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