[Pkg-shadow-devel] Bug#476519: shell-mode garbles input

[jidanni at jidanni.org]

SJ> Please try the following:
SJ> log in as root on the console, type su - nobody (getting the "No
SJ> directory,..." message above) and type e.  Without hitting return, I got
SJ> the message: -su: e: command not found.

Holy moly, I can reproduce that. I apologize to emacs & co. It is a su bug.

Dear http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=476519 team:
please see
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnu-emacs/2008-04/msg00080.html
First fix that and then maybe 476519 will get fixed in the process.

Regarding 476519:
NF> Could you reproduce it with another user?
No, but yes with the "e" bug.
NF> Could you reproduce it with another terminal (console)?
tty1: no, but didn't try hard. "e" bug: yes.
NF> Are you using special PAM modules?
I don't know, I just installed vanilla sid several years ago and don't
play around with the advanced parts.
NF> You mentioned no messages in /var/log/auth.log,
Just the normal ones I posted. On a different machine I get
  pam_env(su:session): Unable to open env file: /etc/environment: No
  such file or directory
but that doesn't affect if the bug occurs or not.
NF> are there messages in /var/log/syslog?
No.
NF> What's your probability of occurrence? (1 out of 3?)
Seems to come in clumps... maybe 5 bads in a row, then good until
close the shell window. But not always.
Or bad to nobody, good to user2, then bad to nobody.
NF> Can you try to get a systrace of su when it fails and compare it with a
NF> successful session.
If you mean strace, well, whenever I try it the bug doesn't occur,
under strace.

Anyway, fix the "e" bug and maybe 476519 will get fixed in the
process. Actually, it's the first character typed, and not just "e".