Your message dated Wed, 3 Sep 2025 18:45:34 +0200
with message-id <[email protected]>
and subject line Fixed in 5.3-1
has caused the Debian Bug report #1078556,
regarding bash: 5.2.21-2.1 to 5.2.21-2.1+b1 breaks printf %.2f .1
to be marked as done.
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If this is not the case it is now your responsibility to reopen the
Bug report if necessary, and/or fix the problem forthwith.
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--
1078556: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1078556
Debian Bug Tracking System
Contact [email protected] with problems
--- Begin Message ---
Package: bash
Version: 5.2.21-2.1+b1
Severity: normal
Dear Maintainer,
Using bash 5.2.21-2.1, `printf '%.2f\n' .1` (or any other float value)
produces the expected result.
After upgrade to bash package 5.2.21-2.1+b1, that same statement outputs
either:
- 0.00
- -0.00
- a random float value, with a large number of digits to the left of the
decimal separator.
I noticed this on my laptop and was able to reproduce the bug using a
Debian Sid-based podman container of mine:
--- 8< ------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ podman run --rm -i kindwolf/unstable-shell:2024080501 <<EOF
bash -c "printf '%.2f\n' 0.1"
bash -c "printf '%.2f\n' 0.1"
bash -c "printf '%.2f\n' 0.1"
bash -c "printf '%.2f\n' 0.1"
dpkg -l bash
apt update > /dev/null 2>&1 && apt install bash > /dev/null 2>&1
dpkg -l bash
bash -c "printf '%.2f\n' 0.1"
bash -c "printf '%.2f\n' 0.1"
bash -c "printf '%.2f\n' 0.1"
bash -c "printf '%.2f\n' 0.1"
EOF
0.10
0.10
0.10
0.10
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Architecture Description
+++-==============-============-============-=================================
ii bash 5.2.21-2.1 amd64 GNU Bourne Again SHell
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Architecture Description
+++-==============-=============-============-=================================
ii bash 5.2.21-2.1+b1 amd64 GNU Bourne Again SHell
6109438027055380006607751[abridged]65066323432594610641285551911364642996224.00
-584981660093124326370703[abridged]70191893948199565939443678471705365315584.00
5363123171977038804941351[abridged]23734249005160240020871689125814289301504.00
5601186210462057897385212[abridged]67104256981197088027398783407112107065344.00
--- 8< ------------------------------------------------------------------------
I got these results on:
- a 2016 Intel CPU
- a 2024 AMD CPU
and thus assume this regression is not hardware-specific.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: trixie/sid
APT prefers unstable
APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Kernel: Linux 6.10.3-amd64 (SMP w/16 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
Kernel taint flags: TAINT_OOT_MODULE
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE not set
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled
Versions of packages bash depends on:
ii base-files 13.5
ii debianutils 5.20
ii libc6 2.39-6
ii libtinfo6 6.5-2
Versions of packages bash recommends:
ii bash-completion 1:2.14.0-1
Versions of packages bash suggests:
pn bash-doc <none>
-- Configuration Files:
/etc/bash.bashrc changed [not included]
-- no debconf information
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Version: 5.3-1
--- End Message ---
