Groups > linux.debian.maint.x > #19337

Bug#1128961: xterm: selection not fully cleared after text changes

From	Vincent Lefevre <vincent@vinc17.net>
Newsgroups	linux.debian.bugs.dist, linux.debian.maint.x
Subject	Bug#1128961: xterm: selection not fully cleared after text changes
Date	2026-04-22 01:10 +0200
Message-ID	<MMso9-gZ4F-3@gated-at.bofh.it> (permalink)
References	(7 earlier) <MLRRD-gAeJ-1@gated-at.bofh.it> <MscOZ-37jC-1@gated-at.bofh.it> <MM6GZ-gJRs-7@gated-at.bofh.it> <MscOZ-37jC-1@gated-at.bofh.it> <MM6GZ-gJRs-7@gated-at.bofh.it>
Organization	linux.* mail to news gateway

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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On 2026-04-20 19:50:47 -0400, Thomas Dickey wrote:
> ncurses is given an old/current and new/desired screen contents, and
> writes the updated screen using as few characters as possible (within
> its repertoire of course).  So it may move text that's already on the
> screen if moving it takes fewer characters than writing it again.

Optimizing the number of characters to change was useful in the past,
e.g. with slow modem connections. But this has nowadays negligible
effects (taking into account that ncurses applications are interactive).
And since this can break features provided by the terminal, such as
whether the selection would be preserved, this optimization should
be dropped, IMHO; or there should be an option to choose whether to
enable it.

-- 
Vincent Lefèvre <vincent@vinc17.net> - Web: <https://www.vinc17.net/>
100% accessible validated (X)HTML - Blog: <https://www.vinc17.net/blog/>
Work: CR INRIA - computer arithmetic / Pascaline project (LIP, ENS-Lyon)

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Bug#1128961: xterm: selection not fully cleared after text changes Thomas Dickey <dickey@invisible-island.net> - 2026-02-25 10:30 +0100
  Bug#1128961: xterm: selection not fully cleared after text changes Vincent Lefevre <vincent@vinc17.net> - 2026-02-25 11:00 +0100
    Bug#1128961: xterm: selection not fully cleared after text changes Vincent Lefevre <vincent@vinc17.net> - 2026-02-25 11:10 +0100
      Bug#1128961: xterm: selection not fully cleared after text changes Thomas Dickey <dickey@invisible-island.net> - 2026-04-14 09:50 +0200
        Bug#1128961: xterm: selection not fully cleared after text changes Vincent Lefevre <vincent@vinc17.net> - 2026-04-17 15:40 +0200
          Bug#1128961: xterm: selection not fully cleared after text changes Thomas Dickey <dickey@invisible-island.net> - 2026-04-18 18:30 +0200
            Bug#1128961: xterm: selection not fully cleared after text changes Vincent Lefevre <vincent@vinc17.net> - 2026-04-19 03:30 +0200
              Bug#1128961: xterm: selection not fully cleared after text changes Thomas Dickey <dickey@invisible-island.net> - 2026-04-19 15:40 +0200
                Bug#1128961: xterm: selection not fully cleared after text changes Vincent Lefevre <vincent@vinc17.net> - 2026-04-20 10:10 +0200
                Bug#1128961: xterm: selection not fully cleared after text changes Thomas Dickey <dickey@invisible-island.net> - 2026-04-21 02:00 +0200
                Bug#1128961: xterm: selection not fully cleared after text changes Vincent Lefevre <vincent@vinc17.net> - 2026-04-22 01:10 +0200

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