[Solved] Error opening terminal: st-256color

shoober420 · 2015-01-19 18:40:28

For about a month and a half now, I have been getting this error when trying to use the terminal. It happens with various programs, including nano and alsamixer. Which is a pain, because I use nano all the time, and now have to use vim if i want to edit files in the X environment.

It all started after a git update when I was updating my packages. One of the git updates for st broke some of its functionality. It also has a strange bug where if you hit backspace, the cursor moves forward instead, while still deleted the text. But, it makes it impossible to know what was deleted since it moves forward instead of backward. It almost unusable.

Are these issues bugs, or just something I did? I didn't change any configuration settings that would effect my terminal. It all started after an git update, so I assume that is what caused it. I have been installing git updates since then and none of them have fixed it. I can't be the only one with this problem.

Last edited by shoober420 (2015-01-19 20:43:06)

jasonwryan · 2015-01-19 18:54:48

Presumably, config options changed.

Moving to NC...

shoober420 · 2015-01-19 19:01:32

I've never changed any config options for st, unless your talking about config options to something else.

karol · 2015-01-19 19:32:01

There were some terminfo shenanigans.
st works for me. How come vim works and e.g. nano doesn't? Do you mean gvim?

jasonwryan · 2015-01-19 19:43:57

shoober420 wrote:

I've never changed any config options for st...

If there were changes to st, then you would experience irregularities, no?

lucke · 2015-01-19 20:00:28

$ pacman -Ql st-git
st-git /usr/
st-git /usr/bin/
st-git /usr/bin/st
st-git /usr/share/
st-git /usr/share/doc/
st-git /usr/share/doc/st-git/
st-git /usr/share/doc/st-git/README
st-git /usr/share/licenses/
st-git /usr/share/licenses/st-git/
st-git /usr/share/licenses/st-git/LICENSE
st-git /usr/share/man/
st-git /usr/share/man/man1/
st-git /usr/share/man/man1/st.1.gz

$ pacman -Ql st
st /usr/
st /usr/bin/
st /usr/bin/st
st /usr/share/
st /usr/share/doc/
st /usr/share/doc/st/
st /usr/share/doc/st/README
st /usr/share/licenses/
st /usr/share/licenses/st/
st /usr/share/licenses/st/LICENSE
st /usr/share/man/
st /usr/share/man/man1/
st /usr/share/man/man1/st.1.gz
st /usr/share/terminfo/
st /usr/share/terminfo/s/
st /usr/share/terminfo/s/st
st /usr/share/terminfo/s/st-256color
st /usr/share/terminfo/s/st-meta
st /usr/share/terminfo/s/st-meta-256color

shoober420 · 2015-01-19 20:02:28

karol wrote:

There were some terminfo shenanigans.
st works for me. How come vim works and e.g. nano doesn't? Do you mean gvim?

ST will run, it just can't open anything that requires color, like the alsamixer and nano. vim seems to be able to load since it doesn't require color. Besides that, it loads and I can run commands and such, but I have to pkill x just to use alsamixer, since alsamixer uses colors.

It also has an annoying bug were if you hit backspace to delete some text, the cursor will go forward instead of backward. It deletes the text, but it makes it confusing. It all started after I did a git update for ST.

jasonwryan wrote:

If there were changes to st, then you would experience irregularities, no?

That depends on what the changes were. Programs get updated with changes all the time, sometimes this results in bugs, especially if you use git updates. I'm just surprised after a month and a half that the suckless team hasn't done anything about it yet, or if its a problem on my end. It worked fine until I did a git update.

lucke wrote:

$ pacman -Ql st-git
st-git /usr/
st-git /usr/bin/
st-git /usr/bin/st
st-git /usr/share/
st-git /usr/share/doc/
st-git /usr/share/doc/st-git/
st-git /usr/share/doc/st-git/README
st-git /usr/share/licenses/
st-git /usr/share/licenses/st-git/
st-git /usr/share/licenses/st-git/LICENSE
st-git /usr/share/man/
st-git /usr/share/man/man1/
st-git /usr/share/man/man1/st.1.gz

$ pacman -Ql st
st /usr/
st /usr/bin/
st /usr/bin/st
st /usr/share/
st /usr/share/doc/
st /usr/share/doc/st/
st /usr/share/doc/st/README
st /usr/share/licenses/
st /usr/share/licenses/st/
st /usr/share/licenses/st/LICENSE
st /usr/share/man/
st /usr/share/man/man1/
st /usr/share/man/man1/st.1.gz
st /usr/share/terminfo/
st /usr/share/terminfo/s/
st /usr/share/terminfo/s/st
st /usr/share/terminfo/s/st-256color
st /usr/share/terminfo/s/st-meta
st /usr/share/terminfo/s/st-meta-256color

Well, I guess that explains it. A recent git update must have for some reason removed the 256color terminal. Wonder why they did that?

I was just reading the AUR page on st-git, and apparently there was a problem with the "terminfo" that karol and lucke were talking about. Since I use zsh, I'm going to install the st-git-zsh package and see if the issues still are present.

