Re: Xterm and Readline (was: select large text with mouse)

[imputerate]

On Jun 13, 10:19 pm, adams...@email.unc.edu (Joel J. Adamson) wrote:

> imputerate <imputer...@gmail.com> writes:
> >>  first i want to fix it so i use only the bash shell and only the
> >> xterm
> >> terminal emulator, no matter which defaults are set for the os or
> >> window
> >> manager i'm dealing with;

joel replies:
> Interesting you should have these problems, because I just switched to
> bash last night and I ran into a little confusion myself.  I put "source
> ~/.profile" in my .bashrc to make sure that the environment was carried
> over to a new xterm session.  Xterm should start with whatever your
> default shell is (man chsh).


imputerate writes:
i put the line "source ~/.profile" in my .bashrc;
when i loaded xterm i got a blank screen with no login prompt;

here's the .profile file; notice that it also includes the "export..."
lines for
.inputrc:


~/.profile:
--------------snip----------------
# the default umask is set in /etc/profile
#umask 022

# if running bash
if [ -n "$BASH_VERSION" ]; then
    # include .bashrc if it exists
    if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
        . ~/.bashrc
    fi
fi

# set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
if [ -d ~/bin ] ; then
    PATH=~/bin:"${PATH}"
fi

export INPUTRC=/etc/inputrc
export INPUTRC=/home/hodgson/.inputrc
--------------------------------------

imputerate had written:
> >   i have essential emacs keymappings in readline's config file,

joel answered:
> So you mean you put your Emacs (the text editor) mappings into inputrc,
> instead of into .emacs?  You should find that the default Emacs bindings
> for bash are Emacs-y enough.

imputerate replies:
 to clear up a point: i live in emacs with an elaborate set of
keyboard
customizations [inspired in part by the old Wordstar principle: use
geometry instead of mnemotics];

i have them set in my .emacs file;

i also put a small batch of them in .inputrc, so that i would have the
same experience writing on the command line as i do writing in an
emacs
buffer [i also write email messages in gnus];

so, i'm still up a tree about how to get xterm/bash to read .inputrc;

imputerate had written:
> > since i have these lines in both .bashrc and .bash_profile, they
> > should
> > work no matter how xterm invokes bash [i.e., as an interactive shell
> > (login or normal), or even non-interactive shell]; or so i understand;

joel replied:
> Hmmm... this is a good question for a bash expert: I've spent a lot more
> time studing how Z Shell loads its configuration, and as I said I've
> just switched (back) to bash.

imputerate:
 BUT the variable which has changed is not that my shell is bash, but
that my terminal emulator is xterm [instead of gnometerm];
   [NB on the slackware box, xterm/bash DOES retain the readline
customizations]

imputerate's initial plea:
> > SO, how do i get bash in xterm to behave the way bash in 'gnometerm'
> > did, i.e. so that i have my readline customizations on the command
> > line in the bash shell?

joel answered:
> Have you tried an empty inputrc?

imputerate:
if i take my eccentric customizations out of inputrc, then they will
only be in .emacs, which neither xterm nor bash is apt to read; is
this not so?

imputerate promised to:
>> plow through the .Xresources,
> > .Xdefaults configurations for xterm and emacs;

joel replied:
> X resources are not the only way to configure the Emacs display,
> although they are the best I've found for setting the default face and
> background.  Same goes in xterm: it's much better than putting "-fg
> white -bg black -geometry..." in every desktop icon or making it an
> alias.

imputerate writes:
yes; i think so too; i have only face and background for xterm and
emacs in .Xresources, but i wonder if .Xdefaults is also sourced by
some of xterm/bash, anyway for root.

can someone direct me to a discussion of the priorities which obtain
among all these config files; for, example, i understand from several
posts here and there that .Xresources preempts .emacs; thanks,
imputerate