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From: bitfreak25 <bitfreak25@gmx.de>
Newsgroups: gnu.bash.bug
Subject: Re: command "cat /etc/localtime" breaks output on tty-terminal
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2019 14:18:10 +0200
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On Sun, 23 Jun 2019 06:04:29 -0500
Dennis Williamson <dennistwilliamson@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sun, Jun 23, 2019, 5:31 AM bitfreak25 <bitfreak25@gmx.de> wrote:
>
> > OS: Arch Linux 5.1.12-arch1-1-ARCH (tty1)
> > Bash-Version: 5.0.7(1)-release
> > localization: de_DE.UTF-8 UTF-8
> > keymap: de-latin1-nodeadkeys
> >
> > Description:
> > The command "cat /etc/localtime" was called in a tty-terminal. After t=
hat
> > some characters will be printed incorrectly (mostly "cyrillic" chars
> > instead of the correct ones). The typed chars seems to be handled corr=
ectly
> > (e.g. calling "exit") but the output is broken at this point. This
> > behaviour is reproducible on my other PC with Debian Stable (Bash-Vers=
ion
> > in Debian: 4.4-5), so it seems to be a old bug. Changing to another tt=
y or
> > rebooting the OS will fix this behaviour until the command is called a=
gain.
> >
> > Kind regards,
> > bitfreak
> >
> >
>
>
> /etc/localtime is symlinked to a file that contains time zone data. If y=
ou
> enter the command
>
> file -L /etc/localtime
>
> you'll see that that's the case. It contains data that's not meant to be
> displayed including control characters which cause the effect you observ=
ed.
> If you cat any so-called binary file such as this you are likely to see =
the
> same kind of thing happen. Entering the
>
> reset
>
> command in the affected terminal will correct the problem after it occur=
s.

I kind of thought that this could be the reason. It also happens with
"cat /dev/urandom" which is stopped by [STRG] + [C].

It seems to be a very small bug thats only breaks the output with an
unusual command and there are already 3 workarounds. But in my opinion
it should be fixed some time as it isn't the correct behaviour like
doing it with a gui-terminal e.g. xfce4-terminal.

Kind regards,
bitfreak