VI editor in Gnome Terminal leaves text remnants on scroll

Khoa Ton khoa at puresynergy.com
Tue Mar 28 03:28:10 UTC 2006


Neil Bird wrote:
> Around about 27/03/06 12:36, Khoa Ton typed ...
> 
>> The workaround here would be to set an alias in root's .bashrc
>> file to use /usr/bin/vim when vi is called.  As far as I know,
>> vim is more secure than vi and should be safer to run as root.
> 
> 
>   Actually, /bin/vi *is* vim, just compiled up without lots of stuff 
> (mouse, plugins, etc.) that might cause problems/security issues when 
> run as root, esp. in recovery mode.
> 
>   It's highly unlikely (although not impossible!) that vim is the issue.
> 
Thanks Neil, it's good to know that /bin/vi is a more secure /usr/bin/vim.

That being the case /bin/vi is the more appropriate editor to use as root.
Any hints as to how to workaround the text remnant problem with /bin/vi
as root on Gnome Terminal?

Here's how I can reproduce the problem all the time:
1) Login in to Gnome Desktop (as root or anyone else)
2) Open Gnome Terminal
3) If not root:
	# su -
3) Edit a large text file in vi and scroll down.  Some text at end of line
    should remain on the last line.

Khoa




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