Oh, I had almost forgotten about this bug! Thank you for handling it. I tried to reproduce now on Debian stable but, like you, I failed.
BR, /Jorgen On Wed May 20 14:59:01 2026, [email protected] wrote: > This is an automatic notification regarding your Bug report > which was filed against the screen package: > > #502360: Race conditions with 'screen -X cmd' and 'screen cmd' cause logging > to file to fail > > It has been closed by Peter Dey <[email protected]>. > > Their explanation is attached below along with your original report. > If this explanation is unsatisfactory and you have not received a > better one in a separate message then please contact Peter Dey > <[email protected]> by > replying to this email. > > > -- > 502360: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=502360 > Debian Bug Tracking System > Contact [email protected] with problems > Date: Wed, 20 May 2026 16:56:40 +0200 > From: Peter Dey <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Subject: Cannot reproduce on a modern screen > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > > Version: 4.9.0-4 > > Hi, > > I've tried to reproduce this using the supplied script, even up to 20 > sessions with no sleep delay. I get 20 windows with 20 log files. > > I can't reproduce this on a modern screen version (either 4.9.0-4 or > 5.0.1-2). > > I presume this was fixed a long time ago, but marking as fixed in the oldest > version I tested. > > Cheers, > Peter > Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:31:37 +0200 > From: Jorgen Grahn <[email protected]> > To: Debian Bug Tracking System <[email protected]> > Subject: Race conditions with 'screen -X cmd' and 'screen cmd' cause > logging to file to fail > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > X-Mailer: reportbug 3.31 > > Package: screen > Version: 4.0.3-0.3 > Severity: normal > > > At work, we automate things with screen, invoked from shell scripts. Among > other things, the scripts create new, named windows and turn on logging for > them. This broke when we upgraded from 4.0.2 to screen 4.0.3. > > (Actually, we run RedHat Enterprise Linux, but the problem is repeatable with > Debian. Either upstream 4.0.3 did this, or RH and Debian include the same > bad patch.) > > The symptom is that if you create windows too fast (by calling the screen > binary) > and send commands too fast (by calling screen -X cmd) some of them will fail. > It's easy to see if you start a screen and run this shell script: > > ------------------------------ > #!/bin/sh > > [ -z "$STY" ] && { > echo "no screen" > exit 1 > } > > mkdir -p /tmp/qgrajor || exit 1 > > for name in $(seq 1 5) ; do > name="screen_$name" > screen -t "$name" sort > # sleep 1 # enabling this delay "fixes" the problem > screen -p "$name" -X logfile "/tmp/bug-$name" > screen -p "$name" -X log on > done > ------------------------------ > > What typically happens is that screen_5 doesn't get logging enabled, > but other problems may happen too (other windows not having logging, > maybe also windows not opening). > > I feel this is a serious regression because it prevents automation. I can add > a delay like the one commented out above, but I have no idea if one second > is always sufficient. It's not a good workaround. > > regards, > Jorgen > > -- System Information: > Debian Release: 4.0 > APT prefers stable > APT policy: (500, 'stable') > Architecture: powerpc (ppc) > Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash > Kernel: Linux 2.6.18-3-powerpc > Locale: LANG=sv_SE.utf8, LC_CTYPE=sv_SE.utf8 (charmap=UTF-8) > > Versions of packages screen depends on: > ii base-passwd 3.5.11 Debian base system master > password > ii debconf [debconf-2.0] 1.5.11etch2 Debian configuration management > sy > ii libc6 2.3.6.ds1-13etch7 GNU C Library: Shared libraries > ii libncursesw5 5.5-5 Shared libraries for terminal > hand > ii libpam0g 0.79-5 Pluggable Authentication Modules > l > ii passwd 1:4.0.18.1-7 change and administer password > and > > screen recommends no packages. > > -- debconf information: > screen/old_upgrade_prompt: false > > -- // Jörgen Grahn | mot du jour: tambur \X/ <[email protected]> |
