[PATCH] vt: Fix non-blinking cursor regression

From: Lukas Wunner
Date: Wed Jan 22 2020 - 09:17:40 EST


Since commit a6dbe4427559 ("vt: perform safe console erase in the right
order"), when userspace clears both the scrollback buffer and the screen
by writing "\e[3J" to an fbdev virtual console, the cursor stops blinking
if that virtual console is not in the foreground. I'm witnessing this
on every boot of Raspbian since updating to v4.19.37+ because agetty
writes the sequence to /dev/tty6 while the console is still switched to
/dev/tty1. Switching consoles once makes the cursor blink again.

The commit added an invocation of ->con_switch() to flush_scrollback().
Normally this is only invoked from switch_screen() to switch consoles.
switch_screen() updates *vc->vc_display_fg to the new console and
fbcon_switch() updates ops->currcon. Because the commit only invokes
fbcon_switch() but doesn't update *vc->vc_display_fg, it performs an
incomplete console switch.

When fb_flashcursor() subsequently blinks the cursor, it retrieves the
foreground console from ops->currcon. Because *vc->vc_display_fg wasn't
updated, con_is_visible() incorrectly returns false and as a result,
fb_flashcursor() bails out without blinking the cursor.

The invocation of ->con_switch() appears to have been erroneous. After
all, why should a console switch be performed when clearing the screen?
The commit message doesn't provide a rationale either. So delete it.

Fixes: a6dbe4427559 ("vt: perform safe console erase in the right order")
Signed-off-by: Lukas Wunner <lukas@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx # v5.1+
Cc: Nicolas Pitre <nico@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Mikulas Patocka <mpatocka@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Matthew Whitehead <tedheadster@xxxxxxxxx>
---
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 35d21cdb60d0..eb25fb4ca05f 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
@@ -938,8 +938,6 @@ static void flush_scrollback(struct vc_data *vc)
set_origin(vc);
if (vc->vc_sw->con_flush_scrollback)
vc->vc_sw->con_flush_scrollback(vc);
- else
- vc->vc_sw->con_switch(vc);
}

/*
--
2.24.0