Lately I've been getting this MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE error. It only happens
when I'm logged into my home amd64 box from my office x86 box. I use
ssh -X ip.add.res.s to log in. Everything seems to work and save fine
except for the error message and not being able to run an x-application
remotely.

The first error occurs when I try to run an x-application remotely.
$ jpilot
Invalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 keyInvalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 key
(jpilot:16276): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display: localhost:11.0

The second error occurs after I exit a file from a text editor.
$ vi file.txt
Invalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 keyInvalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 key

I've been doing this for years without any problems and this probably
started in the last month or so.

I've seen a few things on line, but nothing that looks right. I also
don't want to run the xhost+ command.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

--dhk

On Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:35:20 -0500, dhk wrote:

> Lately I've been getting this MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE error. It only happens
> when I'm logged into my home amd64 box from my office x86 box. I use
> ssh -X ip.add.res.s to log in.

Have you tried using -Y instead of -X?


--
Neil Bothwick

Voting Democrat or Republican is like choosing a cabin in the Titanic.

On 11/10/2010 06:45 PM, Neil Bothwick wrote:
> On Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:35:20 -0500, dhk wrote:
>
>> Lately I've been getting this MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE error. It only happens
>> when I'm logged into my home amd64 box from my office x86 box. I use
>> ssh -X ip.add.res.s to log in.
>
> Have you tried using -Y instead of -X?
>
>

I haven't tried -Y, but I'll give it a shot when I get to the office.
However, shouldn't -X work? It's been working all along.

Thanks,

--dhk

dhk writes:

> On 11/10/2010 06:45 PM, Neil Bothwick wrote:
> > On Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:35:20 -0500, dhk wrote:
> >> Lately I've been getting this MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE error. It only
> >> happens when I'm logged into my home amd64 box from my office x86
> >> box. I use ssh -X ip.add.res.s to log in.
> >
> > Have you tried using -Y instead of -X?
>
> I haven't tried -Y, but I'll give it a shot when I get to the office.
> However, shouldn't -X work? It's been working all along.

-Y enables trusted forwarding. I'm no expert here, but I think that this
could enable enable remote applications to read your screen or capture
keystrokes. On the other hand, several applications do not work in
untrusted mode (-X) and need the -Y option. But in these cases you get
messages like these:

X Error of failed request: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)
Major opcode of failed request: 3 (X_GetWindowAttributes)

Resource id in failed request: 0x600001
Serial number of failed request: 17
Current serial number in output stream: 18

Your problem seems to be another one. Trying -Y will do no harm, but I
don't think it will help here.

Wonko

On Wed, Nov 10, 2010 at 5:35 PM, dhk <dhkuhl@optonline.net> wrote:
> Lately I've been getting this MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE error. *It only happens
> when I'm logged into my home amd64 box from my office x86 box. *I use
> ssh -X ip.add.res.s to log in. *Everything seems to work and save fine
> except for the error message and not being able to run an x-application
> remotely.
>
> The first error occurs when I try to run an x-application remotely.
> $ jpilot
> Invalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 keyInvalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 key
> (jpilot:16276): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display: localhost:11.0
>
> The second error occurs after I exit a file from a text editor.
> $ vi file.txt
> Invalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 keyInvalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 key
>
> I've been doing this for years without any problems and this probably
> started in the last month or so.
>
> I've seen a few things on line, but nothing that looks right. *I also
> don't want to run the xhost+ command.
>
> Any ideas?

I think you need to use xauth to check the permissions. Did your
remote machine name or something else like that significantly change
recently?

On 11/11/2010 04:42 PM, Paul Hartman wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 10, 2010 at 5:35 PM, dhk <dhkuhl@optonline.net> wrote:
>> Lately I've been getting this MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE error. It only happens
>> when I'm logged into my home amd64 box from my office x86 box. I use
>> ssh -X ip.add.res.s to log in. Everything seems to work and save fine
>> except for the error message and not being able to run an x-application
>> remotely.
>>
>> The first error occurs when I try to run an x-application remotely.
>> $ jpilot
>> Invalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 keyInvalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 key
>> (jpilot:16276): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display: localhost:11.0
>>
>> The second error occurs after I exit a file from a text editor.
>> $ vi file.txt
>> Invalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 keyInvalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 key
>>
>> I've been doing this for years without any problems and this probably
>> started in the last month or so.
>>
>> I've seen a few things on line, but nothing that looks right. I also
>> don't want to run the xhost+ command.
>>
>> Any ideas?
>
> I think you need to use xauth to check the permissions. Did your
> remote machine name or something else like that significantly change
> recently?
>
>


Very good, the -Y option worked, but I'm still confused why the -X
stopped working. I suspect it has to do with the openssl update a few
weeks ago on the x86 box at the office. After that update my ssh
sessions were timing out, also, even though I have Client ans Server
Alive's set in sshd_config and ssh_config.

Thanks,

--dhk