RHBA-2010:0190 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

An updated tcsh package that fixes various bugs is now available.

Description

Tcsh is an enhanced and compatible version of the C shell (csh). Tcsh is a
command language interpreter, which can be used as an interactive login
shell, as well as a shell script command processor.

This update package addresses the following bugs:

• The local variable for "%j" within the prompt was incorrect, mistakenly

referencing an unrelated global variable. This caused the entire prompt to
be set to 0. Correcting the local variable ensures that when the "%j"
character is included in a prompt it produces a 0 within the prompt,
instead of setting the entire prompt to 0. (BZ#461836)

• A previous patch for tcsh changed designed behavior in what was thought

to be a bug fix. It was previously thought that the circumstance of a range
being empty because the second argument was omitted or was in range, was an
error. The behavior that was said to be a bug has since been found to be
documented as a feature. This updated package restores the behavior that
allows a range to be empty if the second argument is omitted or is in
range. (BZ#495642)

• Invalid automount attempts occurred when using tcsh as a shell and

globbing. This could have caused a slow down in computer operations. The
bug is fixed in these updated packages by ensuring that when tcsh is being
used with globbing, no incorrect automounts occur. (BZ#498625, BZ#526712)

• Multi-byte characters were not always printed correctly by tcsh. The bug

was located in the short2qstr() method that maintains a pointer to an
internal buffer and it relocates the buffer if needed. Once the new buffer
was allocated, the pointer would be incorrectly set to point to the
beginning of a new memory block. Since the beginning of a new block may not
be the end of a previous character, the last character could have been
overwritten. This error is corrected by ensuring that the pointer moves to
reference a memory space that is after the last character instead of just
moving to the beginning of the next block. (BZ#502474)

• Globbing was not processed correctly by tcsh when be used by the echo

command. The consequence of this was that text echoed in quotation marks ("
or ') would output with backslash characters in the text. This bug has been
fixed by modifying the previous glob-automount patch to deal correctly with
quoted text in an echo command. (BZ#529425)

• Expansion of multiple filename globs failed if any glob in a command line

expression failed. The correct behavior outlines that a glob command should
only fail if all components of the command fail. This behavior is restored
with this updated package. (BZ#529703)

All users of tcsh are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which
resolves these issues.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released
errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use
the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 5 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 495642 - It is not an error for a range to be empty if the second argument is omitted or in range
• BZ - 502474 - [RHEL5.3] Multi-byte characters output incorrect
• BZ - 529425 - latest tcsh update causes serious glob'ing problem
• BZ - 529703 - Tcsh multi-globbing broken by latest patch

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)