What happened to Xnest?

Question

Level 1

0 points

What happened to Xnest?

Maybe I'm the only Mac user in the world who actually makes extensive use of the X11 support in Mac OS X, but here goes anyway.

I use Xnest a LOT to get into Linux machines I use on a daily basis. When I upgraded to Leopard the other day, the Xnest application disappeared! Did something go wrong when I upgraded, or has Apple removed the Xnest program from the X11 distribution with Leopard?

Yes, I looked in the usual places (/usr/X11R6/bin, etc.) and it indeed is not there. I have not tried copying the program from an older machine just to get it up and running.. but it would be nice to see if others have noticed this disappeared.

Mac mini Core2 Duo, Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Nov 2, 2007 11:19 AM

Reply

Answer 1

jrh2007

Level 1

0 points

Nov 2, 2007 5:11 PM in response to feedlebom

You are not the only person missing this app. I use it daily too for connecting to my Fedora box.

Reply

Answer 2

feedlebom Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 2, 2007 11:28 PM in response to feedlebom

It is worth pointing out that simply copying the Xnest application from a Tiger or Panther machine is not a workaround: that Xnest application appears to make the connection to the XDMCP server, but I only get a partial screen draw of the login screen and a never-ending wristwatch.

Reply

Answer 3

Nov 4, 2007 10:06 PM in response to feedlebom

I've miss it too.
However there's a turnaround for this.
use Xnest from the Unix/Linux server that you are connecting by doing
from the X11 xterm:
export DISPLAY=<Mac IP address>😮.0
Xnest :1 -geometry .... -query 127.0.0.1

Thank you,

R.Costa

Reply

Answer 4

feedlebom Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 7, 2007 8:30 AM in response to Reginaldo Costa

Xnest is not universally installed on a lot of Linux boxes, either. The particular Debian box I'm working with does not have it installed either. (note: "apt-get install xnest" as super-user to fix this problem)

To completely use this solution, you also need to have an SSH (or other such login system) installed and working. I have one machine that the only way to log in from remote is via XDMCP: ssh, telnet, rlogin are all disabled.

Lastly, your instructions were a bit incomplete. Here's how to make this workaround "work". The following command works on a target Debian etch host, with the requisite X binaries and the xnest .deb installed.

From the Mac running X11, open up an Xterm and issue the following command:

+ssh -X user@remotehost 'Xnest :1 -geometry 1024x768 -query localhost'+

The parameters after "geometry" can be modified to whatever you like.

Reply

Answer 5

Nov 29, 2007 1:30 PM in response to feedlebom

You can get Xnest for 10.5 here:
http://people.freedesktop.org/~bbyer/x11app/

Also see:
http://www.x.org/wiki/XDarwin

The following now works when launched from Terminal....
$Xnest -query servername :2 -geometry 1024x768 2020 2>/dev/null

Also..... If you install the latest Xquartz, it will solve the annoying yellow cursor in remote X-windows. 🙂

Message was edited by: brainslice

Reply