Has anyone had any experience forwarding x11 via ssh from a Mac?
Assuming that you want to display a remote computer's X application on your OSX screen :-
First have an X server running (either Apple's X11 [from a Panther CD, or downloaded for Jaguar] or XFree86 via Fink, or whatever other method sounds useful ...
Then start a terminal, and check that you have a $DISPLAY variable (if you start Terminal.app, you won't have, so set it by hand "export DISPLAY=:0" from within bash, or something similar in tcsh. If you start an xterm (from the X11 application menu?), it should be set anyway)
Then use 'ssh -X [EMAIL PROTECTED]' to start the ssh session, and request X forwarding. Check for a DISPLAY variable as soon as you log in at the remote end.
Then run 'ssh -X -v [EMAIL PROTECTED]' for verbose logging to see what went wrong :-) Often the remote ssh servers are not set to allow X forwarding by default - consult the sshd manual pages, but try looking in /etc/ssh/sshd_config first for the obviously relevant line ... and if you change the config file, you'll have to signal the sshd to re-read it's config, often with something like "# killall -HUP sshd" (you were root, right?) (this will often log you out, but you can reconnect. On the other hand, if you've broken the sshd_config file, you probably can't reconnect. Think carefully first!)
Then, as long as you are still the same user as you ssh'd in as, you can run an X application, and the output will appear on your Mac's screen. Try xeyes or xterm as a test.
Going the other way round ... well, you may have to set /etc/sshd_config's X11Forwarding to 'yes' (and restart sshd by 'killall -HUP sshd' before you start, then know either your mac's IP address, or a suitable DNS name for it ... and if you're starting from a terminal windows on a Linux box, you won't have to worry about checking the DISPLAY variable first (although it's good practice).
But you won't be able to run the Apple Quartz applications (Finder, Mail.app, etc) over X ...
To do that, you'll have to investigate VNC ... and run that over an ssh connection, which is a whole other kettle of fish.
-jim
