Bug#368818: x11-common: insufficient error checking in Xsession can prevent users from logging in
On Wed, Aug 15, 2007 at 12:10:10AM +0200, Brice Goglin wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am trying to see what to do with this old bug, but I don't see yet why
> COLUMNS would be set to 0 and why we should support this (buggy?) case.
> Do you guys know any valid use of COLUMNS=0 ?
No, there is no valid reason for COLUMNS=0. There have been versions of
'resize' which incorrectly reported sizes of 0 on various terminals,
but such buggy version are hard to find these days (as are actual
terminals, :) so it may simply be a matter of those bugs no longer
being triggered). As I noted in my original report, this behaviour was
some underlying bug which I was never able to find. I don't entirely
understand the whole logic of Xsession and Xsession.d, so I'm not sure
what, if anything, in the scripts was causing COLUMNS=0. Perhaps some
version of my shell was buggy. (I think tcsh users were _not_
affected, but I no longer recall).
I, personally, think the error check is trivial and worth it, but of
course the final decision is up to you. I've just tested removing
COLUMNS=80 from the script, and it seems to be working fine, so I'm OK
with the bug being closed.
--
Itai
Itai Seggev, Knox College
In 1997 a group of programmers started writing a desktop environment
to fix a travesty they didn't create. Their program promptly found
its way onto un*x systems everywhere. Today, still opposed by a
software monopolist, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you share
their vision, if you know you can help, and if you can connect to
internet, maybe you can join... the K-Team.
Reply to: