[SOLVED] SSH Cadence X11 Forwarding Font Error

j33205 · 2015-10-21 02:12:29

Hello. I am trying to SSH into my schools Solaris servers in order to run Cadence (command 'icfb'). I've called all proper sources and set all proper environment variables. But when I'm logged in and call 'icfb' I get the following error:

X Error of failed request:  BadName (named color or font does not exist)
  Major opcode of failed request:  45 (X_OpenFont)
  Serial number of failed request:  15
  Current serial number in output stream:  30

I've looked around the internet and it seems that this is some sort of font error, apparently on my part. Is this a problem on my end? If it is what can I do to fix it? Is there a font I need to install or something, if so what is it and how? (I know nothing about how either Arch or X11 Forwarding deal with fonts) I figure it must be some fairly standard font I'm missing because I once tried using Cadence in the same fashion a few months ago in my previous installation of Arch and had no such problems. All suggestions appreciated.

UPDATE:
I tried running 'icfb' with -nosplash so: 'icfb -nosplash &'.
This 'fixed' the initial error but then I got a new error:

 X Error of failed request:  BadAccess (attempt to access private resource denied)
  Major opcode of failed request:  18 (X_ChangeProperty)
  Serial number of failed request:  33
  Current serial number in output stream:  34

Did some research on this and tried editing /etc/ssh/ssh_config. I uncommented and changed to 'yes' the following:

 ForwardAgent yes
ForwardX11 yes
RSAAuthentication yes
PasswordAuthentication yes
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa

This did not work. Then I tried ADDING 'ForwardX11Trusted yes' and running 'icfb -nosplash &' which gives me

*WARNING* Unable to find font name: "-*-courier-medium-r-*-*-12-*".
*WARNING* Cannot find textFont.  Trying font "fixed".
*WARNING* Unable to find font name: "-*-helvetica-bold-r-*-*-12-*".
*WARNING* Using the text font to present labels.
*WARNING* Unable to find font name: "-*-helvetica-medium-r-*-*-14-*".
*WARNING* Using the text font for Help dialogs.
*WARNING* Unable to find font name: "-*-helvetica-bold-r-*-*-12-*".
\e Display localhost:16.0 Error "BadAccess (attempt to access private resource denied)"
\e  request 18 error 10 serial 182 
\e Display localhost:16.0 Error "BadAccess (attempt to access private resource denied)"
\e  request 18 error 10 serial 192

BUT it does seem to successfully launch Cadence. I have not tried actually using the program to do anything yet, I'll get back on that.
Also I tried re-commenting out all lines I edited in ssh_config and tried just 'icfb' again and got the font error; tried 'icfb -nosplash' again and it worked the same as it did after I uncommented (it launched).

So basically I have no real idea where I stand on this one. I don't know why what I did worked and why when I undid it it still worked. My new question is: What happened? and Is there a way to truly FIX these problems or am I stuck with what seems to be a rather janky solution? Sorry for the long post, just being thorough, again all help appreciated.

Last edited by j33205 (2015-10-23 00:06:12)

olive · 2015-10-21 20:36:39

You have to install xorg-fonts-75dpi and xorg-fonts-100dpi (normally one of them is enough but by experience, it works better with the two). This is the cause of the errors I see. Also, but it seems you already have done it, you always have to be in trusted mode (enable ForwardX11Trusted in /etc/ssh/ssh_config and do ssh -Y <your server>). Note that the sshd server may disable some forwarding possibility. Check the file /etc/ssh/sshd_config in your servber (i.e. your school). Normally it is world-readable.

Last edited by olive (2015-10-21 20:41:14)

j33205 · 2015-10-22 05:48:03

Thank you olive. I've installed those two font packages and this seems to have fixed the first error I listed, but now when I run 'icfb &' I get a slightly different error and the program fails to launch still:

X Error of failed request:  BadName (named color or font does not exist)
  Major opcode of failed request:  45 (X_OpenFont)
  Serial number of failed request:  17
  Current serial number in output stream:  32

Note the change in "Serial Number..." and "Current serial number..." from before. Also, my addition of '-nosplash' results in the same response as before: same failure to find font named such and such (though minus the Display LocalHost errors) and what seems to be a launch of Cadence. Any thoughts?

olive · 2015-10-22 06:38:37

Still some fonts missing? Try to find the missing fonts on the computer school and copy them on your computer. Traditionally, it is the X server that provides fonts, though not anymore with the modern fontconfig. I also assume that you have forwarded X11 trusted with ssh -Y (and not ss -X) in addition to the option in /etc/ssh_config (this is important because otherwise most softwares won't work).

R00KIE · 2015-10-22 12:49:46

Like olive says it is either a missing fonts problem or something with the X forwarding with ssh but I would be more inclined to say missing fonts. I can still start icfb with only -X but it will complain in the ciw window with BadAccess errors.

Currently I have installed:

xorg-font-util
xorg-fonts-100dpi
xorg-fonts-75dpi
xorg-fonts-alias
xorg-fonts-encodings
xorg-fonts-misc
xorg-fonts-type1
xorg-mkfontscale

On the other hand, if you are allowed to start and use a vnc server I'd say you will be much better off than using X forwarding, it will be faster and connection drops will not kill everything.

j33205 · 2015-10-23 00:05:34

Okay it works now. The only thing I did since my last post was install the entire list of xorg-font packages listed by ROOKIE. Upon installing the only one that pacman told me it Wasn't reinstalling was 'xorg-fonts-type1', so aparantly I was missing that one, and probably either 100dpi/75dpi which I had already installed earlier.

I no longer need 'nosplash' to successfully launch Cadence, I get no fatal errors when running just 'icfb &'. Now I get no errors at all, no BadAccess flags from either 'ssh -X' or '-Y' when I call 'icfb'.

Thanks guys, I have yet to actually use Cadence for anything since we haven't needed to yet, just wanted to make sure it launched and now it does, thread solved.

Oh and

ROOKIE wrote:

On the other hand, if you are allowed to start and use a vnc server I'd say you will be much better off than using X forwarding, it will be faster and connection drops will not kill everything.

I can't VNC, the University does not allow such things on their UNIX servers just SSH and X forwarding.

Last edited by j33205 (2015-10-23 00:10:12)

Arch Linux

#1 2015-10-21 02:12:29

[SOLVED] SSH Cadence X11 Forwarding Font Error

#2 2015-10-21 20:36:39

Re: [SOLVED] SSH Cadence X11 Forwarding Font Error

#3 2015-10-22 05:48:03

Re: [SOLVED] SSH Cadence X11 Forwarding Font Error

#4 2015-10-22 06:38:37

Re: [SOLVED] SSH Cadence X11 Forwarding Font Error

#5 2015-10-22 12:49:46

Re: [SOLVED] SSH Cadence X11 Forwarding Font Error

#6 2015-10-23 00:05:34

Re: [SOLVED] SSH Cadence X11 Forwarding Font Error

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