X window woes

[Mikkel L. Ellertson]

yk wrote:
> Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote:
>> It could be a DNS problem. Try running " nslookup $(hostname)" and
>> see if it shows an IP address, or an error message. (You can use dig
>> in place of nslookup, but nslookup produces a cleaner output.)
>>
>> Mikkel
>     Mikkel,thanks for the attention!
> I'm quite sure that both of them will return error messages,
> because We can only access the network through some kind of
> authentication.
> BTW:  Why the dns concerned?
> 
Your hostname needs to be resolvable on the local machine. This can
be through any of the methods listed in /etc/hosts.conf. You will
get a DNS timeout delay if it is not. (An entry in /etc/hosts is
enough on most systems.) The reason X needs to be able to resolve
your hostname is because it is a client/server system. It will try
to resolve your hostname as part of the startup process, and you
will get a fairly long delay while it tries. (This is also why
restarting X when you change your hostname is a good idea.)

The thing that people tend to forget is that X is a network service.
It is designed so that the programs or even the entire desktop do
not have to be running on the machine that where the X server is
running on. (The X server is the part reading the keyboard/pointing
device, and driving the display.)

Oh yes, X is not the only service that will have problems if you
hostname does not resolve properly.

Mikkel
-- 

  Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!