Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 07:29:14 +0100 From: Matthew Seaman <m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk> To: Stephen Hurd <shurd@sasktel.net> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Custom termcap entries and installworld Message-ID: <447A94BA.9000302@infracaninophile.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <447A8B42.2060901@sasktel.net> References: <004101c6810c$edeeaaf0$5200a8c0@backoffice> <447A8B42.2060901@sasktel.net>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
This is an OpenPGP/MIME signed message (RFC 2440 and 3156) --------------enig3CC51A4B2841E627D47D72C3 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Stephen Hurd wrote: > Stephen Hurd wrote: >> So, I suppose my questions are these: >> 1) How do people cope with custom termcap entries? >> 2) Is there a *correct* way to cope with custom termcap entries? >> 3) Is there a good reason to not have /usr/share/misc/termcap be a >> symlink to /etc/termcap rather than the reverse which would allow >> mergemaster to Just Work? that is... putting it in /etc fixes a >> problem... does moving it create one or more more serious problems? >> 4) Am I supposed to submit every custom termcap tweak for inclusion in= >> the next release so I can keep using my terminals? > Anyone? I think you're not going to have much luck here. Custom termcap entries are not something that most FreeBSD users deal with and consequently ther= e does not seem to be any useful mechanism established for managing them. The curses(3X) man page seems to be they key reference. Particularly the section on environment variables: TERM, TERMCAP, TERMPATH. It does also mention the possibility of using ${HOME}/.termcap to hold supplement= ary termcap entries. However, these man pages are rather confusing: many of t= hem talk about terminfo(5) in terms of 'it is going to replace termcap(5) any= day now'. But terminfo(5) is a SysV-ism and supported only as a compatib= ility thing under FreeBSD. Most people will be perfectly happy with the default termcap database -- = so long as it provides xterm / vt100 and cons25 almost all situations are co= vered. For your purposes if using environment variables to achieve your ends tur= ns out not to be workable, then I'd suggest keeping a backup copy of your custom= ised termcap somewhere where system updates won't overwrite it -- keeping it in CVS or similar would be a good move -- and writing yourself a little script to merge in your changes to /usr/share/misc/termcap and then re-ru= n 'cap_mkdb /usr/share/misc/termcap' after a system update. I've a feeling= that /etc/termcap is there mostly for historical compatibility now-adays. Cheers, Matthew --=20 Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 7 Priory Courtyard Flat 3 PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Ramsgate Kent, CT11 9PW --------------enig3CC51A4B2841E627D47D72C3 Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" Content-Description: OpenPGP digital signature Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="signature.asc" -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.3 (FreeBSD) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD4DBQFEepS/8Mjk52CukIwRA8UXAJIDVeRc2rys+6Ryy7ZHYfO5LtfDAJ9jdvQ3 xX8U48qkM/kGf2yAp+9v0Q== =DHqa -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --------------enig3CC51A4B2841E627D47D72C3--
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?447A94BA.9000302>