root can start programs on X butt my user can not

["Douglas F. Elznic" <dfelznic syr edu>]

Hello,
 As root I can start messages in x from the shell in xterm. However when I am
logged in as my normal user I can not start programs from the shell. I get the
following errors:
Xlib: connection to ":0.0" refused by server
Xlib: Client is not authorized to connect to Server
xhost:  unable to open display ":0"

I am using gdm to login. I think my .Xauthority file got messed up. I searched
for similiar problems on the internet and all the solutions said to use xhost.
I can not run xhost because of the above errors. If i su -l to root while
logged in as a normal user root can not start apps any mor? Any ideas? What
program is responsible for the .Xauthority file?




 --  --
Douglas F. Elznic
<dfelznic @ syr.edu>

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