Mach port forwarding (was Re: [Patch] Unix Domain Socket Forwarding)

[Gregory Seidman]

Okay, this is a long shot and only peripherally related, but I've been
hoping to see someone implement Mach port forwarding over ssh. There is
really only one significant use case for this, which is the equivalent of
X11 forwarding for MacOS X applications. Apps communicate with the
WindowServer via a Mach port, and it would be extraordinary if that port
could be forwarded over ssh.

I'm imagining a situation in which one sits at a MacOS X machine and
connects to another one over ssh. Under normal circumstances, the sshd on
MacOS X is run outside the user context, thus has no access to the
WindowServer Mach port. A modified ssh/sshd pair could bind to the Mach
port on the remote host and provide access to the local host's
WindowServer.

Unfortunately, I am insufficiently familiar with either the OpenSSH
codebase or the workings of Mach ports even to say definitively that it is
possible. My goal here is to plant the seed of the idea in the hopes that
someone will take an interest and implement it.

--Greg