Default perms for /dev/tty? are gid tty, and midnight commander can't save and restore the screen properly without cons-saver being sgid tty. I reported the same bug on ubuntu here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mc/+bug/367318 Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Run mc on a bare VT 2. Hit C-o to flop to the shell 3. Hit it again to return to mc 4. Hit it a third time to return to the shell Actual Results: Screen is blanked out when I go back to the shell. Expected Results: Screen is restored when I go back to the shell To fix, make cons-saver sgid tty
fixed it in mc-4.7.0.8-r1 and mc-4.7.3-r3. thanks!
And thank you all for your promptness. The guys over at ubuntu had their thumbs twiddling for 2 releases before their debian upstream got wind of it and fired out a patch. :P