#terminfo — Public Fediverse posts

My Monteverdi platform TUI view uses the tcell go library and it recognizes Ghostty with no problem, but today I discovered that mtr complains it doesn't recognize xterm-ghostty.

I see there's some consternation about Ghostty using its own terminfo and I feel like going ... well sonny, back in my day we had to echo terminfo into the amber 80x20 terminal CRT character by character with a lit match just to get BACKSPACE to work!

Anyway, yelling at cloud gets me nowhere. To get mtr to work I aliased it with an env var:

mtr: aliased to sudo TERM=xterm-256color mtr

But I agree with @mitchellh on that crazy issue thread. It's a terminal emulator and that's the whole fucking point of terminfo in the first place.

#ghostty #terminfo #terminalnerd

My Monteverdi platform TUI view uses the tcell go library and it recognizes Ghostty with no problem, but today I discovered that mtr complains it doesn't recognize xterm-ghostty.

I see there's some consternation about Ghostty using its own terminfo and I feel like going ... well sonny, back in my day we had to echo terminfo into the amber 80x20 terminal CRT character by character with a lit match just to get BACKSPACE to work!

Anyway, yelling at cloud gets me nowhere. To get mtr to work I aliased it with an env var:

mtr: aliased to sudo TERM=xterm-256color mtr

But I agree with @mitchellh on that crazy issue thread. It's a terminal emulator and that's the whole fucking point of terminfo in the first place.

#ghostty #terminfo #terminalnerd

My Monteverdi platform TUI view uses the tcell go library and it recognizes Ghostty with no problem, but today I discovered that mtr complains it doesn't recognize xterm-ghostty.

I see there's some consternation about Ghostty using its own terminfo and I feel like going ... well sonny, back in my day we had to echo terminfo into the amber 80x20 terminal CRT character by character with a lit match just to get BACKSPACE to work!

Anyway, yelling at cloud gets me nowhere. To get mtr to work I aliased it with an env var:

mtr: aliased to sudo TERM=xterm-256color mtr

But I agree with @mitchellh on that crazy issue thread. It's a terminal emulator and that's the whole fucking point of terminfo in the first place.

#ghostty #terminfo #terminalnerd

My Monteverdi platform TUI view uses the tcell go library and it recognizes Ghostty with no problem, but today I discovered that mtr complains it doesn't recognize xterm-ghostty.

I see there's some consternation about Ghostty using its own terminfo and I feel like going ... well sonny, back in my day we had to echo terminfo into the amber 80x20 terminal CRT character by character with a lit match just to get BACKSPACE to work!

Anyway, yelling at cloud gets me nowhere. To get mtr to work I aliased it with an env var:

mtr: aliased to sudo TERM=xterm-256color mtr

But I agree with @mitchellh on that crazy issue thread. It's a terminal emulator and that's the whole fucking point of terminfo in the first place.

#ghostty #terminfo #terminalnerd

My Monteverdi platform TUI view uses the tcell go library and it recognizes Ghostty with no problem, but today I discovered that mtr complains it doesn't recognize xterm-ghostty.

I see there's some consternation about Ghostty using its own terminfo and I feel like going ... well sonny, back in my day we had to echo terminfo into the amber 80x20 terminal CRT character by character with a lit match just to get BACKSPACE to work!

Anyway, yelling at cloud gets me nowhere. To get mtr to work I aliased it with an env var:

mtr: aliased to sudo TERM=xterm-256color mtr

But I agree with @mitchellh on that crazy issue thread. It's a terminal emulator and that's the whole fucking point of terminfo in the first place.

#ghostty #terminfo #terminalnerd

Previous post is an absolutely top-notch rant on the state of #terminfo. I can't even boost it without a mildly verbose followup:

I've mostly managed to avoid learning how any of this stuff works, except for an old weird workaround for rxvt-running-tmux years ago, and more recently, copying terminfo entries for newer terminals around. (Mostly `foot`, and `foot-extra`. I refuse to learn why there are two entries for a single, modern terminal emulator.)

The terminal-based LLM coding tools (claude code, opencode, gemini, pi, etc) are a pretty interesting new development. In my experience, there's been a slow shift away from terminal-based tools for decades. Now, suddenly, these new tools are trying to jam lots of GUI-like features into terminal apps.

My impression is that the amount of time spent in terminal emulators is increasing for the first time in years. (I could of course be wrong, and maybe the time is spent inside VS Code extensions and web UIs instead.)

Previous post is an absolutely top-notch rant on the state of #terminfo. I can't even boost it without a mildly verbose followup:

I've mostly managed to avoid learning how any of this stuff works, except for an old weird workaround for rxvt-running-tmux years ago, and more recently, copying terminfo entries for newer terminals around. (Mostly `foot`, and `foot-extra`. I refuse to learn why there are two entries for a single, modern terminal emulator.)

