`comint.el' versions since revision 1.14 of 2006/05/25 02:49:47 -0 unconditionally add `TERM=dumb' to environment of all processes they start. Programs using readline, including bash 3.1 with their bundled readline libraries, with this setting incorrectly truncate long input lines. This may be reproduced with inserting long enough command in comint mode buffer and calling `comint-send-input'. For `echo' with single argument, string of 256 `.'s as arg bash process outputs part of them, and for the rest of them outputs bash: ................: command not found This does not even depend on what libraries were linked to readline. They may be from `libncurses5-5.3-1.20040125.4mdk' or `libtermcap2-2.0.8-35mdk' packages, it is always the same. With `TERM=emacs' (set manually) these programs would behave in comint buffers normally, process commands of arbitrary length. This is how `comint.el' would set it before revision 1.13. It avoided hitting this bug.