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Diffstat (limited to 'README.terminfo.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | README.terminfo.rst | 69 |
1 files changed, 41 insertions, 28 deletions
diff --git a/README.terminfo.rst b/README.terminfo.rst index c5f4b6d..cd724d0 100644 --- a/README.terminfo.rst +++ b/README.terminfo.rst @@ -2,16 +2,16 @@ Terminfo Entries ================ :Author: Sebastian J. Bronner <waschtl@sbronner.com> -:Date: 2019-10-30 +:Date: 2019-11-06 :URL: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/st The Problem ----------- -Most Linux-based distributions will have the bulk of their terminfo entries in -the ``ncurses`` package. These live in ``/usr/share/terminfo``. There you will -find several entries for ``st``. These, however, do not work well with current -versions of ``st``. You need the terminfo entries supplied with ``st``. +Most Linux-based distributions will have their terminfo entries in the +``ncurses`` package. These live in ``/usr/share/terminfo``. There you will find +several entries for ``st``. As of ``ncurses-6.1`` as packaged in ArchLinux, +these, do not work well with current versions of ``st``. Specifically, I have observed the following issues when using the terminfo entries supplied with ``ncurses``: @@ -38,40 +38,53 @@ For reference, I performed these tests using the following software versions: ``st`` 0.8.2, ``tmux`` 2.9_a, ``neovim`` 0.4.2, and ``w3m`` 0.5.3.git20190105-1. -The Solution ------------- +A couple of issues have been filed against ``tmux`` for this. Although it is +not a problem with ``tmux`` the issues remain for reference: + +| https://github.com/tmux/tmux/issues/1264 +| https://github.com/tmux/tmux/issues/1593 -The ``ncurses`` package should stop shipping terminfo entries for ``st``. These -should then be provided in ``/usr/share/terminfo`` by this (and other) ``st`` -packages. The conflicting terminfo entries are +Complications +------------- -* ``st`` and -* ``st-256color``. +While it may be tempting to use the terminfo files shipped with ``st``, that +would be a bad idea from a packaging standpoint. There are two reasons for +this: (1) As of ``st-0.8.2`` they have errors in them. This has been fixed and +will roll out in the next release, though. -Additional entries that could be considered for removal from ``ncurses`` are +| https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses/2019-10/msg00071.html +| https://lists.suckless.org/hackers/1911/17006.html -* ``st-0.6``, -* ``st-0.7``, -* ``st-16color``, -* ``st-direct``, -* ``stterm`` (for distributions that rename ``st`` to ``stterm``), -* ``stterm-16color``, and -* ``stterm-256color``. +(2) It is vital that remote terminals connecting via ``ssh`` are known. That is +accomplished by having all terminfo files in one package (like ``ncurses``). -This solution cannot be implemented without the cooperation of ``ncurses`` -since many distributions (including Arch Linux) do not allow for two packages -that provide files with identical paths to be installed side-by-side. -Therefore, I am bringing this to the attention of the ``ncurses`` team. +``ncurses`` has released updated terminfo entries. The problem as described +above is fixed. However, the updated terminfo entries are not installed on +ArchLinux because they were released as a standalone file without a new release +of the rest of ``ncurses``. + +The Solution +------------ + +The solution must be to get the updated terminfo entries packaged for +ArchLinux. I believe that the ``ncurses`` package should be updated to that +effect. + +https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/57596 The Workaround -------------- A somewhat painful, albeit pragmatic, workaround is as follows: A user that encounters issues that are due to mismatched terminfo entries, such as those -above, can symlink the terminfo entries included in this package into her -user-level terminfo database using the following commands: +above, can populate a user-level terminfo database from the terminfo entries +supplied by ``st``. The following command will do this: .. code:: shell - mkdir ~/.terminfo/s - ln -s /usr/share/st/terminfo/s/* ~/.terminfo/s + tic -sx /usr/share/st/st.info + +The generated terminfo database will most likely be placed in ``~/.terminfo``. +The command will print the actual location used. Unfortunately, these files +need to be kept up to date by hand. Actually they should probably be removed as +soon as a new version of ``ncurses`` is released. |