Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!think!harvard!seismo!brl-smoke!gwyn From: gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn ) Newsgroups: net.info-terms Subject: Re: vs and ve termcap entries Message-ID: <684@brl-smoke.ARPA> Date: Wed, 5-Feb-86 18:22:41 EST Article-I.D.: brl-smok.684 Posted: Wed Feb 5 18:22:41 1986 Date-Received: Sun, 9-Feb-86 06:34:17 EST References: <13@unisoft.UUCP> <1991@brl-tgr.ARPA> <6011@elsie.UUCP> <2145@brl-tgr.ARPA> <6012@elsie.UUCP> Reply-To: gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn (VLD/VMB) ) Organization: Ballistic Research Lab Lines: 38 >> > ve . . . Sequence to end open/visual mode >> > vs . . . Sequence to start open/visual mode >> >> The 4.1BSD TERMCAP(5) documentation is very obsolete. >> A much improved edition should be distributed with 4.3BSD. > >I trust that no one will be misled by Doug Gwyn's contribution. The 4.1BSD >termcap(5) documentation is utterly up-to-date for those of us running 4.1BSD >(and for folks interested in writing programs that will port to 4.1BSD systems); >attempts to use 4.3BSD documentation on 4.1BSD systems would be catastrophic. ALL termcap terminal descriptions and termcap-using programs should use the up-to-date termcap(5) documentation. The old documentation was, variously: incomplete, ambiguous, confusing, and/or incorrect. The new version incorporates substantial contributions from Mark Horton and Ken Arnold; it describes completely the "official" operation of the termcap database. It even flags "obsolete" (deprecated usage) capabilities. The problem with termcap has always been that, due partly to the poor state of the available documentation, implementors of termcap-using programs would interpret the meaning of various capabilities differently. This means that many existing programs never were correct and disagreed with each other about termcap semantics, although they would work acceptably for certain types of terminals (but not in general). The 4.1BSD termcap(5) documentation is inadequate, even for 4.1BSD systems. Correct termcap descriptions and programs will work according to the revised termcap(5), and all others should be corrected. Termcap should NOT be version-dependent (except to the extent that, as time goes on, additional capabilities could be supported). An additional advantage to following the new termcap(5) documentation are that conforming terminal descriptions can be automatically converted to the newer terminfo form and still maintain the same semantics.