Subject: Re: value of TERM
To: Bruno Haible <bruno@clisp.org>
From: Greg A. Woods <woods@weird.com>
List: tech-userlevel
Date: 12/14/2006 14:14:20
At Thu, 14 Dec 2006 16:55:42 +0100,
Martin Husemann wrote:
> 
> On Thu, Dec 14, 2006 at 03:46:03PM +0000, Gilbert Fernandes wrote:
> > 
> > On Thu, Dec 14, 2006 at 03:04:59PM +0100, Bruno Haible wrote:
> > > 
> > > Why isn't TERM set to the optimal value by default?
> > 
> > Because it is better to set it to the lowest common denominator,
> > so it will work everywhere. Some people are going to install NetBSD
> > on old machines or some machines which are used through some weird
> > terminal or cable link and only work with vt110 or very basic
> > terminal modes.
> 
> That is no excuse to not set it correctly in /etc/ttys, for example
> on i386 for ttyE0 .. ttyE4.

Indeed.  That's been bugging me a lot ever since wscons was introduced.

BTW, "wsvt25m" is quite a bit more useful than the entry without the
"km" attribute and for all(?) applications it never hides or breaks any
UI functionality.


> The serial console tty00 (or console) should stay at vt100, of course.

Well, actually, "unknown" would be best, and of course the console getty
should be running only on "constty" too of course, not "console" or
"tty00" or anything else.


> Install media is a bit problematic, and should probably stay at simple
> terms too.

Well, once again it depends on exactly what device is being used.  If
you know that you're using /dev/ttyE0, as you normally will be if you
boot an install disk on a PC of sorts then you want to use "wsvt25m",
but if you're on a serial console then you know you want to ask the user
(e.g. by using "unknown").  The invocation of "sysinst" could be smarter
about figuring out what the console device is and pre-setting TERM as
appropriate.

-- 
						Greg A. Woods

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