This reminds me of the difference between ssh -X and ssh -Y options, maybe a look at ssh code will give you ideas.

best

Vladimir Dergachev

On Fri, 7 Feb 2025, Christophe Lohr wrote:

Hello,
  Please excuse the naivety of my question; I'm trying to understand how things 
work.

I try to forward a tcp X11 connection to the server's unix socket:
  $ socat  TCP-LISTEN:6001,fork UNIX-CONNECT:/tmp/.X11-unix/X0

Then I can use it:
  $ DISPLAY=localhost:1 xeyes

It works well... but only for simple applications (xlogo xeyes xclock xmessage 
xnest...)
Surprisingly, this does not works for more complex applications (Xephyr 
wireshark ...)
These applications stop, seemingly waiting for an event that doesn't come.
Increasing socat's verbosity level doesn't help me to understand, nor does 
strace ltrace xtrace ...

Well, this seems relating to the MIT-SHM extension.
My assumption: If the server thinks the client is local (due to the use of a 
unix socket), it activates the MIT-SHM extension without further preliminary 
checks (and tries to send ancillary data
(shm keys or file descriptor?) via the unix socket?). Right?

As a workarround, I have to generate an "untrusted" xauth cookie.
Is there a better way?

(Note: I'm a fan of network transparency!
A next time we'll talk about vsock;-) )

Best regards
Christophe

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