The terminal-based LLM coding tools (claude code, opencode, gemini, pi, etc) are a pretty interesting new development. In my experience, there's been a slow shift away from terminal-based tools for decades. Now, suddenly, these new tools are trying to jam lots of GUI-like features into terminal apps.

My impression is that the amount of time spent in terminal emulators is increasing for the first time in years. (I could of course be wrong, and maybe the time is spent inside VS Code extensions and web UIs instead.)

Previous post is an absolutely top-notch rant on the state of #terminfo. I can't even boost it without a mildly verbose followup:

I've mostly managed to avoid learning how any of this stuff works, except for an old weird workaround for rxvt-running-tmux years ago, and more recently, copying terminfo entries for newer terminals around. (Mostly `foot`, and `foot-extra`. I refuse to learn why there are two entries for a single, modern terminal emulator.)

The terminal-based LLM coding tools (claude code, opencode, gemini, pi, etc) are a pretty interesting new development. In my experience, there's been a slow shift away from terminal-based tools for decades. Now, suddenly, these new tools are trying to jam lots of GUI-like features into terminal apps.

My impression is that the amount of time spent in terminal emulators is increasing for the first time in years. (I could of course be wrong, and maybe the time is spent inside VS Code extensions and web UIs instead.)

When working with fancy terminal emulators (foot, kitty, Ghostty, etc.) over SSH, you may encounter glitches because of missing terminfo on the remote machine.

To fix it, you need to transfer your terminfo.

You can use the infocmp command to do that: https://spiffyk.cz/notes/#general-ssh-terminfo

#terminal #cli #terminfo #ghostty #kitty #foot #ssh

When working with fancy terminal emulators (foot, kitty, Ghostty, etc.) over SSH, you may encounter glitches because of missing terminfo on the remote machine.

To fix it, you need to transfer your terminfo.

You can use the infocmp command to do that: https://spiffyk.cz/notes/#general-ssh-terminfo

#terminal #cli #terminfo #ghostty #kitty #foot #ssh

When working with fancy terminal emulators (foot, kitty, Ghostty, etc.) over SSH, you may encounter glitches because of missing terminfo on the remote machine.

To fix it, you need to transfer your terminfo.

You can use the infocmp command to do that: https://spiffyk.cz/notes/#general-ssh-terminfo

#terminal #cli #terminfo #ghostty #kitty #foot #ssh

When working with fancy terminal emulators (foot, kitty, Ghostty, etc.) over SSH, you may encounter glitches because of missing terminfo on the remote machine.

To fix it, you need to transfer your terminfo.

You can use the infocmp command to do that: https://spiffyk.cz/notes/#general-ssh-terminfo

#terminal #cli #terminfo #ghostty #kitty #foot #ssh

When working with fancy terminal emulators (foot, kitty, Ghostty, etc.) over SSH, you may encounter glitches because of missing terminfo on the remote machine.

To fix it, you need to transfer your terminfo.

You can use the infocmp command to do that: https://spiffyk.cz/notes/#general-ssh-terminfo

#terminal #cli #terminfo #ghostty #kitty #foot #ssh

In which #Ghostty #TerminalApp and #terminfo appear in comic form: Nope, never heard of it. See also https://ghostty.org/docs/help/terminfo
https://social.jvns.ca/@b0rk/115373147646620824

In which #Ghostty #TerminalApp and #terminfo appear in comic form: Nope, never heard of it. See also https://ghostty.org/docs/help/terminfo
https://social.jvns.ca/@b0rk/115373147646620824

In which #Ghostty #TerminalApp and #terminfo appear in comic form: Nope, never heard of it. See also https://ghostty.org/docs/help/terminfo
https://social.jvns.ca/@b0rk/115373147646620824

In which #Ghostty #TerminalApp and #terminfo appear in comic form: Nope, never heard of it. See also https://ghostty.org/docs/help/terminfo
https://social.jvns.ca/@b0rk/115373147646620824

In which #Ghostty #TerminalApp and #terminfo appear in comic form: Nope, never heard of it. See also https://ghostty.org/docs/help/terminfo
https://social.jvns.ca/@b0rk/115373147646620824

@kzimmermann

What does "control chars get printed" mean?

Because it could be two different things with two very different adjustments to make.

If it means control characters actually being printed as glyphs on the screen, taking it at face value, that's a /etc/wscons.conf and screen emulation settings thing; but if it is line editing not working then that's a TERM=netbsd6 and /etc/ttys affair.

#NetBSD #wscons #terminfo

@kzimmermann

What does "control chars get printed" mean?

Because it could be two different things with two very different adjustments to make.

