Description of problem: A user at our site reports xterm no longer responds to the <esc>]50;<FONT_NAME><ctrl-G> escape sequence to change font sizes on the fly. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): xterm-215-8.el5 (seems to work fine in xterm-215-5.el5) How reproducible: Start an xterm window, then (in /bin/tcsh shell): echo -n "\e]50;5x8\007" echo -n "\e]50;9x18\007" This should make the window go smaller, then larger. On our RHEL5 systems, neither command has an effect. Downgrading the xterm RPM to 215-5 fixes this behavior.
The font control sequences were disabled in the patch for security bug #478888. A solution is to backport the allowFontOps resource which would allow users to enable the sequences again.
This request was evaluated by Red Hat Product Management for inclusion, but this component is not scheduled to be updated in the current Red Hat Enterprise Linux release. If you would like this request to be reviewed for the next minor release, ask your support representative to set the next rhel-x.y flag to "?".
This request was evaluated by Red Hat Product Management for inclusion in the current release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Because the affected component is not scheduled to be updated in the current release, Red Hat is unfortunately unable to address this request at this time. Red Hat invites you to ask your support representative to propose this request, if appropriate and relevant, in the next release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
At this point in the RHEL5 release cycle, where only security and critical bugs are fixed, xterm is unlikely to be updated. In the RHEL6 xterm, the behavior can be controlled by the allowFontOps resource.