Last edited by shoober420 (2015-01-19 20:11:42)

lucke · 2015-01-19 20:13:20

Comments at https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/st-git/ seem to say ncurses in testing had st terminfo. Yet I don't see it in the ncurses now in core.

You could probably make st-git's PKGBUILD install terminfo (look at st's PKGBUILD). You could also post a comment on st-git's page.

And that deleting problem sounds like the result of the lack of terminfo.

Last edited by lucke (2015-01-19 20:15:20)

Trilby · 2015-01-19 20:27:05

shoober420 wrote:

... I have to pkill x just to use alsamixer, since alsamixer uses colors.

That is absurd. You can change to another tty without killing X. But much better yet, just don't use alsamixer's colors:

$ alsamixer --help
Usage: alsamixer [options]
Useful options:
  -h, --help              this help
  -c, --card=NUMBER       sound card number or id
  -D, --device=NAME       mixer device name
  -V, --view=MODE         starting view mode: playback/capture/all
Debugging options:
  -g, --no-color          toggle using of colors
  -a, --abstraction=NAME  mixer abstraction level: none/basic

shoober420 · 2015-01-19 20:28:28

lucke wrote:

Comments at https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/st-git/ seem to say ncurses in testing had st terminfo. Yet I don't see it in the ncurses now in core.
You could probably make st-git's PKGBUILD install terminfo (look at st's PKGBUILD). You could also post a comment on st-git's page.
And that deleting problem sounds like the result of the lack of terminfo.

You are right. I have installed the st-git-zsh package and it runs flawlessly. It has something to do with the terminfo. I'll post a comment in the st-git page linking to this thread to make the issue known. Everything works perfect now since I installed the st-git-zsh package.

shoober420 · 2015-01-19 20:30:51

Trilby wrote:

That is absurd. You can change to another tty without killing X. But much better yet, just don't use alsamixer's colors:

Changing to another tty will not fix the terminfo problem with ST. Although running alsamixer with no colors would have worked, its not the solution I'm looking for. The terminal was all funked up.

Trilby · 2015-01-19 20:33:23

shoober420 wrote:

Changing to another tty will not fix the terminfo problem with ST.

Another TTY, not a different st window. The TTY is where you land when you take the overreaction of "pkill x".

shoober420 · 2015-01-19 20:45:54

Trilby wrote:

shoober420 wrote:
Changing to another tty will not fix the terminfo problem with ST.
Another TTY, not a different st window. The TTY is where you land when you take the overreaction of "pkill x".

Oh I see what you meant. Well that still would be a pain in the butt to do, and not solve the issue with the terminal.

Last edited by shoober420 (2015-01-20 07:08:12)

karol · 2015-01-19 22:21:09

lucke wrote:

Comments at https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/st-git/ seem to say ncurses in testing had st terminfo. Yet I don't see it in the ncurses now in core.

One ncurses version didn't make it out of [testing]: https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/43487

hoijui · 2017-10-24 12:12:27

this thread was marked as SOLVED, but i am not sure what is supposed to be the answer.
i found a solution that works for me though:

TERM=xterm alsamixer

fsckd · 2017-10-24 13:19:03

Welcome to the forums hoijui. First, please do not bump old threads, especially if they are marked solved. Second, your solution is not really a solution. The correct solution is to get the terminfo for your terminal. Tricking a program into thinking it is running on a different terminal than it really is, is a work around, and not at all a solution.

If you want to actually solve your issue and need help doing so, open a new thread. Meanwhile, I am closing this thread as per our policy on necro-bumping.

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#1 2015-01-19 18:40:28

[Solved] Error opening terminal: st-256color

#2 2015-01-19 18:54:48

Re: [Solved] Error opening terminal: st-256color

#3 2015-01-19 19:01:32

Re: [Solved] Error opening terminal: st-256color

#4 2015-01-19 19:32:01

Re: [Solved] Error opening terminal: st-256color

#5 2015-01-19 19:43:57

Re: [Solved] Error opening terminal: st-256color

#6 2015-01-19 20:00:28

Re: [Solved] Error opening terminal: st-256color

#7 2015-01-19 20:02:28

Re: [Solved] Error opening terminal: st-256color

#8 2015-01-19 20:13:20

Re: [Solved] Error opening terminal: st-256color

#9 2015-01-19 20:27:05

Re: [Solved] Error opening terminal: st-256color

#10 2015-01-19 20:28:28

Re: [Solved] Error opening terminal: st-256color

#11 2015-01-19 20:30:51

Re: [Solved] Error opening terminal: st-256color

#12 2015-01-19 20:33:23

Re: [Solved] Error opening terminal: st-256color

#13 2015-01-19 20:45:54

Re: [Solved] Error opening terminal: st-256color

#14 2015-01-19 22:21:09

Re: [Solved] Error opening terminal: st-256color

#15 2017-10-24 12:12:27

Re: [Solved] Error opening terminal: st-256color

#16 2017-10-24 13:19:03

Re: [Solved] Error opening terminal: st-256color

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