Re: lynx-dev Lynx 2.8.3.dev4+Slang 1.3.8: arrow keys not working?

[Kim DeVaughn]

On Sat, Jul 17, 1999, Klaus Weide (address@hidden) said:
|
| > Please tell me what to change in any/all the above terminal-related
| > entities so lynx will work again (without breaking any other app).
|
| Of course that's impossible to answer without knowing exactly what
| those years of twiddling did to your 'various termcap/terminfo entries,
| stty, .screenrc "tweaks", tcsh "settc's", and probably a few other
| things'.

Of course it is (impossible), which is why I said it in that tongue-in-
cheek manner.

The point being that *in the real world* getting term-stuff working
"right" is not, never has been, and probably never will be a "simple
process" (such as just specifying a termcap/terminfo entry).  Yes, it
*should* be that simple, but that's "theory", not "practice".

BTW, "right" in the above is defined as doing the expected operation
for all apps when said functions are invoked (and not doing incorrect
things when they are not).  It doesn't mean adhering to some formal
standard (though that would be nice, too) ... it means "working".

See below.


| > Or provide a "backout patch" to undo the recent damage ... :-) ...!
|
| Manually change the 'static Keysym_String_List table[]' within
| 'setup_vtXXX_keymap' in LYStrings.c.  Replace the "^(..)" in the
| second column with the string in the first column, for each row
| where this is 'necessary'.  Extra points if you figure out exactly
| for which rows this is necessary (in your situation).

Yeah, I'd already figured that out, and it is probably what I will do
(though I will probably change all the rows, en masse :-) ).

What really annoys me, is that the dev.4 change seems to me to be totally
gratuitous.  I don't recall anyone complaining that they were having
problems with arrow keys in recent lynx-dev messages (though I could
have missed something).  Also, I didn't see anything specifically about
the change in CHANGES (unless the reference to someones broken F1 key
was the precipitating problem).

Now there's been what, three or four reports of "my arrow keys are
busted now" already, from people who didn't have any problems before,
with more sure to "trickle in", as you said elsewhere.


| Alternatively: comment out the '#define USE_KEYMAPS' in LYCurses.h.
| You lose manual escape sequence configuaration via .lynx-keymaps as
| well as slang mouse support, you gain that the 'traditional' hardcoded
| escape sequences are recognized.   (This should still work - let me
| know if it doesn't.)

I'll probably try that, just for the heck of it, but I really *do* want
to try the .lynx-keymaps trickery sometime.


| But do continue trying to find out from Tom how you're supposed to do it
| the Right Way...

Well ... since we're starting to talk about religion now ...

Lesee, I have a very good vt100 term package ... runs all the torture
tests I've found for vt100, with the exception of "blinking text".

However ... at my ISP (FreeBSD), the termcap entry for vt100 was broken
by not having kb=^H, but rather kb=^?.  So I fix that, but there are
still a couple problems with it, when running ncftp (and something else)
IIRC.

Discussion with others at the ISP (including a couple sysadmin types)
leads me to try using vt102 and vt220 (both of which end up having
problems with various apps, among them emacs).  The suggestion to use
xterm meets with success, except when running under screen(1), for which
I have a couple tweaks to fix that up.

Except that, when using xterm and an app that was built using ncurses,
the bloody screen gets cleared whenever I ^Z or exit the app ... and there
is usually data on the display I want to refer to following the ^Z/exit.
So I build apps using slang, which doesn't exhibit this obnoxious behavior.

[Yes, I know ... the xterm/ncurses combo is trying to use the xterm
 "alternate screen" facility, which I *don't* want it to do.  I've tried
 the attrib changes that Tom has suggested (over the course of what, 2-3
 years, Tom) to disable that facility, in both terminfo and termcap entries,
 but without success.]

Now the above is only a partial synopsis of getting term-stuff working
at this particulat ISP, and there is much I've left out, but it is typical
of what I seem to go thru whenever I bring up an account on a different
platform ... I have similar or worse horror stories about IRIX, Amdahl UTS,
even some VAXen running BSD, etc, etc, etc.  I'm sure you have had similar
experiences ...

Anyway, I suppose I've ranted on long enough about this for tonight ... I
know I need about three-fingers of Chivas now, after which I will probably
bite the bullet, and see about trying to "fix" lynx ... though I suspect
my "solution" will not be "pleasing" ...

/kim