ssh tunnel + copy and paste = window crashes

[Horacio E. Castillo]

Summary:

Remote xterm and emacs windows crash when doing copy and paste. When I 
say remote I mean that the programs are running in remote computers and 
display in the local one through an ssh tunnel.

All the problems disappear if I add an additional ssh tunneling step and 
display at another computer.  I don't know much about computers, but 
this fact makes me suspect that this is a problem with the X server at 
this particular machine, and not a problem with xterm, emacs or ssh. 
Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I've updated X.org to the latest version (6.8.2) available for my 
CentOS4 Linux distribution, but it didn't help. I tried checking Google 
and the CentOS mailing lists and forums, but I couldn't find anything 
relevant.  I'm at the end of my wits here, thinking of dropping CentOS4 
entirely, although this is really the only problem I'm  having with it. 
But unfortunately I need to work remotely, so it's important for me.

Can anyone provide any pointers, suggestions, places to look at? If more 
information about my setup is necessary, just let me know where to find 
it and I'll post it.

#####################################################################################################
Details:

I'm running CentOS4 in my local desktop machine. The remote machines are 
running: MandrakeLinux 9.2 in a laptop, RHL 7.3 and RHL 9.0 in two other 
desktops, and I can also connect to a Solaris machine.

For the moment, I'm sitting at my CentOS4 local desktop.

A) One way of producing the crash:

A1) On window #1, I log into a remote machine running either RHL 7.3, 
RHL 9, MandrakeLinux 9.2, or Solaris, using "slogin -X".

A2) Once logged into the remote machine, I start emacs, and an emacs 
window pops up on my screen. I write a few words there.

A3) I try to select some text on the emacs window, by left clicking and 
painting it, but the emacs process crashes (the window disappears), and 
on window #1 I get the message:
[ ]$ X protocol error: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter) on protocol 
request 38

A4) All my local windows keep working fine.


B) Another way of producing a crash

B1) On window #1, I log into a remote machine running either RHL 7.3, 
RHL 9, Solaris, or MandrakeLinux 9.2, using slogin -X.

B2) Once logged into the remote machine, I start xterm, the xterm pops 
up on my screen (let's call this window #2).

B3) I write some text on window #2, and then I select it by "painting" 
on it.

B4) I focus back on window #1 by left clicking on it, and attempt to 
paste the text there by center clicking.

If the remote machine is RHL7.3, RHL9, or MandrakeLinux 9.2:
The text does not get pasted. Instead, the xterm (window #2) crashes 
(disappears), and on window #1 I get the message:
[ ] $ xterm: warning, error event received:
X Error of failed request: BadAtom (invalid Atom parameter)
Major opcode of failed request: 18 (X_ChangeProperty)
Atom id in failed request: 0x174
Serial number of failed request: 187
Current serial number in output stream: 189

If the remote machine is Solaris:
The xterm doesn't crash (or sometimes it crashes later), but the text 
*does not* get pasted in window #1.

B5) All my local windows keep working fine.


C) However, adding an extra ssh tunneling step, everything works fine:

If I sit at my MandrakeLinux 9.2 laptop, and I login remotely into 
CentOS (displaying an xterm on the laptop), and from there I login 
remotely into any of the other machines (displaying everything on the 
laptop), I can do A) and B) with no problem. No window crashes, and all 
the "copy and paste" attempts work fine. So here I'm doing the same 
thing, plus one extra ssh tunneling step (from the Mandrake laptop into 
the CentOS desktop), and it works. This makes me suspect it's a problem 
with the CentOS4 X server.

Details about configuration:

local machine: Dell Dimension 8400, Pentium 4 640, HT, EM64T

[castillh at nonino ~]$ uname -a
Linux nonino 2.6.9-11.ELsmp #1 SMP Wed Jun 8 16:59:12 CDT 2005 x86_64 
x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
[castillh at nonino ~]$ X -version

X Window System Version 6.8.2
Release Date: 9 February 2005
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 6.8.2
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.9-5.0.5.EL x86_64 [ELF]
Current Operating System: Linux nonino 2.6.9-11.ELsmp #1 SMP Wed Jun 8 
16:59:12 CDT 2005 x86_64
Build Date: 08 June 2005
Build Host: monk.karan.org

        Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.X.Org
        to make sure that you have the latest version.
Module Loader present
OS Kernel: Linux version 2.6.9-11.ELsmp (buildcentos at x8664-build) (gcc 
version 3.4.3 20050227 (Red Hat 3.4.3-22)) #1 SMP Wed Jun 8 16:59:12 CDT 
2005
[castillh at nonino ~]$ more /var/log/Xorg.setup.log

X Window System Version 6.8.1
Release Date: 17 September 2004
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 6.8.1
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.9-1.675_EL x86_64 [ELF]
Current Operating System: Linux nonino.phy.ohiou.edu 2.6.9-5.0.5.ELsmp 
#1 SMP Tue Apr 19 17:06:07 CDT 2005 x86_64
Build Date: 17 February 2005
Build Host: x8664-build

        Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.X.Org
        to make sure that you have the latest version.
Module Loader present
OS Kernel: Linux version 2.6.9-5.0.5.ELsmp (buildcentos at x8664-build) 
(gcc version 3.4.3 20050227 (Red Hat 3.4.3-22)) #1 SMP Tue Apr 19 
17:06:07 CDT 2005
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
        (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(++) Log file: "/dev/null", Time: Wed Apr 27 16:58:58 2005
(++) Using config file: "/tmp/tmpL1mF_Exorg.config"
(WW) RADEON: No matching Device section for instance (BusID PCI:1:0:1) found

########################################################################################

Thanks in advance for any help,

-- 
Horacio E. Castillo   
Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, 251 Clippinger Lab
Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701, USA
Phone: (740) 597-2562, Fax: (740) 593-0433
castillh at ohio.edu     http://www.phy.ohiou.edu/~castillo/