etc-update does not currently use a pager when displaying diff output. As a result, Output to xterm is not filtered. Unicode files often cause (1) xterm to send back characters to the script causing termination on input and (2) cause xterm to go into odd modes. Apparently, the use of the ${pager} is commented out. You can see xterm (from xfree 4.2.1-r2) exhbit this problem: cat /etc/X11/starthere/sysconfig.desktop Extraneous characters appear at the end of the file and attempting to vi the file will produce strange results. A full terminal reset clears the problem. I was able to work around this by using gnome-terminal. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: Actual Results: Pager not used for diff output. Expected Results: Pager should have been used.
This bug has been inactive for more than 180 days. I have been unable to reproduce this problem. Please reopen if the problem persists.
Reopening, the problem still happens. In an xterm I did the following: cd /etc/X11/starthere/ cp -p sysconfig.desktop ._cfg0001_sysconfig.desktop vi ._cfg0001_sysconfig.desktop # Removed some lines with non-ascii characters. etc-update # View diffs for sysconfig.desktop # Prompt came back as: Please select from the menu above (-1 to ignore this update): ^[[?1;2c # The characters after the ':' are bogus. # Choose option 2, Delete update. Got this error: /usr/sbin/etc-update: line 253: read: 2: syntax error: operand expected (error token is "2")
same as bug #53547
Tried with xterm-192 and still reproducible. However for me, no bogus characters appear (i.e., the prompt looks completely normal), and it makes the problem hard to track when not knowing about this problem. A workaround for this is to blindly backspace for as long as the characters keep disappearing and then enter the command (for me this clears part of the correct prompt, but don't know what happens when bogus characters are displayed).
What's the latest word on this bug?
Closing this bug due to inactivity for almost a year. Please reopen if this issue persists.