If it means control characters actually being printed as glyphs on the screen, taking it at face value, that's a /etc/wscons.conf and screen emulation settings thing; but if it is line editing not working then that's a TERM=netbsd6 and /etc/ttys affair.

#NetBSD #wscons #terminfo

@kzimmermann

What does "control chars get printed" mean?

Because it could be two different things with two very different adjustments to make.

If it means control characters actually being printed as glyphs on the screen, taking it at face value, that's a /etc/wscons.conf and screen emulation settings thing; but if it is line editing not working then that's a TERM=netbsd6 and /etc/ttys affair.

#NetBSD #wscons #terminfo

@kzimmermann

What does "control chars get printed" mean?

Because it could be two different things with two very different adjustments to make.

If it means control characters actually being printed as glyphs on the screen, taking it at face value, that's a /etc/wscons.conf and screen emulation settings thing; but if it is line editing not working then that's a TERM=netbsd6 and /etc/ttys affair.

#NetBSD #wscons #terminfo

@kzimmermann

What does "control chars get printed" mean?

Because it could be two different things with two very different adjustments to make.

If it means control characters actually being printed as glyphs on the screen, taking it at face value, that's a /etc/wscons.conf and screen emulation settings thing; but if it is line editing not working then that's a TERM=netbsd6 and /etc/ttys affair.

#NetBSD #wscons #terminfo

There is a linux-16color terminal type in Dickey #terminfo. It has been there since 2009.

The #Linux KVT does not support more than the standard 8 colours, and some sleight of hand has been employed to get sort-of 16.

Unfortunately, the sleight of hand is broken.

If you've ever set TERM=linux-16colour and wondered at some strange scrolling and redraw artifacts, it is because the "op" capability doesn't undo the sleight of hand used by the setab/setaf capabilities.

#VirtualTerminals

There is a linux-16color terminal type in Dickey #terminfo. It has been there since 2009.

The #Linux KVT does not support more than the standard 8 colours, and some sleight of hand has been employed to get sort-of 16.

Unfortunately, the sleight of hand is broken.

If you've ever set TERM=linux-16colour and wondered at some strange scrolling and redraw artifacts, it is because the "op" capability doesn't undo the sleight of hand used by the setab/setaf capabilities.

#VirtualTerminals

There is a linux-16color terminal type in Dickey #terminfo. It has been there since 2009.

The #Linux KVT does not support more than the standard 8 colours, and some sleight of hand has been employed to get sort-of 16.

Unfortunately, the sleight of hand is broken.

If you've ever set TERM=linux-16colour and wondered at some strange scrolling and redraw artifacts, it is because the "op" capability doesn't undo the sleight of hand used by the setab/setaf capabilities.

#VirtualTerminals

@b0rk Not only have I had this situation, I also have the reverse on my OpenBSD box, where pressing backspace inside tmux sends a control+h (0x08), so to actually backspace I need to type control+backspace (0x7F)

It works fine outside tmux. Gotta get that sorted out at some point. #termcap #terminfo

@b0rk Not only have I had this situation, I also have the reverse on my OpenBSD box, where pressing backspace inside tmux sends a control+h (0x08), so to actually backspace I need to type control+backspace (0x7F)

It works fine outside tmux. Gotta get that sorted out at some point. #termcap #terminfo

@b0rk Not only have I had this situation, I also have the reverse on my OpenBSD box, where pressing backspace inside tmux sends a control+h (0x08), so to actually backspace I need to type control+backspace (0x7F)

It works fine outside tmux. Gotta get that sorted out at some point. #termcap #terminfo

@b0rk Not only have I had this situation, I also have the reverse on my OpenBSD box, where pressing backspace inside tmux sends a control+h (0x08), so to actually backspace I need to type control+backspace (0x7F)

It works fine outside tmux. Gotta get that sorted out at some point. #termcap #terminfo

@b0rk Not only have I had this situation, I also have the reverse on my OpenBSD box, where pressing backspace inside tmux sends a control+h (0x08), so to actually backspace I need to type control+backspace (0x7F)

It works fine outside tmux. Gotta get that sorted out at some point. #termcap #terminfo

@bean @chrisvest

Mishandling is a problem to this day. Many people know of ECMA-48. Fewer have read and fully understood ECMA-35, which explains the extensible and general structure of escape and control sequences.

#terminfo #TerminalEmulators

@bean @chrisvest

Mishandling is a problem to this day. Many people know of ECMA-48. Fewer have read and fully understood ECMA-35, which explains the extensible and general structure of escape and control sequences.

#terminfo #TerminalEmulators

@bean @chrisvest

Mishandling is a problem to this day. Many people know of ECMA-48. Fewer have read and fully understood ECMA-35, which explains the extensible and general structure of escape and control sequences.

