Trailing whitespace(s) is showing up as orange when it used to gray-ish and less distracting

[CaffeineViking]

I have done the following steps before reporting this issue:

• [X] I have searched the existing issues
• [X] I have read the FAQ in the help doc

Operating system/version

Windows 10

GUI client/version

gVim 9.1

Feature matrix

VIM - Vi IMproved 9.1 (2024 Jan 02, compiled Jul 09 2024 07:07:42)
Included patches: 1-532
Compiled by <https://www.msys2.org/>
Huge version without GUI.  Features included (+) or not (-):
+acl               +file_in_path      +mouse_urxvt       -tag_any_white
+arabic            +find_in_path      +mouse_xterm       -tcl
+autocmd           +float             +multi_byte        +termguicolors
+autochdir         +folding           +multi_lang        +terminal
-autoservername    -footer            -mzscheme          +terminfo
-balloon_eval      +fork()            +netbeans_intg     +termresponse
+balloon_eval_term +gettext           +num64             +textobjects
-browse            -hangul_input      +packages          +textprop
++builtin_terms    +iconv             +path_extra        +timers
+byte_offset       +insert_expand     +perl/dyn          +title
+channel           +ipv6              +persistent_undo   -toolbar
+cindent           +job               +popupwin          +user_commands
-clientserver      +jumplist          +postscript        +vartabs
+clipboard         +keymap            +printer           +vertsplit
+cmdline_compl     +lambda            +profile           +vim9script
+cmdline_hist      +langmap           -python            +viminfo
+cmdline_info      +libcall           +python3/dyn       +virtualedit
+comments          +linebreak         +quickfix          +visual
+conceal           +lispindent        +reltime           +visualextra
+cryptv            +listcmds          +rightleft         +vreplace
+cscope            +localmap          +ruby/dyn          +wildignore
+cursorbind        -lua               +scrollbind        +wildmenu
+cursorshape       +menu              +signs             +windows
+dialog_con        +mksession         +smartindent       +writebackup
+diff              +modify_fname      -sodium            -X11
+digraphs          +mouse             -sound             +xattr
-dnd               -mouseshape        +spell             -xfontset
-ebcdic            +mouse_dec         +startuptime       -xim
+emacs_tags        -mouse_gpm         +statusline        -xpm
+eval              -mouse_jsbterm     -sun_workshop      -xsmp
+ex_extra          +mouse_netterm     +syntax            -xterm_clipboard
+extra_search      +mouse_sgr         +tag_binary        -xterm_save
-farsi             -mouse_sysmouse    -tag_old_static
   system vimrc file: "/etc/vimrc"
     user vimrc file: "$HOME/.vimrc"
 2nd user vimrc file: "~/.vim/vimrc"
 3rd user vimrc file: "~/.config/vim/vimrc"
      user exrc file: "$HOME/.exrc"
       defaults file: "$VIMRUNTIME/defaults.vim"
  fall-back for $VIM: "/etc"
 f-b for $VIMRUNTIME: "/usr/share/vim/vim91"
Compilation: gcc -c -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I/usr/include/ncursesw -march=nocona -msahf -mtune=generic -O2 -pipe -D_REENTRANT -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1
Linking: gcc -Wl,--as-needed -o vim.exe -lm -lncursesw -liconv -lacl -lintl

Minimal vimrc that can reproduce this bug.

set background=dark
colorscheme gruvbox-material
set list
set listchars=tab:›\ ,trail:•,extends:>,precedes:<,nbsp:_

Steps to reproduce this bug using minimal vimrc

1. Open gVim (or Vim)
2. Set colorscheme to gruvbox-material (dark)
3. Enable "list" to display trailing whitespace
4. Notice trailing whitespace displaying as orange, when it was gray before

Expected behavior

Trailing whitespace is shown in a "dim" gray. Orange for trailing whitespace is a bit too distracting.

Screenshot below is from colorscheme gruvbox since I can't figure out what is causing gruvbox-material to look strange, but this is also how gruvbox-material showed trailing whitespaces not so long ago. I don't know which change caused the issue (and if it was intentional or not). This must be a very recent change, as I did not experience this ~1 or 2 months ago.

Actual behavior

Trailing whitespace shows as orange.

[CaffeineViking]

Feel free to close the issue if the change was intentional.

[antoineco]

This change originates from https://github.com/sainnhe/sonokai/issues/104, for context. It was indeed intentional, however SpecialKey is not supposed to affect listchars.^1

[antoineco]

I was able to reproduce, and to find the root cause.

• In Neovim, listchars is highlighted by Whitespace, whereas SpecialKey is reserved for other special characters (mostly escapes like ^M in files with the DOS file format).
• In Vim, Whitespace doesn't exist. SpecialKey is used both for the special characters mentioned above and for listchars.

This is what trailing whitespaces look like in Neovim both with Neovim's defaults and with the listchars from your vimrc:

I'm pushing a fix to master. Thanks for reporting! 🙌

[CaffeineViking]

Wow, it's already been fixed. Thank you @antoineco!