Thing about vshReadlineInit() is - it's called multiple times. The first time from vshInit(), when @ctl was filled only partially (most notably, before any argv parsing is done, hence ctl->imode is set to false). The second time after argv parsing, from virshInit() -> vshInitReload(). In here, ctl->imode might have changed and thus vshReadlineInit() can't exit early - it needs to set up stuff for interactive mode (history basically). To allow vshReadlineInit() to be called again, vshReadlineDeinit() must set @autoCompleteOpaque to NULL. Fixes: cab1e71f0161fd24c5d6ff4c379d3a242ea8c2d9 Resolves: https://issues.redhat.com/browse/RHEL-53560 Signed-off-by: Michal Privoznik <mprivozn(a)redhat.com&gt; --- tools/vsh.c | 3 +++ 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+) diff --git a/tools/vsh.c b/tools/vsh.c index 9fbb1f9349..5f5e2f281d 100644 --- a/tools/vsh.c +++ b/tools/vsh.c @@ -3040,6 +3040,9 @@ vshReadlineDeinit(vshControl *ctl) g_clear_pointer(&ctl->historydir, g_free); g_clear_pointer(&ctl->historyfile, g_free); + + /* Allow vshReadlineInit() to be called again. */ + autoCompleteOpaque = NULL; } char *