#terminfo #TerminalEmulators

@bean @chrisvest

Mishandling is a problem to this day. Many people know of ECMA-48. Fewer have read and fully understood ECMA-35, which explains the extensible and general structure of escape and control sequences.

#terminfo #TerminalEmulators

@bean @chrisvest

Mishandling is a problem to this day. Many people know of ECMA-48. Fewer have read and fully understood ECMA-35, which explains the extensible and general structure of escape and control sequences.

#terminfo #TerminalEmulators

@bean

When it comes to minimum required common functionality, I've found that if one starts from scratch in the 21st century, the capabilities that one has to have in order to flag the useful differences among terminals and terminal emulators have almost no parallels in #terminfo at all.

http://jdebp.uk/Softwares/nosh/guide/commands/TerminalCapabilities.xml#CAPABILITIES

@bean

When it comes to minimum required common functionality, I've found that if one starts from scratch in the 21st century, the capabilities that one has to have in order to flag the useful differences among terminals and terminal emulators have almost no parallels in #terminfo at all.

http://jdebp.uk/Softwares/nosh/guide/commands/TerminalCapabilities.xml#CAPABILITIES

@bean

When it comes to minimum required common functionality, I've found that if one starts from scratch in the 21st century, the capabilities that one has to have in order to flag the useful differences among terminals and terminal emulators have almost no parallels in #terminfo at all.

http://jdebp.uk/Softwares/nosh/guide/commands/TerminalCapabilities.xml#CAPABILITIES

@bean

When it comes to minimum required common functionality, I've found that if one starts from scratch in the 21st century, the capabilities that one has to have in order to flag the useful differences among terminals and terminal emulators have almost no parallels in #terminfo at all.

http://jdebp.uk/Softwares/nosh/guide/commands/TerminalCapabilities.xml#CAPABILITIES

@bean

When it comes to minimum required common functionality, I've found that if one starts from scratch in the 21st century, the capabilities that one has to have in order to flag the useful differences among terminals and terminal emulators have almost no parallels in #terminfo at all.

http://jdebp.uk/Softwares/nosh/guide/commands/TerminalCapabilities.xml#CAPABILITIES

@bean

Of course, there is the O'Reilly book on #termcap and #terminfo, which does have that sort of documentation. But it hasn't been updated since 1992, thus tending to reinforce your point. (-:

@bean

Of course, there is the O'Reilly book on #termcap and #terminfo, which does have that sort of documentation. But it hasn't been updated since 1992, thus tending to reinforce your point. (-:

@bean

Of course, there is the O'Reilly book on #termcap and #terminfo, which does have that sort of documentation. But it hasn't been updated since 1992, thus tending to reinforce your point. (-:

@bean

Of course, there is the O'Reilly book on #termcap and #terminfo, which does have that sort of documentation. But it hasn't been updated since 1992, thus tending to reinforce your point. (-:

@bean

Of course, there is the O'Reilly book on #termcap and #terminfo, which does have that sort of documentation. But it hasn't been updated since 1992, thus tending to reinforce your point. (-:

@tpope “I want things to work by default instead of work for the twelve people who've studied them in detail and have limitless time to fiddle.”

I’m not sure if @jwz still believes his quip from 1998 (“#Linux is only free if your time has no value” https://www.jwz.org/doc/linux.html), but @bean’s #terminfo rant above seems to confirm it’s still true.

[edit: Of course I’ve now aroused the “well ackchyually” Linux apologist army. I doubt anyone tagged is interested.]

@tpope “I want things to work by default instead of work for the twelve people who've studied them in detail and have limitless time to fiddle.”

I’m not sure if @jwz still believes his quip from 1998 (“#Linux is only free if your time has no value” https://www.jwz.org/doc/linux.html), but @bean’s #terminfo rant above seems to confirm it’s still true.

[edit: Of course I’ve now aroused the “well ackchyually” Linux apologist army. I doubt anyone tagged is interested.]

@tpope “I want things to work by default instead of work for the twelve people who've studied them in detail and have limitless time to fiddle.”

I’m not sure if @jwz still believes his quip from 1998 (“#Linux is only free if your time has no value” https://www.jwz.org/doc/linux.html), but @bean’s #terminfo rant above seems to confirm it’s still true.

[edit: Of course I’ve now aroused the “well ackchyually” Linux apologist army. I doubt anyone tagged is interested.]

@tpope “I want things to work by default instead of work for the twelve people who've studied them in detail and have limitless time to fiddle.”

I’m not sure if @jwz still believes his quip from 1998 (“#Linux is only free if your time has no value” https://www.jwz.org/doc/linux.html), but @bean’s #terminfo rant above seems to confirm it’s still true.

[edit: Of course I’ve now aroused the “well ackchyually” Linux apologist army. I doubt anyone tagged is interested.]