168 lines
7.0 KiB
Plaintext
168 lines
7.0 KiB
Plaintext
## Why does st not handle utmp entries?
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Use the excellent tool of [utmp](http://git.suckless.org/utmp/) for this task.
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## Some _random program_ complains that st is unknown/not recognised/unsupported/whatever!
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It means that st doesn’t have any terminfo entry on your system. Chances are
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you did not `make install`. If you just want to test it without installing it,
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you can manualy run `tic -s st.info`.
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## Nothing works, and nothing is said about an unknown terminal!
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* Some programs just assume they’re running in xterm i.e. they don’t rely on
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terminfo. What you see is the current state of the “xterm compliance”.
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* Some programs don’t complain about the lacking st description and default to
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another terminal. In that case see the question about terminfo.
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## I get some weird glitches/visual bug on _random program_!
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Try launching it with a different TERM: $ TERM=xterm myapp. toe(1) will give
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you a list of available terminals, but you’ll most likely switch between xterm,
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st or st-256color. The default value for TERM can be changed in config.h
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(TNAME).
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## How do I scroll back up?
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Using a terminal multiplexer.
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* `st -e tmux` using C-b [
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* `st -e screen` using C-a ESC
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## Why doesn't the Del key work in some programs?
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Taken from the terminfo manpage:
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If the terminal has a keypad that transmits codes when the keys
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are pressed, this information can be given. Note that it is not
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possible to handle terminals where the keypad only works in
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local (this applies, for example, to the unshifted HP 2621 keys).
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If the keypad can be set to transmit or not transmit, give these
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codes as smkx and rmkx. Otherwise the keypad is assumed to
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always transmit.
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In the st case smkx=E[?1hE= and rmkx=E[?1lE>, so it is mandatory that
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applications which want to test against keypad keys send these
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sequences.
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But buggy applications (like bash and irssi, for example) don't do this. A fast
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solution for them is to use the following command:
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$ printf '\033[?1h\033=' >/dev/tty
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or
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$ tput smkx
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In the case of bash, readline is used. Readline has a different note in its
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manpage about this issue:
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enable-keypad (Off)
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When set to On, readline will try to enable the
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application keypad when it is called. Some systems
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need this to enable arrow keys.
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Adding this option to your .inputrc will fix the keypad problem for all
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applications using readline.
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If you are using zsh, then read the zsh FAQ
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<http://zsh.sourceforge.net/FAQ/zshfaq03.html#l25>:
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It should be noted that the O / [ confusion can occur with other keys
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such as Home and End. Some systems let you query the key sequences
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sent by these keys from the system's terminal database, terminfo.
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Unfortunately, the key sequences given there typically apply to the
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mode that is not the one zsh uses by default (it's the "application"
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mode rather than the "raw" mode). Explaining the use of terminfo is
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outside of the scope of this FAQ, but if you wish to use the key
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sequences given there you can tell the line editor to turn on
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"application" mode when it starts and turn it off when it stops:
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function zle-line-init () { echoti smkx }
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function zle-line-finish () { echoti rmkx }
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zle -N zle-line-init
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zle -N zle-line-finish
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Putting these lines into your .zshrc will fix the problems.
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## How can I use meta in 8bit mode?
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St supports meta in 8bit mode, but the default terminfo entry doesn't
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use this capability. If you want it, you have to use the 'st-meta' value
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in TERM.
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## I cannot compile st in OpenBSD
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OpenBSD lacks librt, despite it being mandatory in POSIX
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<http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/c99.html#tag_20_11_13>.
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If you want to compile st for OpenBSD you have to remove -lrt from config.mk, and
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st will compile without any loss of functionality, because all the functions are
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included in libc on this platform.
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## The Backspace Case
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St is emulating the Linux way of handling backspace being delete and delete being
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backspace.
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This is an issue that was discussed in suckless mailing list
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<http://lists.suckless.org/dev/1404/20697.html>. Here is why some old grumpy
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terminal users wants its backspace to be how he feels it:
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Well, I am going to comment why I want to change the behaviour
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of this key. When ASCII was defined in 1968, communication
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with computers was done using punched cards, or hardcopy
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terminals (basically a typewriter machine connected with the
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computer using a serial port). ASCII defines DELETE as 7F,
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because, in punched-card terms, it means all the holes of the
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card punched; it is thus a kind of 'physical delete'. In the
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same way, the BACKSPACE key was a non-destructive backspace,
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as on a typewriter. So, if you wanted to delete a character,
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you had to BACKSPACE and then DELETE. Another use of BACKSPACE
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was to type accented characters, for example 'a BACKSPACE `'.
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The VT100 had no BACKSPACE key; it was generated using the
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CONTROL key as another control character (CONTROL key sets to
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0 b7 b6 b5, so it converts H (code 0x48) into BACKSPACE (code
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0x08)), but it had a DELETE key in a similar position where
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the BACKSPACE key is located today on common PC keyboards.
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All the terminal emulators emulated the difference between
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these keys correctly: the backspace key generated a BACKSPACE
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(^H) and delete key generated a DELETE (^?).
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But a problem arose when Linus Torvalds wrote Linux. Unlike
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earlier terminals, the Linux virtual terminal (the terminal
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emulator integrated in the kernel) returned a DELETE when
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backspace was pressed, due to the VT100 having a DELETE key in
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the same position. This created a lot of problems (see [1]
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and [2]). Since Linux has become the king, a lot of terminal
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emulators today generate a DELETE when the backspace key is
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pressed in order to avoid problems with Linux. The result is
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that the only way of generating a BACKSPACE on these systems
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is by using CONTROL + H. (I also think that emacs had an
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important point here because the CONTROL + H prefix is used
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in emacs in some commands (help commands).)
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From point of view of the kernel, you can change the key
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for deleting a previous character with stty erase. When you
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connect a real terminal into a machine you describe the type
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of terminal, so getty configures the correct value of stty
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erase for this terminal. In the case of terminal emulators,
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however, you don't have any getty that can set the correct
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value of stty erase, so you always get the default value.
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For this reason, it is necessary to add 'stty erase ^H' to your
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profile if you have changed the value of the backspace key.
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Of course, another solution is for st itself to modify the
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value of stty erase. I usually have the inverse problem:
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when I connect to non-Unix machines, I have to press CONTROL +
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h to get a BACKSPACE. The inverse problem occurs when a user
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connects to my Unix machines from a different system with a
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correct backspace key.
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[1] http://www.ibb.net/~anne/keyboard.html
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[2] http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO-5.html
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## But I really want the old grumpy behaviour of my terminal
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Apply [1].
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[1] http://st.suckless.org/patches/delkey
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