[PLUG] ssh / window manager interaction land mine.

Russell Senior seniorr at aracnet.com
Wed Jan 7 20:11:01 UTC 2004


>>>>> "RE" == Russell Evans <russell-evans at qwest.net> writes:

RE> On 07 Jan 2004 19:09:07 -0800
RE> "Russell Senior" <seniorr at aracnet.com> wrote:

>>  I have configured my X11 window manager (sawfish, but it's not
>> unique to any window manager) menu to launch remote xterms (and
>> emacs and browsers) via a ssh tunnel.  In .sawfishrc, I construct a
>> menu based on a list of hostnames, so that *root-menu* is something
>> like:
>> 
>> (("Xterms..."  ("localhost" (system "$HOME/bin/remote/run_xterm
>> &")) ("remote-host1" (system "/usr/bin/ssh remote-host1
>> bin/remote/run_xterm &"))("remote-host2" (system "/usr/bin/ssh
>> remote-host2 bin/remote/run_xterm &"))))

RE> So why not
 
RE> ("remote-host1" (system "/usr/bin/X11/xterm -e ssh remote-host1")

RE> do you really need to use the xterm on the remote?

For xterm, I don't _really_ need to, but for emacs and other X
applications it is "nice", and so I do it this way to maintain the
abstraction.

RE> To do it your way

RE> "remote-host1" (system "/usr/bin/ssh -fX remote-host1
RE> bin/remote/run_xterm")

RE> This should prompt for the password if needed

The -f doesn't seem to help.  And it does prompt, but not anywhere I
can talk to it.  The prompts show up on the virtual tty, but my
keystrokes somehow never make it to ssh.

RSS> However, when the ssh keys aren't all kosher, my window manager
RSS> freezes up.  Looking at the virtual terminal where I launched X,
RSS> I see it asking me to type a password or confirm I want to
RSS> connect to a new host, etc.  However, typing there doesn't help
RSS> and basically I am hosed.  I "have to"[1] kill X to recover.

RE> Can't you just go to vtty2 and kill the ssh to the other host.

I can kill the ssh (though a regular kill doesn't work, the brutal -9
version works), but it doesn't unstick sawfish (or gwm, which was my
previous window manager and had the identical problem).  I wish it
did.

Any other ideas?

-- 
Russell Senior         ``I have nine fingers; you have ten.''
seniorr at aracnet.com




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