mutt -f =FOO<tab> and mutt -f +FOO<tab> are broken

[Marius Gedminas]

Here are two closely-related bugs in Mutt tab-completion. My muttrc sets folder=~/Mail, and I've a mailbox named UNKNOWN-LIST. I can open it by typing either 'mutt -f =UNKNOWN-LIST' or 'mutt -f +UNKNOWN-LIST'. As you can imagine, that's more typing than I like. I want tab-completion.

Bug #1: 'mutt -f +U<tab>' completes to 'mutt -f UNKNOWN-LIST', i.e. it loses the leading '+'. Fix:

--- a/bash_completion.d/mutt
+++ b/bash_completion.d/mutt
@@ -87,6 +87,10 @@ _muttfiledir()
         # (minus the leading '=' sign).
         COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -f -- "$folder/${cur:1}" ) )
         COMPREPLY=( ${COMPREPLY[@]#$folder/} )
+ # mg: fix mutt -f +FOO<tab>
+ if [[ $cur == [+]* ]]; then
+ COMPREPLY=( +${COMPREPLY[@]#$folder/} )
+ fi
         return 0
     elif [ "$cur" == !* ]; then
         spoolfile="$( $muttcmd -Q spoolfile | \

Bug #2: 'mutt -f =U<tab>' fails to complete folder names (instead it tries to complete aliases). Fix:

--- a/bash_completion.d/mutt
+++ b/bash_completion.d/mutt

@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ _muttquery()
 _muttfiledir()
 {
     local cur folder spoolfile muttcmd=${COMP_WORDS[0]}
- cur=`_get_cword`
+ cur=`_get_cword =`

     # This is currently not working so well. Perhaps this function should
     # just call _filedir() for the moment.

@@ -101,8 +105,12 @@ _muttfiledir()
 _mutt()
 {
     local cur prev
- cur=`_get_cword`
+ cur=`_get_cword =`
     prev=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD-1]}
+ # mg: fix mutt -f =FOO<tab>
+ if [[ $prev == "=" ]]; then
+ prev=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD-2]}
+ fi

     COMPREPLY=()

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: bash-completion 1:1.1-3ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-41.89-server 2.6.32.59+drm33.24
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-41-server x86_64
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon Jun 4 11:12:53 2012
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: bash-completion

[Marius Gedminas (mgedmin)]

On Ubuntu 13.10, with bash-completion 1:2.0-1ubuntu3:

- mutt -f =U<tab> completes to mutt -f UNKNOWN-LIST

- mutt -f +U<tab> completes to mutt -f UNKNOWN-LIST

In both cases the prefix is lost.

Related bugs (probably duplicates):
- https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bash-completion/+bug/655849

Upstream bugs:
- https://alioth.debian.org/tracker/?group_id=100114&atid=413095&func=detail&aid=312184
- https://alioth.debian.org/tracker/?group_id=100114&atid=413095&func=detail&aid=312760
- https://alioth.debian.org/tracker/?group_id=100114&atid=413095&func=detail&aid=313189

[Marius Gedminas (mgedmin)]

Bug still present in 14.04.

[Marius Gedminas (mgedmin)]

Forwarded the fix upstream: https://alioth.debian.org/tracker/index.php?group_id=100114&atid=413095

(The three older upstream bugs remain open and totally unclear. I'm assuming I should ignore them just like upstream maintainers already do.)

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

The attachment "Patch against upstream git master" seems to be a patch. If it isn't, please remove the "patch" flag from the attachment, remove the "patch" tag, and if you are a member of the ~ubuntu-reviewers, unsubscribe the team.

[This is an automated message performed by a Launchpad user owned by ~brian-murray, for any issues please contact him.]

[Marius Gedminas (mgedmin)]

Ubuntu 16.10 still has the 1st bug ('mutt -f +U<tab>' completes to 'mutt -f UNKNOWN-LIST' without the + prefix), but the 2nd bug is gone ('mutt -f =U<tab>' completes correctly).

[Marius Gedminas (mgedmin)]

It's 2020 and I'm still trying to fix this. Upstream moved to GitHub so:

- https://github.com/scop/bash-completion/pull/463
- https://github.com/scop/bash-completion/pull/465

fix mutt -f +foo<tab> and mutt -f =foo<tab> for me on Ubuntu 20.10. On Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, though, mutt -f =foo<tab> remains broken, and I don't understand why.