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Date:      Wed, 05 Jun 2019 22:06:29 +0000
From:      bugzilla-noreply@freebsd.org
To:        x11@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   [Bug 238351] x11-clocks/xclock: xclock -strftime option misinterprets/mishandles the %n specification
Message-ID:  <bug-238351-7141@https.bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/>

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https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=3D238351

            Bug ID: 238351
           Summary: x11-clocks/xclock: xclock -strftime option
                    misinterprets/mishandles the %n specification
           Product: Ports & Packages
           Version: Latest
          Hardware: Any
                OS: Any
            Status: New
          Severity: Affects Only Me
          Priority: ---
         Component: Individual Port(s)
          Assignee: x11@FreeBSD.org
          Reporter: rfg-freebsd@tristatelogic.com
             Flags: maintainer-feedback?(x11@FreeBSD.org)
          Assignee: x11@FreeBSD.org

When xclock is invoked with both the -digital and -strftime options, the man
page for xclock(1) suggests that the string given as the argument to the
-strftime option will be interpreted as if it were a format specification g=
iven
to the strftime() libc function.

This is mostly true with the exception of the %n (newline) conversion
specification, which is utterly mishandled by xclock.  Instead of introduci=
ng a
newline at that point in the rendered digital xclock image, xclock instead
displays something that looks like an empty box character at the correspond=
ing
point in the rendered digital xclock image.

This is just wrong, and it obviously violates the Principal of Least Surpri=
se.=20
If the user has explicitly requested a newline at some certain point in the
format string, then he/she did so for a reason, and xclock should honor that
request by splitting the rendered digital xclock image across two (or more)
lines, exactly as the user had explicitly requested.  There is no compelling
reason not to do so.

--=20
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