From Bugzilla Helper: User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:0.9.3) Gecko/20010801 Description of problem: attempting to run xscreensaver as root generates errors and segmentation fault. see steps/results fields for additional data Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): 3.33 How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Install Roswell (7.1.94) - everything install. Configure XFree86 correctly during install 2. Log in as root, run startx 3. open an xterm 4. execute: xhost +localhost 5. execute: xscreensaver-demo Actual Results: system responded with the following error message: xscreensaver-demo:realpath:No such file or directory. xscreensaver-demo:realpath:No such file or directory. Segmentation Fault Expected Results: xscreensaver configuration interface is displayed, screensaver can be configured, demonstrated, and run. Additional info: Tested on a Big Sur w/ BIOS 117A(RC8) & 117C(P9). UP & DP configurations, UP & MP kernels. 1 GB RAM, 18GB SCSI HDD, current boardset. ATI Rage 128 and Matrox G450 graphics adapters both failed (only cards available for test)
xscreensaver man pages and its author's web site gives plenty of arguments why it's not recommended to run it as root from the point of view of security.
however, the test focus I have is for functionality, not security. This error is also reported by a user (non-root) trying to run xscreensaver-demo. steps to reproduce: log in as root. execute: adduser foo passwd foo baz baz exit log in as foo startx start an xterm execute: xscreensaver-demo actual & expected results are as listed above.
This entry was logged against roswell2 (7.1.94 w/ kernel 2.4.7-2smp and 2.4.7-2), although it was also observed under roswell1.
Fixed in 3.33-4.
verified fix 11-Oct-2001.