[plug] Gnome Terminal (Bash) Resize problem

[James Devenish]

In article <4167745A.4030805 at tigris.org>, Tim White wrote:
> If I resize my gnome terminal while I'm running something (i.e. man) it 
> doesn't update the $COLUMNS and $LINES environment variables causing 
> bash to stuff up long commands (wrapping the back to the start at the 
> correct place according to $COLUMNS but not starting a new line)
> How can I fix this (other than always resizing the term while at a bash 
> prompt) ?

Note that $COLUMNS and $LINES are not 'intrinsic' to any programme --
they are provided optionally. Shells like Bash set up COLUMNS and LINES
and update them when triggered (e.g. via SIGWINCH or via a callback or
when you press 'enter'). Presumably, Bash is not updating its variables
because the foreground process (e.g. man) is absorbing the WINCH signal.
However, it does seem odd that it doesn't just update its variables when
the child process exits. Do you have "job control" enabled or disabled?
What version of Bash are you using? Do you have the same problem using
xterm? (I don't have this problem with any attempted combination of zsh
4.0.4, bash 2.05a.0(1)-release, screen 4.00.02 or gnome-terminal 1.4.0.6
from Debian woody.)