Bug#878681: /bin/nano: Multiple files at once are opened very slowly (when user doesn't have write permissions)

[Thomas Lange]

Hello Benno,

thanks for your information and for the tip with the package manager and the 
"nopause" option for nano-2.8.0. But the problem is not so bad for me, so I can 
wait for the next Debian stable release, which contains a newer version of 
nano. Sorry for the confusion: I am the author of the bug report. I have used a 
wrong email address in the first mail (the bugreport tool sent it automatically 
from my machine via my send-only MTA, which was actually not really intended).

Thomas \(o_o)/

Bug#878681: /bin/nano: Multiple files at once are opened very slowly (when user doesn't have write permissions)

[Benno Schulenberg]

Hello Thomas,

The bug has been fixed in nano-2.8.0 and above.  In those versions,
nano will by default not show more than three such warning messages,
so there will be at most three seconds of delay before you get to
see the first file.  When you add the option "set nopauses" to your
nanorc file, then nano will not pause at all between warnings and
you will get to see the first file immediately.

So... if you want the new behavior, you could set your package manager
to allow it to install nano from "testing" instead of from "stable".

Regards,

Benno

Bug#878681: /bin/nano: Multiple files at once are opened very slowly (when user doesn't have write permissions)

[machine]

Package: nano
Version: 2.7.4-1
Severity: normal
File: /bin/nano

Dear maintainer,

I think that I have found a bug in GNU nano from the stable branch. If a normal 
user (not root) tries to open nano with more than one file at once, for which 
the current user (who executes nano) does not have write permissions, then the 
files will be opened, but very slowly. If you pass, for example, 10 filenames 
as argument, it takes about 10 seconds until you can edit the first file.

For example, create a new directory with some files somewhere in the file 
system (in this example, I'll use $HOME):
cd && mkdir demo && cd demo && touch {1,2,3,4,5,6}.test && chmod 444 
*.test

Now try to open all files at once for which you doesn't have write permissions 
because of chmod 444:
nano *

You'll notice, that the files are opened, but very slowly. Now change the 
permissions back to 644 (so that the current user has write permissions) and do 
it again (or use sudo nano *). You'll notice, that the problem doesn't appear 
if the user has write permissions:
chmod 644 *.test && nano *

This is my first bug report. I hope that I have explained everything correctly 
and that it helps you. Many Thanks!

Thomas \(o_o)/

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 9.1
  APT prefers stable
  APT policy: (500, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 4.9.0-4-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=de_DE.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=de_DE.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), 
LANGUAGE=de_DE.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

Versions of packages nano depends on:
ii  libc6 2.24-11+deb9u1
ii  libncursesw5  6.0+20161126-1+deb9u1
ii  libtinfo5 6.0+20161126-1+deb9u1
ii  zlib1g1:1.2.8.dfsg-5

nano recommends no packages.

Versions of packages nano suggests:
pn  spell  

-- no debconf information