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XRSH(1)							XRSH(1)

NAME
       xrsh - start an X program on a remote machine

SYNOPSIS
       xrsh  [	-help  ]  [  -version  ]  [ -l username ] [ -auth
       authtype ] [ -screen screen-# ] [ -pass envlist ] [ -debug
       ] [ -debug2 ] remote-host [ X-command [ arguments ... ] ]

DESCRIPTION
       Xrsh  runs  the given X command on a remote host.  It sets
       up the environment for that command such that it will dis-
       play  its windows on the current server's screen by propa-
       gating the $DISPLAY environment variable.  If  not  speci-
       fied,  the  default  client  is xterm.  Xrsh automatically
       selects rsh(1), remsh(1) or rcmd(1) to execute remote com-
       mands, depending on what is available the O/S environment.

       Xrsh automatically  handles  authentication  so	that  the
       remote  client  will  be allowed	 to  open windows on the
       server.	It does this in several different ways	depending
       on  the	value of the $XRSH_AUTH_TYPE environment variable
       or the -auth argument.

       By default, xrsh will  use  xhost  to  enable  the  remote
       client  to  open a server connection.  It can also be told
       to use xauth to merge local keys into a remote  authoriza-
       tion  file.    Or  it can pass the $XAUTHORITY environment
       variable to the remote host in order to share a common NFS
       mounted	authority  file.   It  can also be directed to do
       nothing in the case where  no  explicit	authorization  is
       necessary.

       Users who just want a remote terminal window might look at
       xrsh's sister command, xrlogin(1).  Xrlogin uses a locally
       running	xterm  to  open an rlogin connection to a remote
       host.  The decision on whether to use "xrsh host xterm" or
       "xrlogin host"	should be based on several factors.  If X
       is unavailable on the remote host or  the  local terminal
       emulator has  better  features, use xrlogin.  In general,
       the author recommends using xrsh over xrlogin in most sit-
       uations.

       If  the command to execute on the remote host is an xterm,
       xrsh automatically passes the -name argument to xterm with
       a  value of "xterm-hostname" where hostname is the name of
       the  remote  host.   This  allows  the  user  to specify
       resources  in  their  server's  resource manager which are
       specific to xterms from a given host.  For  example,  this
       feature can be used to make all xterm windows from a given
       remote host be the same color or use a  specific font  or
       start  up  in  a specific  place	 on the screen.	 Xrlogin
       passes the same string so  they	are  compatible in  this
       regard.	This feature can be overridden by specifying your
       own -name argument on the xterm command line.

X Version 11		Release 6				1

XRSH(1)							XRSH(1)

       If the command to execute on the remote host is an  xterm,
       xrsh  specifies	that  the default title for the new xterm
       will be "xterm@hostname" where hostname is the name of the
       remote  host.   This  can also be overridden by specifying
       your own -title argument on the xterm command line.

       Xrsh is very careful not to leave any extra  processes  on
       either  the local or remote machine waiting around for the
       client to exit.	In some remote environments (particularly
       some Sys V implementations of csh and rsh), this is impos-
       sible and xrsh should be run as a background command.

OPTIONS
       Note that xrsh options precede the given X command and its
       arguments.

       -auth authtype
	      Choose what type of X authorization (or access con-
	      trol) is going to be used.  Authtype can be one  of
	      "xhost", "xauth", "xhost-xterminal", "environment",
	      or "none".  The default is xhost, but  the  default
	      can  be set by setting the value of the environment
	      variable $XRSH_AUTH_TYPE.

	      If xhost is specified and the X server  is  running
	      on  the local machine, xhost will be run locally to
	      enable the remote host to open an X connection.  If
	      the  server  is  on a third host (not the one where
	      xrsh is running and not the one where you wish  to
	      run  the command), rsh will be used to run xhost on
	      the server host to authorize  the host  where  the
	      command will be run.

	      If  xauth is  specified,	then xrsh will merge the
	      entries for the server from the  local  $XAUTHORITY
	      file into that of the remote host using rsh.

	      The authtype xhost-xterminal is intended for use by
	      people using X terminals. If  xhost-xterminal  is
	      used,  then  the	first  time  xrsh is run, it runs
	      xhost locally to enable the remote host for access.
	      This  should  work  since (theoretically) the first
	      time it is run is on the XDMCP host for the X  ter-
	      minal.  From then on it propagates the name of that
	      host to all remote hosts via the environment  vari-
	      able $XHOST.  In subsequent invocations from remote
	      hosts, xrsh uses rsh to connect to the host  $XHOST
	      and run xhost to enable new remote hosts.

	      Authtype	"none"	does  no explicit work for access
	      control.	Use this if you don't enable access  con-
	      trol  or	if  you use another mechanism for access
	      control.

X Version 11		Release 6				2

XRSH(1)							XRSH(1)

	      Finally, authtype "environment" automatically prop-
	      agates  the  environment	variable  $XAUTHORITY  to
	      remote hosts, assuming that it is an  NFS	 mounted
	      location that can be accessed from all hosts.

       -debug Normally xrsh redirects standard input and standard
	      output to /dev/null in an effort to cause unneeded
	      rshd and shell processes to exit. As a result, the
	      user can't usually see any errors that might  occur
	      (like a "Permission denied." from rsh).  If you are
	      having trouble getting xrsh to work with	a  remote
	      host,  try  giving  the -debug switch to see if any
	      errors are being generated.

