I have just installed redhat 6.1. I am using gnome after I log in to gdm/xdm. I also went into enlightment and set up the screensaver settings to ask for a password when I come back if longer thatn 10 minutes. I noticed that the screensaver doesn't even come on. I was playing with is and used xhost +localhost and it worked temporairly. The screensaver then came on but The lock didn't work. This is a small security problem because I don't want anyone on these machines if I walk away.
xscreensaver will not run as root.
This bug Is not resolved. I also have a redhat 6.0 linux server set up to do the same thing. It works perfectly fine. Also if I do xhost +localhost and run xscreensaver manually, then the screensaver will come on but not lock. Why does it work in version 6.0 but not 6.1? Obviously there is a bug if it did work but now doesn't.
Because the 6.0 xscreensaver was *broken*. See the security errata.
I don't understand the resolution on this being set to WONTFIX. Is there a security errata addressing the issue that this won't work under root? In other words, is there a fix under security errata that allows this to work under root? If not, I'd say it is a bug that you cannot lock the screen while logged in as root...
It's not a bug, it's a feature. See xscreensaver's man page. P.S. Logging into X as root is usually a bad idea since it means that you are running a big number of programs as root that do not have any bisuness running as root. Log in as yourself and use su or sudo.