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#1 2007-09-01 21:25:04

thayer
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From: Vancouver, BC
Registered: 2007-05-20
Posts: 1,560
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urxvt + SSH + Emacs = emacs: Terminal type rxvt-unicode is not defined

I've decided to give emacs a go after using GUI editors for years... I ssh'ed into a web server account at Bluehost via urxvt and when I attempt to open emacs, I receive the following error:

emacs: Terminal type rxvt-unicode is not defined.
If that is not the actual type of terminal you have,
use the Bourne shell command `TERM=... export TERM' (C-shell:
`setenv TERM ...') to specify the correct type.  It may be necessary
to do `unset TERMINFO' (C-shell: `unsetenv TERMINFO') as well.

Then it dumps me back to the prompt without opening emacs.  Is there something I need to drop into a config file to make this work?

UPDATE:  I found that by typing TERM=console at the prompt first, i can then execute emacs, but it doesn't save this setting when I reconnect.

UPDATE2: Okay, digging around a bit and I found that if edit my local ~/.Xdefaults and change this:

urxvt*termName:    rxvt-unicode

to this:

urxvt*termName:    rxvt

It seems to correct the issues on remote servers... but I'd sure like to know if this is the proper way to address the problem.

Last edited by thayer.w (2007-09-01 21:54:32)


thayer williams ~ cinderwick.ca

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#2 2007-09-01 22:24:27

skymt
Member
Registered: 2006-11-27
Posts: 443

Re: urxvt + SSH + Emacs = emacs: Terminal type rxvt-unicode is not defined

Emacs, like many text-mode programs, reads a terminfo file to determine the quirks of the particular terminal you're using. rxvt-unicode isn't very common, so the server doesn't have its terminfo file installed. It should be enough to copy /usr/share/terminfo/r/rxvt-unicode on your local machine to ~/.terminfo/r/rxvt-unicode on the server. That works on a modern Linux, I don't know what Unix Bluehost uses. Older terminfo implementations may only look in /usr/share/terminfo.

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#3 2007-09-04 16:23:30

thayer
Fellow
From: Vancouver, BC
Registered: 2007-05-20
Posts: 1,560
Website

Re: urxvt + SSH + Emacs = emacs: Terminal type rxvt-unicode is not defined

Sorry for the belated response and thanks for the tip... I'll definitely keep it in mind.  Unfortunately, I ssh into about 30 different accounts on various servers, and that number grows weekly so the real solution seems implausible.  I've read that "tricking" programs by changing the termName is also a bad idea, but it seems to do the trick for now so I'll stick with it until I encounter worse side effects.  Thanks again!


thayer williams ~ cinderwick.ca

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