# Do You Run X on Linux or Unix Servers?

I very infrequently install X11/Xorg on any servers, unless I'm
doing an install for a client and they ask for it. My most common
server install is a base installation of Debian stable that weighs
in at about 300MB. I always thought there was no need for a
graphical display on a server, for the standard reasons:

* The X server uses resources better devoted to key server processes
* There are security implications to having the additional libraries
  and binaries on a system
* The command line is much more efficient when you need to get
  something done
  
Of course, you can leave out the X server, and just install the
needed X clients. SSH works great with its built-in X
forwarding. But you still have a potential security problem to deal
with on the server itself - local privilege escalation from an
insecure X binary, for example.
  
It seems things have been changing lately. Memory and CPU are more
plentiful, so resources are not as much of a concern as they were
even five years ago. Default installs from the commercial Linux
vendors install a full-blown graphical desktop, as much as they
still offer the choice of a minimal installation. Security will
always be an issue, but SELinux and AppArmor ease the concerns for
buffer overflows and privilege escalation. And there are some useful
graphical tools with features that would be hard to replicate from a
shell - Red Hat's virtual machine manager comes to mind.

I still refuse to install X on servers, mainly because I'm
habituated to years of shell use (hell, even on my desktops I spend
a disproportionate amount of time in a terminal or Emacs buffer).
There just seems to be less reason not to install X these days,
apart from personal preference.
  
So I'm wondering, do you install X on your servers, or recommend it
for your clients or employer? If so, why?

## Comments

**[Anonymous](#1 "2007-11-17 16:34:00"):** I usually use a pretty
much default installation, X and all. While the potential security
threats that the additional software poses are there, they usually
remain just that -- potential problems. OTOH, the potential for a
sysadmin to compromise security by operator error when using the
command line seems more likely to be a real problem, and this is
mitigated by having access to easy-to-use GUI admin tools.I'm sure
that it varies greatly though, depending on the caliber of the
sysadmins involved, and the number of different systems they're
expected to administer.

**[Jason](#2 "2007-11-18 17:33:00"):** Agree with your article
100%. Unless a user can give me a valid reason for installing X,
there's no point. Occasionally, a DBA will want to use VNC, so we
install xterm and some lightweight window manager, but it's only
running inside the VNC session -- no gdm/xdm/kdm/etc.Of course, on
every server we install the X libs/clients for SSH/X-forwarding,
only because some apps have a better X interface (or the console
version is missing a feature, etc).
.