xetex: unrestricted command has trailing null byte about miktex

[edocevoli]

Please attach the log file(s) so we can see what's executed. You will find log files in the ...\miktex\log directory. (replace ... with the data root directory)

[DE3000]

MiKTex 23.5 log except

2024-02-19 15:59:16,167+0200 INFO  xelatex - this process (29176) started by cmd in directory C:\temp\latex-testing with command line: xelatex --version
2024-02-19 15:59:16,167+0200 INFO  xelatex - running on Windows 10.0.19045
2024-02-19 15:59:16,170+0200 INFO  xelatex - this is MiKTeX-XETEX 4.10.25 (0.999995) (MiKTeX 23.5 Portable)
2024-02-19 15:59:16,172+0200 INFO  xelatex - allowing known shell commands
2024-02-19 15:59:16,184+0200 INFO  xelatex - this process (29176) finishes with exit code 0
2024-02-19 15:59:16,186+0200 WARN  xelatex - minor issue: It has been a long time since you have checked for MiKTeX updates.
2024-02-19 15:59:16,612+0200 INFO  xelatex - this process (28628) started by cmd in directory C:\temp\latex-testing with command line: xelatex -shell-escape -interaction=nonstopmode shelltest.tex
2024-02-19 15:59:16,613+0200 INFO  xelatex - running on Windows 10.0.19045
2024-02-19 15:59:16,615+0200 INFO  xelatex - this is MiKTeX-XETEX 4.10.0 (0.999995) (MiKTeX 23.4 Portable)
2024-02-19 15:59:16,617+0200 INFO  xelatex - allowing known shell commands
2024-02-19 15:59:16,628+0200 INFO  xelatex - allowing all shell commands
2024-02-19 15:59:16,817+0200 WARN  xelatex - executing unrestricted write18 shell command: mkdir "quoted"
2024-02-19 15:59:16,818+0200 INFO  xelatex.core - start process: C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /c "mkdir "quoted""
2024-02-19 15:59:16,903+0200 INFO  xelatex - write18 exit code: 1
2024-02-19 15:59:16,903+0200 WARN  xelatex - executing unrestricted write18 shell command: copy nul "quoted/test.txt"
2024-02-19 15:59:16,903+0200 INFO  xelatex.core - start process: C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /c "copy nul "quoted/test.txt""
2024-02-19 15:59:16,940+0200 INFO  xelatex - write18 exit code: 0
2024-02-19 15:59:16,941+0200 WARN  xelatex - executing unrestricted write18 shell command: robocopy "quoted" unquoted
2024-02-19 15:59:16,941+0200 INFO  xelatex.core - start process: C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /c "robocopy "quoted" unquoted"
2024-02-19 15:59:17,001+0200 INFO  xelatex - write18 exit code: 1
2024-02-19 15:59:17,007+0200 INFO  xelatex - this process (28628) finishes with exit code 0
2024-02-19 15:59:17,008+0200 WARN  xelatex - minor issue: It has been a long time since you have checked for MiKTeX updates.

MiKTex 24.1 log except

2024-02-19 15:52:10,711+0200 INFO  xelatex - this process (28844) started by cmd in directory C:\temp\latex-testing with command line: xelatex --version
2024-02-19 15:52:10,712+0200 INFO  xelatex - running on Windows 10.0.19045
2024-02-19 15:52:10,714+0200 INFO  xelatex - this is MiKTeX-XETEX 4.10.0 (0.999995) (MiKTeX 24.1 Portable)
2024-02-19 15:52:10,717+0200 INFO  xelatex - allowing known shell commands
2024-02-19 15:52:10,729+0200 INFO  xelatex - this process (28844) finishes with exit code 0
2024-02-19 15:52:11,097+0200 INFO  xelatex - this process (4992) started by cmd in directory C:\temp\latex-testing with command line: xelatex -shell-escape -interaction=nonstopmode shelltest.tex
2024-02-19 15:52:11,097+0200 INFO  xelatex - running on Windows 10.0.19045
2024-02-19 15:52:11,099+0200 INFO  xelatex - this is MiKTeX-XETEX 4.10.0 (0.999995) (MiKTeX 24.1 Portable)
2024-02-19 15:52:11,101+0200 INFO  xelatex - allowing known shell commands
2024-02-19 15:52:11,113+0200 INFO  xelatex - allowing all shell commands
2024-02-19 15:52:11,124+0200 INFO  xelatex - going to create file: xelatex.fmt
2024-02-19 15:52:11,124+0200 INFO  xelatex.core - start process: miktex --enable-installer formats build xelatex --engine xetex
2024-02-19 15:52:23,496+0200 WARN  xelatex - executing unrestricted write18 shell command: mkdir "quoted" 
2024-02-19 15:52:23,497+0200 INFO  xelatex.core - start process: C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /c "mkdir "quoted" "
2024-02-19 15:52:23,597+0200 INFO  xelatex - write18 exit code: 1
2024-02-19 15:52:23,597+0200 WARN  xelatex - executing unrestricted write18 shell command: copy nul "quoted/test.txt" 
2024-02-19 15:52:23,597+0200 INFO  xelatex.core - start process: C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /c "copy nul "quoted/test.txt" "
2024-02-19 15:52:23,638+0200 INFO  xelatex - write18 exit code: 0
2024-02-19 15:52:23,639+0200 WARN  xelatex - executing unrestricted write18 shell command: robocopy "quoted" unquoted 
2024-02-19 15:52:23,639+0200 INFO  xelatex.core - start process: C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /c "robocopy "quoted" unquoted "
2024-02-19 15:52:23,700+0200 INFO  xelatex - write18 exit code: 16
2024-02-19 15:52:23,707+0200 INFO  xelatex - this process (4992) finishes with exit code 0

From what I can see since it's not clear just from the output above, MiKTex 24.1 always has an extra space and sometimes an extra quotation mark (") at the end of the command to run.

2024-02-19 15:59:16,941+0200 WARN  xelatex - executing unrestricted write18 shell command: robocopy "quoted" unquoted
2024-02-19 15:59:16,941+0200 INFO  xelatex.core - start process: C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /c "robocopy "quoted" unquoted"

VS

2024-02-19 15:52:23,639+0200 WARN  xelatex - executing unrestricted write18 shell command: robocopy "quoted" unquoted 
2024-02-19 15:52:23,639+0200 INFO  xelatex.core - start process: C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /c "robocopy "quoted" unquoted "

[edocevoli]

Seems that both runs use different package versions. For example:
LaTeX2e <2023-06-01> patch level 1
vs.
LaTeX2e <2023-11-01> patch level 1

At the moment I cannot reproduce the issue so closing the ticket for now.

[DE3000]

I took the portable 23.5 directory that is working and copied to a new folder. The new folder was then updated via the MiKTex console to 24.1. Any version changes came from the update.

[DE3000]

Fresh portable install of 24.1

xelatex.log

The extra character is not a space but a NUL character.

[muzimuzhi]

I have been discussion the issue on minted package repository (gpoore/minted#386) where we tried to isolate the issue to either the minted package or is it a more general problem.

I have isolated the issue to running commands with \ShellEscape where the command has quoted options.

According to feedback gpoore/minted#386 (comment) from @ohly87, author of original issue, this problem has been resolved in MiKTeX 24.3.

Thank you!