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I wanted to try out using graphical tools over ssh. Just to learn a new thing :)

so my understanding is this, I connect like this: ssh -port -x user@server

But I'm running ubuntu server so it has no gui and thus no gui tools. My understanding is I've to install gedit on server. But also xserver?

Can someone clear up this concepts to me?

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3 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

The correct command is

ssh -p 2222 -X user@host

where I suppose the server listen on 2222 port number. Also note that the case of X option is important, it must be uppercase.

You need to have the program you want to run installed on the server (gedit in this case). Also you may install gedit without installing X, just because you can run gedit on a remote X server, as you are trying to do.

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nice, but were does mu port number go? I'm not on default port. should I do ssh -x user@host:port ? –  Sandro Dzneladze Oct 21 '11 at 20:09
@SandroDzneladze: see updated answer –  enzotib Oct 21 '11 at 20:12
cool, exactly what I had written :D thanks for explaining though. –  Sandro Dzneladze Oct 21 '11 at 20:14
"ssh -X host" works for me, because I'm using the same username and the default port on the server. –  kristianp Jan 18 at 4:31
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I think that the question is not about how to use the ssh console command, but some way to use gedit over ssh connections. Well there is a way.. you can mount the remote file system in a local directory through sshfs, then you can use gedit to edit those files, or whatever application running in the local machine to edit the files in the local ssh mapping.

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Brilliant! How will this help to run gedit on server? Without graphical tools installed on the server there is no way to do it. But it is useful to get access to the remote files. And then @Sandro can use nano or vim to edit them. –  Danatela Jul 17 '13 at 6:44
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You don't have to install gedit on your server, but you can use gedit on your desktop to edit file on the server. Here is howto:


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Welcome to Ask Ubuntu! Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference. –  Kevin Bowen Jul 28 '13 at 2:56
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