This is a note to let you know that I've just added the patch titled
tty: vt.c: Fix TIOCL_BLANKSCREEN console blanking if blankinterval ==
to my tty git tree which can be found at
git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/tty.git
in the tty-testing branch.
The patch will show up in the next release of the linux-next tree
(usually sometime within the next 24 hours during the week.)
The patch will be merged to the tty-next branch sometime soon,
after it passes testing, and the merge window is open.
If you have any questions about this process, please let me know.
>From 75ddbc1fb11efac87b611d48e9802f6fe2bb2163 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Yifeng Li <tomli@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2019 07:02:49 +0800
Subject: tty: vt.c: Fix TIOCL_BLANKSCREEN console blanking if blankinterval ==
0
Previously, in the userspace, it was possible to use the "setterm" command
from util-linux to blank the VT console by default, using the following
command.
According to the man page,
> The force option keeps the screen blank even if a key is pressed.
It was implemented by calling TIOCL_BLANKSCREEN.
case BLANKSCREEN:
ioctlarg = TIOCL_BLANKSCREEN;
if (ioctl(STDIN_FILENO, TIOCLINUX, &ioctlarg))
warn(_("cannot force blank"));
break;
However, after Linux 4.12, this command ceased to work anymore, which is
unexpected. By inspecting the kernel source, it shows that the issue was
triggered by the side-effect from commit a4199f5eb809 ("tty: Disable
default console blanking interval").
The console blanking is implemented by function do_blank_screen() in vt.c:
"blank_state" will be initialized to "blank_normal_wait" in con_init() if
AND ONLY IF ("blankinterval" > 0). If "blankinterval" is 0, "blank_state"
will be "blank_off" (== 0), and a call to do_blank_screen() will always
abort, even if a forced blanking is required from the user by calling
TIOCL_BLANKSCREEN, the console won't be blanked.
This behavior is unexpected from a user's point-of-view, since it's not
mentioned in any documentation. The setterm man page suggests it will
always work, and the kernel comments in uapi/linux/tiocl.h says
> /* keep screen blank even if a key is pressed */
> #define TIOCL_BLANKSCREEN 14
To fix it, we simply remove the "blank_state != blank_off" check, as
pointed out by Nicolas Pitre, this check doesn't logically make sense
and it's safe to remove.
Suggested-by: Nicolas Pitre <nicolas.pitre@xxxxxxxxxx>
Fixes: a4199f5eb809 ("tty: Disable default console blanking interval")
Signed-off-by: Yifeng Li <tomli@xxxxxxxx>
Cc: stable <stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/tty/vt/vt.c | 2 --
1 file changed, 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c b/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
index d34984aa646d..721edee50234 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
@@ -4178,8 +4178,6 @@ void do_blank_screen(int entering_gfx)
return;
}
- if (blank_state != blank_normal_wait)
- return;
blank_state = blank_off;
/* don't blank graphics */
--
2.21.0
