-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 07/23/2011 02:17 PM, David A. De Graaf wrote: > Since doing fresh installs of Fedora 15 on two computers, I've found > that the DISPLAY environment variable is not exported in some cases, > despite being declared "exported". > > This seems to be a clear violation of the EXPORT rules in /bin/bash. > It is a severe handicap in a root window, since most of the GUI > commands in the system-config-* group will not run. > > The problem initially arose with the command > /usr/bin/xterm -e /bin/su - > which opens a new root window, prompting for the passwd. > I found that system-config-network failed to open the customary GUI panel, > but reverted to a semi-useless curses-based substitute. This was quickly > traced to a missing DISPLAY definition in the root xterm. > > However, this error occurs on only one of two laptops. Although the > hardware is different - an IBM T30 vs an ASUS N10 - the packages > installed differ only in that nvidia drives are installed on the ASUS. > Both laptops usually run XFCE4; the DISPLAY error occurs only on the > IBM T30. > > To simplify the issue, and remove any potential security issues about > switching to root, I used su only to switch user, and only to myself, > ie: > /bin/su - dad > Passwd: > No new xterm window was opened; I only changed user (to myself). > > Before and after, I listed the exported variables: > export -p > /tmp/exp.before > and compared the lists. > > To my surprise, there is a great number of variables that should have > been exported, but were not. Here's the list of variable names that > are NOT exported: > > IBM T30 ASUS N10 > > DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS= DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS= > DESKTOP_SESSION= DESKTOP_SESSION= > DISPLAY= > GLADE_CATALOG_PATH= GLADE_CATALOG_PATH= > GLADE_MODULE_PATH= GLADE_MODULE_PATH= > GLADE_PIXMAP_PATH= GLADE_PIXMAP_PATH= > GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL= > GNOME_KEYRING_PID= > GPG_AGENT_INFO= GPG_AGENT_INFO= > LIBGLADE_MODULE_PATH= LIBGLADE_MODULE_PATH= > OLDPWD= > ORBIT_SOCKETDIR= > SESSION_MANAGER= SESSION_MANAGER= > SHLVL= SHLVL= > SSH_AGENT_PID= SSH_AGENT_PID= > SSH_AUTH_SOCK= SSH_AUTH_SOCK= > WINDOWID= WINDOWID= > WINDOWPATH= WINDOWPATH= > XDG_CONFIG_DIRS= XDG_CONFIG_DIRS= > XDG_DATA_DIRS= XDG_DATA_DIRS= > XDG_MENU_PREFIX= XDG_MENU_PREFIX= > XDG_SESSION_COOKIE= XDG_SESSION_COOKIE= > XTERM_LOCALE= XTERM_LOCALE= > XTERM_SHELL= XTERM_SHELL= > XTERM_VERSION= XTERM_VERSION= > > What's going on here? I would expect the exported environment variables > to be identical in this experiment, but they are vastly different. > Is someone playing fast and loose with the rules? > In particular, why is DISPLAY not exported on the IBM T30, but is exported > on the ASUS N10? > > > As a further experiment, I fired up gnome 3 on each machine and reran > the comparison. To be brief, DISPLAY is exported properly on BOTH > machines. There are many different exported variables between xfce4 > and gnome, which is not surprising, but why should DISPLAY be treated > differently? > > I also tried different terminal emulators, Terminal, lxterminal, > xfterm4, etc. I created a new user with a brand new $HOME. > None of these had any effect. > > Who can duplicate this failure to export? > Why are variables, marked for export, not exported? > Who can explain it? > How can it be fixed? > > I've filed BZ 722703 against xfce4, but > a) I doubt that xfce4 is culpable, and > b) The only responder seems to have run out of ideas. > > Can anyone help? > I would expect the list of variable names to be different with the root shell invoked with su -. When you use - or -l, things are set just like you had logged in as that user. Because of /etc/pam.d/su, DISPLAY and the "cookie" that lets you access X are carried over. You may want to compare these 2 files, and see if they are the same on both machines. You may also want to check /etc/pam.d/system-auth to see if they point to the same file, and the files are the same. I am not sure, but it looks like a PAM problem to me. Mikkel - -- Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup! -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux) iEYEARECAAYFAk4rIaYACgkQqbQrVW3JyMS50ACgg2e7sJ1Q7JBXHkPDVwV/XIxD 5BMAn2P3+45IFJaEccH5hTAXwvEukr1w =gi1Y -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
