flh@cbnewsl.att.com (frederick.l.horman..iii) (05/10/90)
The following problem was recently noted by an AT&T customer: The AT&T xterm recognizes some escape sequences that are not recognized by the MIT xterm. In particular, two escape sequences were added to signal when a program enters/exits curses mode so that xterm can inhibit window resizing while in curses mode. As a result, someone trying to rlogin to an SVR4 system (where the AT&T xterm has been installed -- with its terminfo entry) will get extraneous output when running a curses program. We (AT&T) would like to donate the added functionality to MIT, so that the MIT xterm will recognize the escape sequences and behave appropriately. To do this with minimal change, I need to pick a set of escape sequences to be used for the smcup/rmcup terminfo capabilities which are used to signal enter/leave curses mode. I have tentatively chosen to use the \E[< and \E[> sequences because they are designated by ANSI for private use and are not currently used by the MIT and AT&T xterms. I would like feedback on this choice of escape sequences. If you see a conflict that I'm missing, please let me know. Feel free to respond to this newsgroup or directly to me. Thanks, Fred Horman AT&T flh@attunix.att.com
mouse@LARRY.MCRCIM.MCGILL.EDU (der Mouse) (06/02/90)
>> I think that the desired behavior would be for AT&T to modify their >> applications that use curses to detect that the window has changed >> size (i.e. with SIGWINCH), [...]. > What about all third-party applications that is the reason that most > people goes with UNIX anyway? AT&T could surely modify all *their* > applications (if they haven't already done so in SVR4), but then > there are all those obstinare third-party software companies that > refuse to do so. It seems to me that a third-party vendor failing to properly handle window size changes is on a par with a third-party vendor failing to properly use terminfo/termcap/curses and instead wiring in knowledge of escape sequences. Proper handling of SIGWINCH will simply become a necessary part of a complete curses application, much the way setting the input hint correctly is a necessary part of a complete X application. der Mouse old: mcgill-vision!mouse new: mouse@larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu