[SRU] Enable setting property of type UTF8_STRING

[Alkis Georgopoulos]

[Impact]
Xprop added support for UTF8_STRING back in 2009:
http://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/app/xprop/commit/?id=eb64005382abf6262c913a46e6186e019a179d59

Unfortunately `xprop -f 8u -set` has been broken until 2012:
http://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/app/xprop/commit/?id=0d069c0edae83f70ac10fab1a3c04d8197e277c4

That patch has not been backported to Ubuntu 12.04.1 (x11-utils 7.6+4), so it's impossible to use "8u" there.
One notable use case is with LTSP, where we're using xprop as an ad-hoc mechanism for server<=>thin clients communication, and we were recently asked to add UTF8 support to it:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ltsp/+bug/1451915

[Test Case]
This is how to reproduce the issue on Precise 12.04.1:
$ lsb_release -r
  Release: 12.04
$ dpkg-query -W x11-utils
  x11-utils 7.6+4ubuntu0.1
$ xprop -root -f LTSP_COMMAND 8u -set LTSP_COMMAND xterm
  xprop: error: bad format character: u

This is what the correct output looks like on Trusty 14.04.2:
$ lsb_release -r
  Release: 14.04
$ dpkg-query -W x11-utils
  x11-utils 7.7+1
$ xprop -root -f LTSP_COMMAND 8u -set LTSP_COMMAND xterm
  <no output, no error>
$ xprop -root | grep LTSP_COMMAND
  LTSP_COMMAND(UTF8_STRING) = "xterm"

[Regression Potential]
Low, the patch comes from upstream and it's already included in all Ubuntu versions after 12.04.1.

[Alberto Milone (albertomilone)]

Please accept x11-utils_7.6+4ubuntu0.2 into the precise-proposed repository.

[Adam Conrad (adconrad)]

Hello Alkis, or anyone else affected,

Accepted x11-utils into precise-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/x11-utils/7.6+4ubuntu0.2 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, and change the tag from verification-needed to verification-done. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

[Alkis Georgopoulos (alkisg)]

I've verified that x11-utils 7.6+4ubuntu0.2 works as expected in Ubuntu 12.04.1, please push it to precise-updates.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package x11-utils - 7.6+4ubuntu0.2

---------------
x11-utils (7.6+4ubuntu0.2) precise-proposed; urgency=medium

  * Add 101_xprop_bad_format_character_utf8_string.patch: Fix xprop
    bad format character error whn using UTF-8 strings.
    (LP: #1463663)

 -- Alberto Milone <email address hidden> Thu, 11 Jun 2015 09:45:25 +0200

[Chris J Arges (arges)]

The verification of the Stable Release Update for x11-utils has completed successfully and the package has now been released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regressions.