Thread (49 messages) flat view 49 messages, 7 authors, 2017-02-03

Re: [PATCH v10 3/4] console: Add persistent scrollback buffers for all VGA consoles

From: Adam Borowski <hidden>
Date: 2017-01-19 23:44:19
Also in: lkml

On Thu, Jan 19, 2017 at 05:33:14PM +0100, Greg KH wrote:
On Thu, Jan 19, 2017 at 05:12:15PM +0100, Manuel Schölling wrote:
quoted
On Thu, 2017-01-19 at 14:23 +0100, Greg KH wrote:
quoted
On Fri, Jan 13, 2017 at 09:07:57PM +0100, Manuel Schölling wrote:
quoted
+	  This feature might break your tool of choice to flush
the scrollback
+	  buffer, e.g. clear(1) will work fine but Debian's
clear_console(1)
+	  will be broken, which might cause security issues.
+	  You can use the escape sequence \e[3J instead if this
feature is
+	  activated.
This issue is the one that makes me the most worried.  Why doesn't
clear_console() work anymore?  Why doesn't it use \e[3J ?
Well, clear_console() just switches from one console to another and
back again. It just assumes that the scrollback buffer is flushed when
switching.
My plan is to make a patch for clear_console() as soon as these patches
are in the kernel - it's chicken-and-egg problem.
I'd recommend that patch get to clear_console() first, having it use the
new escape sequence, if it isn't supported, shouldn't cause any
problems, right?
In that case, we need to hurry -- the last day for any non-serious fixes in
Debian is Jan 26, after that it'll be frozen for months, and any subsequent
changes won't get to stable users for around two years.

doko: would you consider, pretty please with a cherry on top, applying the
patch I've sent to this bug?  The privacy/security issue is pretty minor and
applies only to a tiny fraction of users, but I understand why Greg is
reluctant.

Manuel's scrollback changes won't go to 4.9, and won't be enabled by default
for the time being, but using a newer kernel on old userspace is something
really widespread, be it via bpo, containers on an updated host, etc.


Meow!
-- 
Autotools hint: to do a zx-spectrum build on a pdp11 host, type:
  ./configure --host=zx-spectrum --build=pdp11
Keyboard shortcuts
hback out one level
jnext message in thread
kprevious message in thread
ldrill in
Escclose help / fold thread tree
?toggle this help