Cannot connect to X server

[samnh]

Hi

I am using beyond compare 3 for linux machine and wrote the file report script to generate difference report for a jars. When I executed the script it gives "Cannot connect to X server" error and stops. I have linux machine which do not have GUI so I only want it to use command line scripts.

Please suggest the resolution for this.

Sam

[Aaron]

Hello,

You mention you do not have a GUI, but running BC3 still requires X-Windows. Is X-Windows installed? From your error message, I would suspect it is, since without it BC3 would not run.
http://www.scootersoftware.com/suppo...z=kb_linuxtips

If it is, please try running BC3 from the graphical interface and connect to your server. This may help display additional information or error messages. For example, do you have a saved password with your FTP Profile? Once you are able to connect via the graphical interface, you should be able to connect to the FTP with script as well.

UPDATE: I just talked with one of the developers, and this error message may be generated by a lack of X-Windows. X-Windows is one of our System Requirements, and BC3 cannot run as a console-only application:
http://www.scootersoftware.com/download.php?zz=kb_linux

[hvaidya]

Was there a resolution to this issue?

[Chris]

Sorry, Beyond Compare for Linux (v3 and v4) still requires an X Window session to run, even for a script. This means it isn't possible to run a Beyond Compare for Linux script in just an SSH terminal window or in a cron job.

[frankowich]

If you are the only user of your machine, then there's not really any security issue. If other people use your machine (for example, through remote ssh access), then doing this would make it possible for them to connect to your X display and either do screen captures, start programs on your screen, or other extremely annoying things.

(Of course, the above also applies if some random network service on your machine gets cracked -- in that case, the cracker has a shell on your machine running as whichever user runs that service, and that shell could connect to your display also. In other words, xhost +localhost is not completely harmless, but the likelihood of someone using it to do nefarious things is probably low.)