[Bug 378668] Re: Cursor in terminal behaves badly with special characters present

[Launchpad Bug Tracker]

[Expired for bash (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60
days.]

** Changed in: bash (Ubuntu)
       Status: Incomplete => Expired

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/378668

Title:
  Cursor in terminal behaves badly with special characters present

Status in “bash” package in Ubuntu:
  Expired
Status in “gnome-terminal” package in Ubuntu:
  Expired
Status in “xfce4-terminal” package in Ubuntu:
  Expired

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: xfce4-terminal

  Both xfce4-terminal and gnome-terminal are affected, but not the text-
  only terminals (alt+f1, f2 etc.). So probably the package hint is
  wrong...

  Description:
  With special characters present before the $ sign, when going back to the previous line (backspace or cursor keys), the cursor jumps to the left too far (one character per special character).

  How to reproduce (cf. always my attachment):
  1. Open the terminal (in X, not the real text-only screens)
  2. Create a folder with special characters in it, e.g. with german special characters: $ mkdir abcäöü
  3. Go to the special character folder. $ cd abcäöü
  4. Type some rubbish until you reach the end of the screen (in my attached example: "abcdefghijklmnopqrst". As soon as you have filled up the last column (the "t" in my case), the cursor jumps correctly to the next line.
  5. Hit backspace or the left cursor once. Backspace eats 2 characters instead of one if one special character is present (3 if there are 2; 4 if there are 3 etc.).
  6. Hit return. Bash says it does not know the rubbish that you've actually typed (not the rubbish that was displayed). So obviously this is a display problem, not an input problem.

  Instead of step 4, you can also type some new rubbish. It will be
  inserted into the old rubbish exactly the way you type it, but it
  won't display correctly. It's like a blind flight: As long as you know
  exactly where you are, you'll land on the airport. But never try to
  tell your position from what you see...

  The bug is most probably not a duplicate of Bug #238055 or Bug #88504.
  The symptoms described there don't match ours here.

  Xubuntu 9.04, up to date as of July 15 2009.

  $ apt-cache policy gnome-terminal
  gnome-terminal:
    Installed: 2.26.0-0ubuntu2
    Candidate: 2.26.0-0ubuntu2
    Version table:
   *** 2.26.0-0ubuntu2 0
          500 http://ch.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/main Packages
          100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

  $ apt-cache policy xfce4-terminal
  xfce4-terminal:
    Installed: 0.2.10-1ubuntu2
    Candidate: 0.2.10-1ubuntu2
    Version table:
   *** 0.2.10-1ubuntu2 0
          500 http://ch.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/universe Packages
          100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

  ProblemType: Bug
  Architecture: i386
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
  Package: xfce4-terminal 0.2.10-1ubuntu2
  ProcEnviron:
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: xfce4-terminal
  Uname: Linux 2.6.28-11-generic i686

  WORKAROUND:
  1.  The correct text can be displayed by hitting the up and then the down cursor button.
  2.  The bug is triggered by special characters in what comes before the $ sign. If those special  
       characters are removed from the prompt, the terminal acts correctly. 
       Please see comments #9 and #10.

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