[plug] X and kppp strange and unpleasant happenings

[Matt Kemner]

On 1 Mar 2001, Wayne Vovil wrote:

> Whenever I was connected to internet I could use Netscape; but nothing
> else. By this I mean that if I tried to get into xterm or click on any
> desktop icon, it was as though it was being ignored. I could receive
> email, surf web pages etc within Netscape; but nothing else whilst I was
> connected. Once I closed the connection, all was well. (Twilight Zone
> music plays). 

Sounds to me like your dialer (kppp perhaps?) changed your hostname when
you were connected, to match the IP address you were assigned, and so when
rxvt et al tried to connect to your X server they could not find the
appropriate "magic cookie" to match your current hostname.

 - Matt