We were able to run MAE with the "su - username" command successfully with the following extra settings before launching MAE under Solaris 2.4, as a reference we followed your example above:
Step 1
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Login as "doesnt" from the initial Solaris Login session
Step 2
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Launch /usr/openwin/bin/openwin
Step 3
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Create two "cmdtool" windows, for example, cmdtool.1 and cmdtool.2
Step 4
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On the cmdtool.2 window, enter the command:
% su - works
Then set the DISPLAY environment variable, and export it.
% DISPLAY=sparc5:0.0; export DISPLAY
Step 5
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On the cmdtool.1 window, you need to disable X server access control, or assign server access to a host. In Solaris 2.4 by default the X server access control is enabled, and no hostname is authorized to run ANY X program EXCEPT running from the initial login shell. Therefore you need to use "superuser" to explicitly grant access or disable access control with one of the following commands:
% su (as a super user)
# /usr/openwin/bin/xhost + (disable access control)
Step 6
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On the cmdtool.2 window, you can now launch MAE with the MAE binary full path, example command:
% /opt/apple/bin/mae
NOTE: In HP-UX by default the X server access control is also enabled, but the "localhost" and the real local hostname, for example "hp715", are automatically authorized by the X server. Therefore you do not have to run "xhost" to assign access for your local workstation.
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