Story
Tracking down a Zsh history data loss bug
1 report
1 website
1 discussion
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Overview
Zsh 5.9.2, released on July 12, 2026, includes a fix for a bug that caused data loss in the Z shell history file. The bug was tracked down by patching Zsh to crash loudly and analyzing the core dump from the crash.
Summary from michael.stapelberg.ch.
Reports
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michael.stapelberg.ch
Tracking down a Zsh history data loss bug
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Community reactions
Each reaction summarizes sampled comments from the linked discussion.
Hacker News · michael.stapelberg.ch
Hacker News discussion ↗
Historical count: 5 · 5 saved in sample · Historical sample
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Based on 5 sampled comments from this thread. Analyzed 2026-08-16.
- Praise: Zsh has some fantastic customizations that make managing command history a breeze, which is a game changer for many users.
- Praise: I'm relieved to finally understand my long-standing issue with exported HISTFILE; this article has saved me from future history loss.
- Praise: The fix proposed in the article is appreciated, especially for those of us who have been backing up our history files due to past bugs.
- Concern: The history loss bug is frustrating and has been a persistent issue for users, leading to a lot of lost data and confusion.
- Concern: Using Bash was a nightmare with history loss, and many commenters are fed up with these recurring issues across shells.
- Concern: Overcomplicated solutions in Zsh can sometimes create more problems than they solve, leaving users to deal with unnecessary complexity.