[ale] Silly Window Manager Trick: How can I export a control-panel widg et to start apps from a remote X-server?

[Michael Hirsch]

On 4/20/05, Mills, John M. <Mills.J at ems-t.com> wrote:
> ALErs -
> 
> If I use 'ssh -X' to login on a remote host (running the X-server locally),
> I would like to export an application menu from the remote host back to my
> local server. I would like it to work like my local menu, but start the app
> remotely with its $DISPLAY routed back to me. Should be simple, right?
> 
> For that matter it could serve the same function when used locally.
> 
> This must exist, but I don't recall ever coming across one. (No: 'Xterm'
> _does_not_ count.) Can anybody think of a toy like that?

Others have shown you how to run a command remotely with local
display.  That's pretty easy.  I haven't seen anything that will then
dynamically add a menu on your KDE or GNOME panel for running commands
on the remote system.  There oughta be a way in KDE using dcop.  For
instance, in KDE run 'dcop kicker kicker showKMenu' and watch the menu
pop up.  There should be a way to pass it a new menu entry.  You might
have to worry about turning it off, though.

What I usually do in these cases is just edit the menu and add the
commands that I want to run.  This only works if I only have a few
systems and a few commands on each system.  What I've done in the past
is create a new submenu named "Remote" and in that submenu put things
like "ssh -n remotesys emacs" and name that entry "Emacs on
remotesys".

One nice thing about this solution is that you don't have to connect
to the remote host first.  When you want the emacs on remotesys, you
just click the menu entry.  The bad thing is you must know in advance
which commands you might want to run and which systems you might want
to run them on.

I recommend setting up your .ssh/config file so that when you do "ssh
remotesys" it automatically uses the right username, goes to the
appropriate system, forwards X, and logs you in with a key and no
password is necessary.

I think that would be a very cool project to create a system for doing
what you asked for, but I haven't seen one, yet.

Michael