/etc/issue broken on TTY1 specifically

MangoMan1 · 2023-07-12 16:45:01

For a while on my system I’ve had a custom /etc/issue file that displayed just fine for me. Recently though I made the switch from my old Artix system to Arch (for various not relevant reasons) and copied over my /etc/issue file. For some reason, it’s completely broken on TTY1 specifically, but still renders just fine on the other TTYs. After spending some time looking into what the issue could be, reading the wiki, etc. I’m still at a loss and hoping someone here has an idea.

https://media.discordapp.net/attachment … G_3970.jpg
https://media.discordapp.net/attachment … G_3971.jpg

You can grab my /etc/issue with:

$ wget https://paste.thomasvoss.com/310

moderator edit -- replaced oversized images with links.
Pasting pictures and code

Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2023-07-16 11:21:18)

seth · 2023-07-12 20:18:58

Please replace the oversized images w/ links or thumbnails, the board has a 250x250px limit rule.
If you login on tty1 and run some loremipsum or whatever, do all lines fold early there as well or is this indeed limited to the issue?

schard · 2023-07-12 21:22:32

The displaying on tty1 appears to happen before the correct console size is set.
Hence you get those line breaks.
After a login, does it show correctly on tty1 if you cat the file?

Last edited by schard (2023-07-12 21:25:46)

MangoMan1 · 2023-07-12 21:32:25

schard wrote:

The displaying on tty1 appears to happen before the correct console size is set.
Hence you get those line breaks.
After a login, does it show correctly on tty1 if you cat the file?

After login, if I cat out /etc/issue it appears normally. I can also then exit from the user to go back to the user-login and then it displays perfectly.

I also tried sticking the output of “tput reset” at the start of /etc/issue and now it displays normally on TTY1 with the exception of the top-most row of characters where they still wrap.

MangoMan1 · 2023-07-16 05:40:28

Update on this: Still haven’t been able to find a solution, but the above “tput reset” trick now doesn’t work anymore… lol

seth · 2023-07-16 06:01:36

Did the tput reset merely cause a delay?
Does sleeping for a second help?
(Of course that's not a viable solution, just a test)

MangoMan1 · 2023-07-16 07:41:47

seth wrote:

Did the tput reset merely cause a delay?
Does sleeping for a second help?
(Of course that's not a viable solution, just a test)

I’m not quite sure how I can sleep for a second before agetty shows the /etc/issue file… but running “agetty --show-issue” right after logging in on the TTY displays it perfectly

seth · 2023-07-16 07:49:12

You ran "tput reset" in the issue, right?
Just run "sleep 1" instead.

MangoMan1 · 2023-07-16 07:51:37

seth wrote:

You ran "tput reset" in the issue, right?
Just run "sleep 1" instead.

Not really. I ran “tput reset”, copied the output, and pasted that at the start of the issue. As far as I know I can’t spawn processes from an issue file

schard · 2023-07-16 09:14:16

Do you use agetty with the --no-clear flag? If so, try it without it.
Also, do you use early KMS?

seth · 2023-07-16 11:08:15

/usr/lib/systemd/system/getty@.service
Everyone uses no-clear by default

@MangoMan1, sorry, I was under the impression you had literally put tput reset in there (and was not convinced of that doing anything but voodoo at all), but revisiting your post: I was wrong.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Getty# … al_console
You can also delay the start w/ "ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/sleep 1" this way.

MangoMan1 · 2023-07-16 11:53:54

seth wrote:

/usr/lib/systemd/system/getty@.service
Everyone uses no-clear by default
@MangoMan1, sorry, I was under the impression you had literally put tput reset in there (and was not convinced of that doing anything but voodoo at all), but revisiting your post: I was wrong.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Getty# … al_console
You can also delay the start w/ "ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/sleep 1" this way.

I removed the “--noclear” flag… no difference. Same with adding the call to sleep.

MangoMan1 · 2023-07-16 11:56:18

schard wrote:

Do you use agetty with the --no-clear flag? If so, try it without it.
Also, do you use early KMS?

