ssh/xterm/bash weirdness ... seeking for explanation

[Stefan Bellon <bellon@axillion.de>]

Hi!

I'm using and administrating several Debian GNU/Linux boxes all running
unstable. Yesterday I've noticed some weirdness I don't know the reason
of.

When I open an xterm with a bash inside locally and then resize the
xterm, the variables $COLUMNS and $LINES are automatically updated.

When I log in via ssh, then those variables are _not_ automatically
updated but after a xterm resize I have to call "stty size" or "resize"
for the variables to get updated. However shopt checkwinsize is set.

Now, the interesting part: I have one machine where it even works when
logging in via ssh, but I don't see any obvious difference. The only
obvious difference is that on the machines where the automatic variable
setting does not work, I have stricter login restrictions (only with
keys, only DSA, no root, etc.). But I somewhat doubt that this is the
reason for the behaviour. When testing I have all the keys cached in
ssh-agent, so there's no difference there.

I'm somewhat puzzled what setting may cause this difference in
behaviour. Can anybody shed light on this, please? TIA!

-- 
Stefan Bellon