How to: Linux display remote X application over telnet session

To display a remote X application over a Telnet session on a Linux system, you will need to use the X Window System and the xauth utility. The X Window System is a software system that allows you to display graphics on a computer, and the xauth utility is used to manage the authentication data for X applications.

To display a remote X application over a Telnet session on a Linux system, follow these steps:

1. On the remote machine, open a terminal window and run the following command:

echo $DISPLAY

This command will display the name of the display that the X Window System is using on the remote machine. Make note of this display name, as you will need it later.

2. On the local machine, open a terminal window and run the following command:

xauth list

This command will display a list of the X authentication data that is stored on the local machine. Make note of the "magic cookie" value that is associated with the display name of the remote machine.

3. On the local machine, open a Telnet session to the remote machine by running the following command:

telnet remote-machine

4. Once you are connected to the remote machine via Telnet, run the following command:

xauth add remote-machine:0 . magic-cookie

Replace "remote-machine:0" with the display name of the remote machine, and replace "magic-cookie" with the "magic cookie" value that you obtained in step 2.

5. Once you have added the X authentication data to the remote machine, you can run any X application on the remote machine and it will be displayed on the local machine. For example, to run the xclock application on the remote machine and display it on the local machine, run the following command:

xclock -display remote-machine:0

By following these steps, you should be able to display a remote X application over a Telnet session on a Linux system. For more information on the X Window System and the xauth utility, you can refer to the Linux documentation.