Char redered as "◦"

Webmin
1
SYSTEM INFORMATION
OS type and version Debian Linux 12 kernel Linux 6.1.0-49-amd64 on x86_64
Webmin version 2.651

Hi,
In System > System logs > Messages for specific unit,
a char is rendered as ◦ in the drop-down unit selector menu.
I also noticed it in the previous version of Webmin (and thought this version fixed the bug).
The bug appears both on my WS and on my server (same OS, same version, same Webmin version).
I didn’t recently install nor remove packages on my systems except those required by security updates.

Screenshot20260629084046
Screenshot20260629084046956×142 14.7 KB

It’s not critical at all since the log viewer works fine, as usual. I declare the bug because it’s not nice :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: and it may be the symptom of something worse.
Thanks in advance,
Bleck

2

I see it also on many entries in the list. I think it is Unicode for white bullet but is not being rendered correctly.

3

@Joe, do you know what’s going on here? :slight_smile:

4

Have you tried another browser? I’m using Opera. The ‘white bullet’ displays correctly but I have NO idea why it would display there anyhow.
image

root@main:~# journalctl --reverse --no-hostname --lines 100 --unit \-\.mount
-- Journal begins at Fri 2026-06-19 01:08:01 EDT, ends at Mon 2026-06-29 16:54:51 EDT. --
-- No entries --
root@main:~#
5

I have just Chrome and Edge on Windows 11 at the moment (please don’t judge me :grin:)

But can try Safari later this evening.

6

This is a bug I introduced while fixing a security bug in ui-lib.pl.

I’ll have to figure out where the values in this select are cooked up so I can make sure we’re not doing weird things.

@Ilia I assumed Authentic overrode ui_select, but I guess not?

Anyway, I’ll fix it.

7

No need to try any other browsers. We added a call to a function to escape values being passed to ui_select to prevent some types of stored XSS risks, and it turns out there’s at least one place where that has a surprising effect.

8

Yeah, but I just copied the code from the PR.

9

The original code is probably the bug-like here, actually. If we give the actual raw entity value, it passes through untouched. And, I’m not sure I like the mystery meat indicator here. What does the circle mean? Why is there a circle?

10

No problem, I’ve fixed it in the following patch:

@bleck You should apply the following patch to make it work correctly:

webmin patch https://github.com/webmin/webmin/commit/aa22827
11

It indicates and separates systemd units from regular types like “All messages” or actual file names.

12

If I had my druthers, I’d remove that mystery circle. Which also fixes the bug. I don’t like symbols/icons for no reason.

13

It makes it seem like they’re all subitems of Kernel messages.

14

Well, yeah, maybe. But removing it entirely doesn’t look too good either. We could use -, but that won’t solve it in terms of being seen as subitems of “Kernel messages”.

And, I think originally I kept the circle because it goes well with what systemd does, e.g.:

~# systemctl status webmin
● webmin.service - Webmin server daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/webmin.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
....
15

- is worse. Doesn’t solve either problem. Still looks like a subitem of kernel messages, still doesn’t have any obvious meaning, and is kinda uglier than the circle.

I guess we’ll leave it alone for now, but this UI probably ought to get an overhaul. The super long dropdown is uncomfortable for reasons other than the mystery meat Unicode circle.

16

Patch works great :+1:

17

Patch works fine on my systems :slightly_smiling_face:
Thanks !