       -debug2
	      This switch causes xrsh to turn on the -x option in
	      the shell so that the user can see every shell com-
	      mand executed by xrsh.  Only use this script if you
	      are debugging the xrsh code itself.

       -help  Print out the argument list to standard output.

       -l username
	      Use  the -l switch to specify a different user name
	      to use for logging in via rsh on the remote host.

       -pass envlist
	      Envlist is a quote delimited string naming an arbi-
	      trary  set  of  environment variables to pass on to
	      the shell environment on the remote host. If  one
	      wanted  to  set  $XRSH_AUTH_TYPE and $XAUTHORITY to
	      the   remote   host,   one   could    use:    -pass
	      "XRSH_AUTH_TYPE  XAUTHORITY".   A default	 set  of
	      environment variables to pass may be set using  the
	      environment variable $XRSH_ENVS_TO_PASS.

       -screen screen-#
	      Specify  a  different screen on the server on which
	      to display the remote client.

       -version
	      Print out version information and exit.

ENVIRONMENT
       The    environment    variables	XRSH_AUTH_TYPE	   and
       XRSH_ENVS_TO_PASS which can be used to set switch defaults
       are overridden if the equivalent switch	is  specified  as
       well.

       XAUTHORITY
	      The  $XAUTHORITY	environment variable is passed to
	      the remote host if the authtype specified by  -auth
	      or $XRSH_AUTH_TYPE is "environment".

X Version 11		Release 6				3

XRSH(1)							XRSH(1)

       XRSH_AUTH_TYPE
	      This  environment variable  can be used to specify
	      the default type of authorization or  access  con-
	      trol.   The values it can be set to are the same as
	      the values for the argument -auth.

       XRSH_RSH_ERRORS
	      If the environment variable XRSH_RSH_ERRORS is  set
	      to  the  name of a file, any rsh errors will appear
	      in that file on the remote host.	If that variable
	      is unset, error messages will be thrown away unless
	      the -debug switch is given. (Note: don't use  ~  in
	      the  filename  because  it  will expand to ~ on the
	      local host, but try to put the errors in that  file
	      on the remote host.)

       XRSH_ENVS_TO_PASS

COMMON PROBLEMS
       Make  sure  your PATH  environment variable on the remote
       host is set in your .cshrc or .bashrc so that rsh programs
       have  access  to it.   (/bin/sh and /bin/ksh users have a
       hard time time here since their shells don't  execute  any
       init  files  under rsh.	You can use the XRSH_ENVS_TO_PASS
       environment variable to pass the PATH environment variable
       to the remote host.  Optionally, you can type  a full path
       to  xrsh in   that   case.    (E.g.    xrsh   remote-host
       /usr/bin/X11/xterm))

       Make  sure  your PATH  environment variable on the remote
       host includes the directory  containing	the  X	programs.
       This is often /usr/bin/X11 or /usr/local/bin/X11.

       Make  sure  you	have rsh configured to work on the remote
       host.  You can test this by typing:  rsh remote-host  echo
       '$PATH'	This  will  prove that rsh works and show you the
       PATH that will be used on the remote  host.   If you  get
       "Permission  denied."  you  probably  need  to update your
       ~/.rhosts file on the remote host.  See rlogin(1).

EXAMPLES
       xrsh yoda
	      Start an xterm on the host yoda which  displays  on
	      the  current  X  server.	Use xhost for access con-
	      trol.

       xrsh -auth xauth underdog emacs
	      Start an emacs on the host underdog.   Merge  xauth
	      authorization  entries  for  this server	into the
	      authority file on the remote host.

       xrsh -l mjd -auth none -pass XRSH_AUTH_TYPE -debug  tigger
       xterm -fn 5x7
	      Start an xterm on the host tigger in a  very  small

X Version 11		Release 6				4

XRSH(1)							XRSH(1)

	      font,    propagate    the environment	variable
	      $XRSH_AUTH_TYPE to the remote host,  login  to  the
	      remote  host  using the id "mjd", don't do any spe-
	      cific  authorization  and don't	redirect   stan-
	      dard/error  output  to  /dev/null so I can see any
	      errors.

BUGS
       If the values of the environment variables  specified  in
       -pass or $XRSH_ENVS_TO_PASS contain quote characters, xrsh
       will have difficulty.

       If the remote host  can't  resolve  the	hostname  of  the
       server  host  (through /etc/hosts, DNS or NIS), the remote
       client will not be  able to  open  a  connection	 to  the
       server.

       System  V  users may  need  to make the first line of the
       script begin with colon (:).

       If you think you have found a bug,  the	first  thing  you
       should  do  is to check on ftp.x.org in the contrib direc-
       tory using anonymous FTP to see if there is a new  version
       of  xrsh there	that already fixes the bug.  If not, send
       email to "jjd@bbn.com" and be sure to have the token  xrsh
       somewhere  in  the  Subject:  line.  Be sure to report the
       operating system type and version at both ends of the xrsh
       connection  and a description of the command you are using
       and what authentication mode you are using.

SEE ALSO
       xrlogin(1), rsh(1), xhost(1), xauth(1)

AUTHOR
       James J. Dempsey <jjd@bbn.com> with help and  suggestions
       from   many   people   including gildea@expo.lcs.mit.edu,
       dm@think.com,  dgreen@cs.ucla.edu  and	rosen@cns.bu.edu,
       <eero@whitechapel.media.mit.edu>,	and	 <mar-
       tin@whitechapel.media.mit.edu>.

X Version 11		Release 6				5

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