[H-GEN] remote X

[Jason Henry Parker]

[ Humbug *General* list - semi-serious discussions about Humbug and ]
[ Unix-related topics.  Please observe the list's charter.          ]

On Tue, 4 Jan 2000, Raymond Smith wrote:

> While I agree with Jason that xhost is insecure compared to ssh, ssh is
> overkill over a personal private network. (As I assmue yours
> is.) Certainly you should use ssh/if you are working over a public
> network, and are worried about security.

Learning good network practice is never overkill; learning bad habits
should never be encouraged.  Ray, be glad you're not in LARTing
distance!

Seriously; the habits created by using poor tools (or tools poorly) on
a local network will turn around and bite you in the ass when you make
a move to an environment where their use is discouraged.  

Besides which, ssh will (a) compress the traffic (not a bad idea for
X!) and (b) allow you to log into remote hosts (not just ones on your
local network (I assume one of these boxes is connected to the 'net
(yet another reason to be using good tools locally))) with NO PASSWORD
WHATSOEVER.  Start yer X session, give yer passphrase, ssh
foo at bar.com, instant shell, compressed, encrpted, and X-forwarded.

Who could ask for more?

jason ``The benefits of ssh have been proven by scientists...'' parker


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