Commands Reference, Volume 6

xhost Command

Purpose

Controls who accesses Enhanced X-Windows on the current host machine.

Syntax

xhost [ + | - ] [ Name ]

Description

The xhost command adds or deletes host names on the list of machines from which the X Server accepts connections.

This command must be run from the machine with the display connection. You can remove a name from the access list by using the -Host parameter. Do not remove the current name from the access list. If you do, log off the system before making any corrections.

Entering the xhost command with no variables shows the current host names with access your X Server and a message indicating whether or not access is enabled.

For security, options that affect access control may only be run from the controlling host. For workstations, this is the same machine as the server. For X terminals, it is the login host.

To enable a remote name by default, the name can be defined in the /etc/X?.hosts file, where ? is the display number to which you enable access.

For example, the display jeanne:0 can be accessed by systems defined in the /etc/X0.hosts file on a system that uses the default host name of jeanne. In both the display name and the file name, 0 indicates the display number that the defined remote systems are allowed to access through Enhanced X-Windows.

Flags

+Name	Defines the host name (the plus sign is optional) to be added to the X Server access list.
- Name	Defines the host name to be removed from the X Server access list. Existing connections are not broken, but new connection attempts will be denied. Note that you can remove the current machine; however, further connections (including attempts to add it back) are not permitted. The only way to allow local connections again is to reset the server (thereby breaking all connections).
+	Specifies that access is unlimited. Access control is turned off.
-	Turns access control on. The complete Name has a the following family:name syntax: inet Internet host local Contains only one name, the empty string Note: The family is case sensitive. The format of the name varies with the family.