Visual corruption and display artifacts in xfce4-terminal

Is there an existing issue for this?

I have searched the existing issues

Midnight Commander version and build configuration

GNU Midnight Commander 4.8.30 (Linux Mint 22.3 package)

Operating system

Linux Mint 22.3 XFCE (xfce4-terminal)

Is this issue reproducible using the latest version of Midnight Commander?

I confirm the issue is still reproducible with the latest version of Midnight Commander

How to reproduce

Open xfce4-terminal on Linux Mint XFCE.
Launch Midnight Commander by typing mc.
Observe the broken panel borders, misaligned columns, and unrendered control characters in the UI.

Expected behavior

MC should render panel borders, columns, and box-drawing characters correctly without visual artifacts or layout misalignment when running inside xfce4-terminal.

Actual behavior

The user interface breaks with misplaced frame lines, column misalignments, and raw control/unrendered characters (like ^@) appearing instead of proper box borders.

Additional context

The issue affects TUI box-drawing and NCurses layout alignment in standard xfce4-terminal settings.

unless you can observe this in other terminals (1), the report is obviously invalid (2).

(1) this would suggest a problem in ncurses (or slang, if that's what the package is actually built with).
(2) the root cause is in the terminal, possibly a broken font (possibly via a broken fontconfig setup).

Thanks for the insight! I verified that my font is indeed set to Monospace Regular. Since I've migrated my workflow to GUI tools (Double Commander) and Nano, I'll go ahead and close this issue. sob., 29 sie 2026, 15:40 użytkownik Oswald Buddenhagen < ***@***.***> napisał:

…

*ossilator* left a comment (MidnightCommander/mc#5147) <#5147 (comment)> unless you can observe this in other terminals (1), the report is obviously invalid (2). (1) this would suggest a problem in ncurses (or slang, if that's what the package is actually built with). (2) the root cause is in the terminal, possibly a broken font (possibly via a broken fontconfig setup). — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#5147?email_source=notifications&email_token=B6ADL65KLV7PHXXCHBCIVOL5MLMMLA5CNFSNUABFM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQXTKNBWGI3TGNJSGQ22M4TFMFZW63VGMF2XI2DPOKSWK5TFNZ2KYZTPN52GK4S7MNWGSY3L#issuecomment-5462735245>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/B6ADL63TSTPIZ5MPXIOGAVT5MLMMLAVCNFSNUABFKJSXA33TNF2G64TZHM4TGOJYGM2TGOJUHNEXG43VMU5TKMRYGE3DMMBUGQ4KC5QC> . Triage notifications, keep track of coding agent tasks and review pull requests on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/ios/B6ADL6YY23RTJPW3M4ZICTT5MLMMLA5CNFSNUABFM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQXTKNBWGI3TGNJSGQ22M4TFMFZW63VGMF2XI2DPOKSWK5TFNZ2KUZTPN52GK4S7NFXXG> and Android <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/android/B6ADL6ZL2WFTMUTOCJSHYT35MLMMLA5CNFSNUABFM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQXTKNBWGI3TGNJSGQ22M4TFMFZW63VGMF2XI2DPOKSWK5TFNZ2K4ZTPN52GK4S7MFXGI4TPNFSA>. Download it today! You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

Update: Running `fc-cache -fv` indeed fixed the issue! It detected and cleared a corrupted font cache file (`invalid cache file`). After reinstalling `mc`, all box-drawing characters and panel borders now render perfectly in xfce4-terminal. Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction! sob., 29 sie 2026 o 15:40 Oswald Buddenhagen ***@***.***> napisał(a):

