"Update login records when command is launched" option does not appear to be working in Terminator (Ubuntu 11.10)

[Doug Morse]

[Note: This bug is also reported in Launchpad under the Ubuntu project, before I noticed that Terminator is also on Launchpad. See https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/terminator/+bug/905801 ]

The "Update login records when command is launched" option does not appear to be working on Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric; fully-updated as of 2011-12-16) when using the Terminator application. Unfortunately, I did not discover Terminator until after Ubuntu 11.10, so I cannot say if it was working in previous versions. For what it's worth, starting Gnome terminal does update the wtmp file, as does opening new tab(s) within Gnome Terminal.

The attached screenshot illustrates the problem. Note that s2 is a different server from which I logged into s3 earlier in the day.

[David Caro (dcaro)]

The problem is a bug with libvte, see the bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/vte/+bug/864609

Also a workaround:
# cd /usr/lib
# sudo ln -s libvte9 vte

[Doug Morse (dm-dougmorse)]

@David: Fantastic, thank you! Easy workaround -- I'm quite glad to have that auditing info back re: my own activities. Zeitgeist is great, but it doesn't catch things like idle times, terminal session initiations and terminations, and so forth. You've made this camper back into a happy camper. :) Thanks again.

[Stephen Boddy (stephen-j-boddy)]

Hi Bug subscribers, this is the maintainer (Steve Boddy) of Terminator, who took over from Chris.

In case you were not aware there has been a new release 0.98 of Terminator in the last few days which has many changes, fixes and updates. We also have an ongoing GTK3 port which uses a much more up-to-date libvte.

Even with the ~50 issues closed by that release, and discounting the ~90 outstanding wishlist items, we still have an unwieldy 95 bugs. With the oldest approaching it's 6th birthday and some that haven't seen any updates in nearly 5, it is time for a purge.

My intention is to try and get this list down to a minimum, and for that I need your help.

First I'm going to work through, oldest to newest, setting bugs to Incomplete, pending confirmation that they are still an issue. If after a month there is no feedback, the issue will get closed as Invalid. Here's where you come in. I can't always reproduce, or setting up (i.e. other distros) to even test takes a long time, so I'm going to try crowdsourcing this.

1. Get the latest release. Is it still an issue? If yes, set the confirmed-0.98 tag. For bonus points follow the guide http://gnometerminator.blogspot.com/2015/09/so-you-want-to-try-terminator-gtk3.html and see if the GTK3 branch has same issue, and set the confirmed-gtk3 or notaffected-gtk3 tag.

2. Can you reproduce with an empty/default config file? You can pass "-g temp_config" to do this without affecting your existing config. If you already have Terminator running, you'll need to pass -u as well to disable the DBus.

3. If able to, can you reproduce with another user/guest account?

4. If the issue does not already have clear, precise instructions to reproduce with minimal setup/steps, add them.

5. Put as much info about what you are running.
   * Software/library versions (libvte, gtk, pango, cairo, distro, desktop environment, language)
   * Screens (single or multi)
   * Any unusual / custom packages or configs that might be interacting.

6. If possible attach the config file, unless the issue also happens with an empty one, but mention that.

7. Attach the "-d" debug output from 0.98.

Some common things that cause incidents.

* Strange sizing issues or rapidly shrinking windows - Try turning off Window geometry hints.
* Input (esp. broadcasting duplicate chars etc) problems - Try killing IBus.
* Hand editing of the config file can cause various issues - Due to misunderstanding, incorrect structure or typos.
* Some issues are actually in libvte - This is why testing GTK3 is so important.
* segfaults - Unfortunately these are dying inside the C libraries, and it is usually beyond me to fix those.

Many thanks for your assistance, and hopefully this will get us closer to a bug-free Terminator.

[Stephen Boddy (stephen-j-boddy)]

Hi, maintainer here. Terminator has moved on from gtk2 and we now have a brand-spanking new gtk3 version. Sadly we also have many ancient bugs, and it's not really practical to struggle to replicate them considering how widely the code bases have diverged.

I'm setting these older bugs to Invalid. If you wish to reactivate the bug please reproduce with at least gtk3 and release 1.90 (even better if you use head of the gtk3 branch), then set the status to New. This way we only have to focus on things that still impact users.