indicates
       that xauth should attempt to break any authority file locks before proceeding.  Use this option only to clean up stale locks.

DESCRIPTION

       The  xauth  program  is used to edit and display the authorization 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. Normally xauth is not used to create the authority file entry in the first place; xdm does that.

COMMANDS

       The following commands may be used to manipulate authority files: 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 repre-
       senting 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.  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 filename consists of  just
       a  single dash, the entries will be written to the standard output.  Authorization entries for each of the specified displays (or all if no
       displays are named) are printed on the standard output.	If the nlist command 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.	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 com-
       mand is used.  If a filename consists of just a single dash, the standard input will be read if it has not been read before.  Authorization
       entries	matching  the  specified displays are removed from the authority file.	The specified file is treated as a script containing xauth
       commands to execute.  Blank lines and lines beginning with a sharp sign (#) are ignored.  A single dash may be used to indicate	the  stan-
       dard input, if it has not already been read.  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.  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.  The program exits, ignoring any
       modifications.  This may also be accomplished by pressing the interrupt character.  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

       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 host-
       name/unix:displaynumber so that local entries for different machines may be stored in one authority file.

EXAMPLE

       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 -

ENVIRONMENT

       This xauth program uses the following environment variables: to get the name of the authority file to use if the -f option is not used.	to
       get the user's home directory if XAUTHORITY is not defined.

FILES

       default authority file if XAUTHORITY is not defined.

BUGS

       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 environments.  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.

AUTHOR

       Jim Fulton, MIT X Consortium

																	 xauth(1X)