[CentOS] Failed to start new browser session: Error while launching browser on session null

Tue Mar 29 12:42:18 UTC 2011
Les Mikesell <lesmikesell at gmail.com>

On 3/29/11 4:45 AM, John Hodrien wrote:
> On Mon, 28 Mar 2011, ken wrote:
>
>> Like the error says, you need to specify the display.  I.e., on the
>> remote machine you must set the environmental variable "DISPLAY"...
>> something like
>>
>> (export DISPLAY=192.168.1.42:0.0&  firefox)
>>
>> Though this may work, this may well reveal another, different error, one
>> having to do generally with permissions.  But we'll take them one at a time.
>
> Do *not* follow this advice.  It's bad practice, insecure, and actually more
> work than being secure, and more likely not to work.  Plenty of X servers are
> configured to not listen on your network interface for example.
>
> ssh -X / -Y is your friend, as others have suggested.

Although if you regularly run GUI programs remotely, you might want to set up 
freenx and use the NX client - at least for situations where you want the whole 
desktop and/or need to work over connections with high latency where normal 
remote or tunneled X is slow.  You don't have to be running X on the remote 
side's console to use it.

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell at gmail.com