[Bug 1843508] [NEW] Apt erases console output from commands that were run prior to it.

[Nikolas Britton]

Public bug reported:

Apt is erasing the previous contents of my terminal window. The output
from commands that had been run prior to running apt were entirely
erased from the terminal's historical record.

This is seriously bad etiquette, you should not ever take a dump all
over the historical record of a terminal's output. The scroll-back
feature is intentionally there so you can show a linear sequence of
events. Back in the day consoles were connected directly to printers,
and in fact some companies still do this for security auditing purposes,
so you have to presume the terminal can only be written to... this is
why it's called standard out. Overwriting is a serious no no. Also I'm
not happy about apt breaking scripted execution (wtf were you
thinking?), but this overwriting of the console record is a flagrant
violation of proper etiquette. Please do the needful!

Steps to reproduce:

fio --randrepeat=1 --ioengine=libaio --direct=0 --gtod_reduce=1
--name=test --filename=test -iodepth=32 --size=32G --readwrite=randrw
--rwmixread=60 --bsrange=4k-1024k --numjobs=6 --group_reporting=1
-random_distribution=zipf:0.5 --loops 3 --norandommap=1
--random_generator=lfsr --unified_rw_reporting=1

apt install --reinstall zfs-dkms

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: apt 1.6.11
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.0.0-27.28~18.04.1-lowlatency 5.0.21
Uname: Linux 5.0.0-27-lowlatency x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zlua zcommon znvpair
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.7
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue Sep 10 16:58:22 2019
InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-05-23 (110 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 18.04.2 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64 (20190210)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: apt
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

** Affects: apt (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: amd64 apport-bug bionic third-party-packages

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Foundations Bugs, which is subscribed to apt in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1843508

Title:
  Apt erases console output from commands that were run prior to it.

Status in apt package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Apt is erasing the previous contents of my terminal window. The output
  from commands that had been run prior to running apt were entirely
  erased from the terminal's historical record.

  This is seriously bad etiquette, you should not ever take a dump all
  over the historical record of a terminal's output. The scroll-back
  feature is intentionally there so you can show a linear sequence of
  events. Back in the day consoles were connected directly to printers,
  and in fact some companies still do this for security auditing
  purposes, so you have to presume the terminal can only be written
  to... this is why it's called standard out. Overwriting is a serious
  no no. Also I'm not happy about apt breaking scripted execution (wtf
  were you thinking?), but this overwriting of the console record is a
  flagrant violation of proper etiquette. Please do the needful!

  Steps to reproduce:

  fio --randrepeat=1 --ioengine=libaio --direct=0 --gtod_reduce=1
  --name=test --filename=test -iodepth=32 --size=32G --readwrite=randrw
  --rwmixread=60 --bsrange=4k-1024k --numjobs=6 --group_reporting=1
  -random_distribution=zipf:0.5 --loops 3 --norandommap=1
  --random_generator=lfsr --unified_rw_reporting=1

  apt install --reinstall zfs-dkms

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
  Package: apt 1.6.11
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.0.0-27.28~18.04.1-lowlatency 5.0.21
  Uname: Linux 5.0.0-27-lowlatency x86_64
  NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zlua zcommon znvpair
  ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.7
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Tue Sep 10 16:58:22 2019
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-05-23 (110 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 18.04.2 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64 (20190210)
  ProcEnviron:
   TERM=xterm-256color
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: apt
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/+bug/1843508/+subscriptions