Bug 879671

Can not reproduce:

 linux:~ # touch "this is a test.txt"
 linux:~ # tar -c -v -f /tmp/test.tar this<TAB>
 linux:~ # tar -c -v -f /tmp/test.tar this\ is\ a\ test.txt
 linux:~ # rpm -qi bash-completion
 Name        : bash-completion
 Version     : 2.1
 Release     : 3.1.2
 Architecture: noarch
 Install Date: Wed Nov  6 08:52:30 2013
 Group       : System/Shells
 Size        : 718352
 License     : GPL-2.0+
 Signature   : RSA/SHA256, Fri Sep 27 22:18:22 2013, Key ID b88b2fd43dbdc284
 Source RPM  : bash-completion-2.1-3.1.2.src.rpm
 Build Date  : Fri Sep 27 22:18:03 2013
 Build Host  : cloud136
 Relocations : (not relocatable)
 Packager    : http://bugs.opensuse.org
 Vendor      : openSUSE
 URL         : http://bash-completion.alioth.debian.org/
 Summary     : Programmable Completion for Bash
 Description :
 bash-completion is a collection of shell functions that take advantage
 of the programmable completion feature of Bash 2.04 and later.
 Distribution: openSUSE 13.1

Werner, my output of rpm -ql bash-completion is exactly the same as yours.  What further information do you think I could provide which might help diagnose the problem?

The output of the commands:

   tar <TAB>
   complete -p | grep tar
   locale
   echo "$COMP_WORDBREAKS"
   echo -n "$COMP_WORDBREAKS" | wc -c
   shopt

# tar <TAB>

This produces nothing.  tar <TAB><TAB> produces the following:
A c d r t u x

# complete -p | grep tar
complete -F _service /etc/init.d/vboxautostart-service
complete -F _tar tar

# locale
LANG=en_CA.utf8
LC_CTYPE="en_CA.utf8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_CA.utf8"
LC_TIME="en_CA.utf8"
LC_COLLATE="en_CA.utf8"
LC_MONETARY="en_CA.utf8"
LC_MESSAGES=en_CA.UTF-8
LC_PAPER="en_CA.utf8"
LC_NAME="en_CA.utf8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_CA.utf8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_CA.utf8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_CA.utf8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_CA.utf8"
LC_ALL=

# echo "$COMP_WORDBREAKS"
 
"'><=;|&(:

# echo -n "$COMP_WORDBREAKS" | wc -c
13

# shopt
autocd          off
cdable_vars     off
cdspell         off
checkhash       off
checkjobs       off
checkwinsize    on
cmdhist         on
compat31        off
compat32        off
compat40        off
compat41        off
direxpand       off
dirspell        off
dotglob         off
execfail        off
expand_aliases  on
extdebug        off
extglob         on
extquote        on
failglob        off
force_fignore   on
globstar        off
gnu_errfmt      off
histappend      on
histreedit      off
histverify      off
hostcomplete    off
huponexit       off
interactive_comments    on
lastpipe        off
lithist         off
login_shell     on
mailwarn        off
no_empty_cmd_completion off
nocaseglob      off
nocasematch     off
nullglob        off
progcomp        on
promptvars      on
restricted_shell        off
shift_verbose   off
sourcepath      on
xpg_echo        off

Update osc to latest if you've this installed as IMHO the command

   echo "$COMP_WORDBREAKS"

should return

 linux:~ # echo "$COMP_WORDBREAKS"
  
 "'><=;|&(
 linux:~ #

that is newline followed by space and then by "'><=;|&(

Beside this, what does the command

 compopt -D

show?

I don't have osc installed.

# compopt -D
compopt +o bashdefault +o default +o dirnames +o filenames +o nospace +o plusdirs -D

Perhaps this is a better way of showing my value of $COMP_WORDBREAKS:

# echo -n "$COMP_WORDBREAKS" | hexdump
0000000 0920 220a 3e27 3d3c 7c3b 2826 003a     
000000d

linux:~ # echo -n "$COMP_WORDBREAKS" | hexdump
0000000 0920 220a 3e27 3d3c 7c3b 2826          
000000c

Yes, the value of $COMP_WORDBREAKS seems to differ slightly, but I don't know if that's the cause of the problem.  Any other ideas?

Is there anywhere I can download the old bash-completion-2.0-2.1.1 RPM so that I can compare files?

There is no old bash-completion-2.0-2.1.1 ... please check for COMP_WORDBREAKS in your personal ~/.bashrc and ~/.profile as well as below

        /etc/profile.d/
        /usr/share/bash-completion/

with the command

        grep COMP_WORDBREAKS=

to see where it beomes reassigned

COMP_WORDBREAKS is not assigned anywhere in ~/.bashrc, ~/.profile, /etc/profile.d, or /usr/share/bash-completion.  It's also not assigned in /etc/bash_completion.d nor anywhere else in the /etc hierarchy.  As far as I can tell it has whatever default value bash gives it.

Problem is still reproducible with bash-completion-2.1-5.1.2 on openSUSE 13.2.

Give openSUSE:Factory/bash-completion a try

I found the cause of and solution to the problem.

The same issue was reported for Ubuntu at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bash-completion/+bug/883268 and in Comment #7 of that issue it's reported that Adobe Reader places a file in /etc/bash_completion.d which overrides bash-completion's _filedir().

The solution is to uninstall Adobe Reader (AdobeReader_enu-9.5.5-1.i486).  (Of course, once this is done, it cannot be easily undone, since both Adobe and Novell have stopped distributing the GNU/Linux version of Adobe Reader.)

The bash completion problem described in this bug report doesn't arise with fresh installations of openSUSE 13.1 and 13.2 because Adobe Reader is no longer distributed with those versions.  However, in my case I had been using an earlier version of openSUSE and then upgraded the OS, retaining Adobe Reader.

I'm not sure, but it may be worth updating the openSUSE bash-completion RPM so that it's marked as conflicting with AdobeReader_enu-9.5.5-1.i486, or so that it issues a warning if a user tries to install it and AdobeReader_enu-9.5.5-1.i486 simultaneously.

Clearing needinfo; this seems irrelevant now given my previous comment.

Not really that relevant any more given that Adobe Reader hasn't been distributed with openSUSE for many releases now.