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From: ado@elsie.UUCP (Arthur David Olson)
Newsgroups: net.info-terms
Subject: Re: vs and ve termcap entries
Message-ID: <6013@elsie.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 11-Feb-86 12:10:13 EST
Article-I.D.: elsie.6013
Posted: Tue Feb 11 12:10:13 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 13-Feb-86 19:06:44 EST
References: <13@unisoft.UUCP> <1991@brl-tgr.ARPA> <6011@elsie.UUCP> <766@brl-smoke.ARPA>
Organization: NIH-LEC, Bethesda, MD
Lines: 41

> > Where does one get the revised (current, correct) documentation for
> > termcap(5)?
> 
> You can wait for 4.3BSD...

...unless your lawyers won't allow signing of the UCB license...

> ...or you can get it from me.
> 	...Gwyn@BRL.ARPA

...if you have the appropriate licenses for the material from which
Gwyn@BRL.ARPA derived things.

Meanwhile, back at the original point:  on 4.1bsd systems, the termcap entries
shown at left below have the meanings shown at right:

> 	ve	...	Sequence to end open/visual mode
> 	vs	...	Sequence to start open/visual mode

I've checked the relevant source files, and that *really* is what they're used
for.  (See the comments in "/usr/src/cmd/ex/ex_tty.c"--and since comments can
be wrong, take a look at the C source, too.)  Even if the above documentation
*wasn't* correct, there are sites out there that have used that documentation in
building termcap entries--and that lack the benefit of Gwyn@BRL.ARPA's wisdom.

The bottom line:

	If you're interested in producing code that's portable
	to all 4.1bsd sites, be aware of differences between
	4.1bsd and later bsd releases with respect to termcap's
	"vs" and "ve" entries.

The succinct advise:

	If at all possible, avoid using "vs" and "ve".

Given Gwyn@BRL.ARPA's observation that "vs" and "ve" just change the
appearance of the cursor, avoiding their use seems simple.
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