How can I enable X11 forwarding to a Debian server box?

Solution 1:

To enable X11 forwarding on the server you need at least the xauth program.

1. Install xbase-clients on the server (or the package that contains xauth)

2. Connect to the server with SSH using the following command

   ssh -X servername

3. Run the program

Solution 2:

Also, check that X11Forwarding is set to yes in /etc/ssh/sshd_config (it is apparently the default in Debian).

Solution 3:

As an addendum to Peter's correct answer:

If you're using Windows, you can install Cygwin/X to display remote X applications running locally, it's more transparent than remote desktop.

If you just want to execute a shell command remotely, it's "ssh user@hostname command". For even more info, see the man page for the ssh command, or see all the OpenSSH man pages. If you haven't yet used scp or ssh-agent, they will make your life easier.