I’m not quite sure what early KMS is, so I assume I’m not

seth · 2023-07-16 11:56:47

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Kernel … _KMS_start

MangoMan1 · 2023-07-16 21:59:27

Tried adding i915 to my initramfs modules since I’m using intel graphics. No real difference

seth · 2023-07-16 22:36:30

You could leverage StartExePre to stty cols/rows the actual dimensions - what is a bit of an ugly hack.
Any idea what might cause this itfp?
Anything special you do to agetty or the console?
Does the arch install iso behave the same? (Though I'm not sure that issue has enough cols to expose this)

MangoMan1 · 2023-07-18 20:30:29

I’ll give that a try when I have time and update you. Also no I didn’t do anything to agetty or the console, I just changed the /etc/issue

MangoMan1 · 2023-07-25 18:17:47

So finally getting back to this. I tried setting StartExecPre to “stty cols 141” which is the width of my TTY, and I see improvement in that all but the first row of /etc/issue get displayed properly. The first row of the file is still wrapping early for some reason though

seth · 2023-07-25 19:51:56

StartExecPre=stty cols 141
StartExecPre=sleep 1

?

MangoMan1 · 2023-07-28 11:51:55

Doesn’t make any difference

seth · 2023-07-28 11:55:04

[whatifyoujustprependtheissuewithablankline?]

MangoMan1 · 2023-07-29 10:06:30

Not only is there already a prepended blank line I was totally unaware of, but now that I’ve turned on my laptop this morning, we are back to the original situation!

seth · 2023-07-29 12:22:57

So it's a race condition for sure and the thing you get is adjusted to a VGA console.

Let's briefly cycle back to

Tried adding i915 to my initramfs modules since I’m using intel graphics. No real difference

and in particular the term "tried".
How exactly did you try this? Is it still in place? Please post a complete system journal and the output of

sudo lsinitcpio /boot/initramfs-linux.img | grep i915

MangoMan1 · 2023-08-07 07:14:50

seth wrote:

So it's a race condition for sure and the thing you get is adjusted to a VGA console.
Let's briefly cycle back to
Tried adding i915 to my initramfs modules since I’m using intel graphics. No real difference
and in particular the term "tried".
How exactly did you try this? Is it still in place? Please post a complete system journal and the output of
sudo lsinitcpio /boot/initramfs-linux.img | grep i915

I added the module by adding it to the MODULES array in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf and then (if my memory serves me right) ran mkinitcpio.

As for the output of lsinitcpio here you go: https://paste.thomasvoss.com/326

Last edited by MangoMan1 (2023-08-07 07:17:55)

seth · 2023-08-07 13:43:11

Yeah, no i915 is in the initramfs

Just for fun, what if you keep the boot messages?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Getty# … ay_on_tty1

Arch Linux

#1 2023-07-12 16:45:01

/etc/issue broken on TTY1 specifically

#2 2023-07-12 20:18:58

Re: /etc/issue broken on TTY1 specifically

#3 2023-07-12 21:22:32

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#4 2023-07-12 21:32:25

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#5 2023-07-16 05:40:28

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#6 2023-07-16 06:01:36

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#7 2023-07-16 07:41:47

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#8 2023-07-16 07:49:12

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#9 2023-07-16 07:51:37

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#10 2023-07-16 09:14:16

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#11 2023-07-16 11:08:15

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#12 2023-07-16 11:53:54

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#13 2023-07-16 11:56:18

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#15 2023-07-16 21:59:27

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#16 2023-07-16 22:36:30

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#17 2023-07-18 20:30:29

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#18 2023-07-25 18:17:47

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#19 2023-07-25 19:51:56

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#20 2023-07-28 11:51:55

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#21 2023-07-28 11:55:04

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#22 2023-07-29 10:06:30

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#23 2023-07-29 12:22:57

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#24 2023-08-07 07:14:50

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#25 2023-08-07 13:43:11

Re: /etc/issue broken on TTY1 specifically

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