> my workstation's hostname is the same as my login > username, which is (obviously) also the name of my home directory. > And yet, I've never seen this problem before. > So, there are definitely a few more variables involved in this one.
To reproduce, run xauth list $(hostname -f):0 from a directory that has a file or directory with the name of the workstation. Demo: guest@redacted:~/empty$ ls guest@redacted:~/empty$ xauth list $(hostname -f):0 redacted.localdomain:0 MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e guest@redacted:~/empty$ touch $(hostname) guest@redacted:~/empty$ xauth list $(hostname -f):0 Segmentation fault guest@redacted:~/empty$ ls -li ~/.Xauthority-* 57941079 -rw------- 2 guest guest 0 Mar 31 13:09 /home/guest/.Xauthority-c 57941079 -rw------- 2 guest guest 0 Mar 31 13:09 /home/guest/.Xauthority-l guest@redacted:~/empty$ The segfault has been addressed in upstream xauth-1.1.1, which is good! Those changes are incomplete and it still gives a wrong/confusing answer when faced with this accidental name collision. I have a tested patch that I'll write up and add to the 889720 report. - Larry
