Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!think!paperboy!meissner From: meissner@osf.org (Michael Meissner) Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions Subject: Re: TERMINFO to TERMCAP conversion. Message-ID: Date: 10 Apr 90 14:26:33 GMT References: <9237@cbnewsh.ATT.COM> <461@svcs1.UUCP> <=5R2.MAxds13@ficc.uu.net> Sender: news@OSF.ORG Distribution: na Organization: Open Software Foundation Lines: 37 In-reply-to: peter@ficc.uu.net's message of 6 Apr 90 21:08:08 GMT In article <=5R2.MAxds13@ficc.uu.net> peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes: | I said: [Termcap is OK, and it's extensible] | | > It's not all that extensiable, it still has the absurd 1024 byte limit | > (and yes I have run into that limit with a vt320 description). | | True, but that's fixable. I've already suggested having a compiled version | (basically a hashed index table into the entries). It is not fixable without fixing all of the old crufty programs that have hardwired 1024 arrays. | > You cannot really add new % operators to the core fields, without | > recompiling all of the termcap utilities. | | On the other hand you can't extend Terminfo at all. And recompiling is | fine if you want to add a new capability that your new program needs | but nobody else cares about. | | Besides, with shared libraries you *can* add new operators without | recompiling or relinking anything. | | > Also, termcap cannot handle really weird terminals, due to the limited | > expression capability of the % syntax. Terminfo can, because it | > provides general reverse polish calculations. | | So add a "cp" to supplement "cm" with a more powerful syntax, and phase | out "cm". Or just add a "%(expression)" form to "cm". And then break all programs which use 'cm' as the specification calls for. -- Michael Meissner email: meissner@osf.org phone: 617-621-8861 Open Software Foundation, 11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA Catproof is an oxymoron, Childproof is nearly so