[haiku-bugs] Re: [Haiku] #9636: Error opening terminal: xterm-256color
- From: "bonefish" <trac@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:28:17 -0000
#9636: Error opening terminal: xterm-256color
-------------------------------------+----------------------------
Reporter: humdinger | Owner: siarzhuk
Type: bug | Status: closed
Priority: normal | Milestone: R1
Component: Applications/Terminal | Version: R1/Development
Resolution: no change required | Keywords: xterm, nano
Blocked By: | Blocking:
Has a Patch: 0 | Platform: All
-------------------------------------+----------------------------
Comment (by bonefish):
Replying to [comment:4 siarzhuk]:
> Replying to [comment:3 bonefish]:
> > The whole termcap system is broken by design
>
> Let me to not agree here - it is just outdated nowadays. libtermcap that
we are using is looking like abandoned at the moment. But you are right
that termcap format is restricted.
Let me rephrase: The whole client-side terminal description concept is
broken by design. Theoretically one has to create a new terminal type
whenever one wants to modify an existing one. That would render the
terminal broken for all remote systems that haven't been updated yet.
Adjusting the old terminal description has similar -- though not as severe
-- issues. The obvious solution is to introduce an escape sequence for
asking the terminal about its capabilities and change the terminal type
one last time. If the sequence is well chosen, for a transition period one
might even get away with keeping the old terminal type.
> > To my knowledge that's what pretty much every OS and distribution that
matters does as well.
>
> Corresponding to Thomas E. Dickey: http://invisible-
island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html
>
> {{{
> "Additionally, Mac OS X 10.7 is reported to use xterm-256color as a
default $TERM value."
> }}}
I stand corrected (though one could ask whether MacOS actually matters
wrt. terminals ;-)).
> So looks like I'm not alone who think this way.
No doubt, setting the correct terminal type would be the best solution,
*if* every possible remote client supported that type as well. But
obviously that is not the case, as the existence of this ticket proves.
Since major Linux distributions apparently alias "xterm" to "xterm-
256color" and set `TERM` to "xterm", I think it is safe enough to do and
the most convenient option for users ATM. We could switch back to "xterm-
256color" later when we feel support for it has improved sufficiently.
--
Ticket URL: <http://dev.haiku-os.org/ticket/9636#comment:5>
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