…

*ossilator* left a comment (MidnightCommander/mc#5147) <#5147 (comment)> unless you can observe this in other terminals (1), the report is obviously invalid (2). (1) this would suggest a problem in ncurses (or slang, if that's what the package is actually built with). (2) the root cause is in the terminal, possibly a broken font (possibly via a broken fontconfig setup). — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#5147?email_source=notifications&email_token=B6ADL65KLV7PHXXCHBCIVOL5MLMMLA5CNFSNUABFM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQXTKNBWGI3TGNJSGQ22M4TFMFZW63VGMF2XI2DPOKSWK5TFNZ2KYZTPN52GK4S7MNWGSY3L#issuecomment-5462735245>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/B6ADL63TSTPIZ5MPXIOGAVT5MLMMLAVCNFSNUABFKJSXA33TNF2G64TZHM4TGOJYGM2TGOJUHNEXG43VMU5TKMRYGE3DMMBUGQ4KC5QC> . Triage notifications, keep track of coding agent tasks and review pull requests on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/ios/B6ADL6YY23RTJPW3M4ZICTT5MLMMLA5CNFSNUABFM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQXTKNBWGI3TGNJSGQ22M4TFMFZW63VGMF2XI2DPOKSWK5TFNZ2KUZTPN52GK4S7NFXXG> and Android <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/android/B6ADL6ZL2WFTMUTOCJSHYT35MLMMLA5CNFSNUABFM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQXTKNBWGI3TGNJSGQ22M4TFMFZW63VGMF2XI2DPOKSWK5TFNZ2K4ZTPN52GK4S7MFXGI4TPNFSA>. Download it today! You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

Sorry, I closed it by accident while troubleshooting! The issue turned out to be a corrupted system font cache, which was fixed with `fc-cache -fv`. Thanks for the response! sob., 29 sie 2026, 16:39 użytkownik Yury V. Zaytsev < ***@***.***> napisał:

…

Closed #5147 <#5147> as not planned. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#5147?email_source=notifications&email_token=B6ADL62FFZE7MG2TI5I4QIL5MLTKHA5CNFSNUABQM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKFOZSW45CON52GSZTJMNQXI2LPNYXTGMBSGEZDOMZUGAYDNJTSMVQXG33OVRZXIYLUMVPWG2DBNZTWLJLFOZSW45FMMZXW65DFOJPWG3DJMNVQ#event-30212734006>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/B6ADL65CYVFDYGUZ3MJKJVD5MLTKHAVCNFSNUABFKJSXA33TNF2G64TZHM4TGOJYGM2TGOJUHNEXG43VMU5TKMRYGE3DMMBUGQ4KC5QC> . Triage notifications, keep track of coding agent tasks and review pull requests on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/ios/B6ADL6YJ2CISLCCU7YO7NDD5MLTKHA5CNFSNUABQM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKFOZSW45CON52GSZTJMNQXI2LPNYXTGMBSGEZDOMZUGAYDNJTSMVQXG33OVRZXIYLUMVPWG2DBNZTWLJLFOZSW45FKMZXW65DFOJPWS33T> and Android <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/android/B6ADL66JV4NIH5A2SQK7LNT5MLTKHA5CNFSNUABQM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKFOZSW45CON52GSZTJMNQXI2LPNYXTGMBSGEZDOMZUGAYDNJTSMVQXG33OVRZXIYLUMVPWG2DBNZTWLJLFOZSW45FOMZXW65DFOJPWC3TEOJXWSZA>. Download it today! You are receiving this because you modified the open/close state.Message ID: ***@***.***>

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Visual corruption and display artifacts in xfce4-terminal #5147

Is there an existing issue for this?

Midnight Commander version and build configuration

Operating system

Is this issue reproducible using the latest version of Midnight Commander?

How to reproduce

Expected behavior

Actual behavior

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Visual corruption and display artifacts in xfce4-terminal #5147

Description

Is there an existing issue for this?

Midnight Commander version and build configuration

Operating system

Is this issue reproducible using the latest version of Midnight Commander?

How to reproduce

Expected behavior

Actual behavior

Additional context

Activity

ossilator commented on Aug 29, 2026

game115marcgl-afk commented on Aug 29, 2026

game115marcgl-afk commented on Aug 29, 2026

game115marcgl-afk commented on Aug 29, 2026

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