Issued:
2011-05-19
Updated:
2011-05-19

RHBA-2011:0580 - mksh bug fix and enhancement update

Synopsis

mksh bug fix and enhancement update

Type/Severity

Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

An updated mksh package that fixes three bugs and adds one enhancement is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

The mksh package provides the MirBSD version of the Korn Shell which implements the ksh-88 programming language for both interactive and shell script use.

This update fixes the following bugs:

  • Previously, mksh did not handle trace output correctly. Due to this problem, mksh aborted unexpectedly when the tracing was enabled and a long string was to be reported, This update improves the long trace output handling. Now, long trace output is successfully printed without interruption. (BZ#616771)

  • Previously, mksh did not handle aliases that contained aliases correctly. Due to this problem, mksh aborted when double aliases were used. This update corrects the alias handling code. Double aliases are handled as expected. (BZ#616777)

  • Previously, bad substitution could abort mksh unexpectedly because of a conflict between acceptable code for ksh-88 and ksh-93. This update recognizes both code types and prints errors as expected. (BZ#618274)

This update also adds the following enhancement:

  • Previously, users had to change the shebang in their ksh-88 scripts or port their scripts to ksh-93. This update adds the "alternatives" switching method that allows to switch between ksh-93 provided by the ksh package and ksh-88 provided by the mksh package for /bin/ksh. Now, users can apply their scripts without modification or porting them to ksh-93 one by one. (BZ#659668)

All users of mksh are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which fixes these bugs and adds this enhancement.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously-released errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at This content is not included.https://access.redhat.com/kb/docs/DOC-11259/

Affected Products

ProductVersionArch
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian6ppc64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems6s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension (for IBM z Systems)6s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support (for IBM z Systems)6s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop6i386

Updated Packages

  • mksh-39-5.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • mksh-39-5.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • mksh-39-5.el6.s390x.rpm
  • mksh-debuginfo-39-5.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • mksh-debuginfo-39-5.el6.i686.rpm
  • mksh-39-5.el6.i686.rpm
  • mksh-debuginfo-39-5.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • mksh-debuginfo-39-5.el6.s390x.rpm
  • mksh-39-5.el6.src.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)

Additional information