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#1 2016-06-15 15:56:14

grimpirate
Member
Registered: 2011-10-26
Posts: 42

st terminal emulator and Backspace key

I have installed st-git from the AUR. I've also installed st from the standard repositories. Regardless of package used, the Backspace key is exhibiting an odd behavior.
Namely, when at prompt, pressing Backspace moves the cursor forward (to the right) rather than backwards (to the left).
Traditionally, it has removed/deleted prior characters typed.
If I use cat and start typing the backspace key functions as expected, so the behavior is limited to the command prompt itself.
If I attempt to use nano the message returned is "Error opening terminal: st-256color"

I've read the FAQ for st at suckless http://git.suckless.org/st/tree/FAQ
I've also tried to implement the Delete key behavior as provided within the patch http://st.suckless.org/patches/delkey

Neither worked. I've inquired within the suckless IRC channel, and they helped me run through a diagnosis that produced the following information:
Output of Ctrl-V Backspace is: ^?
Output of stty -a: erase = ^?;
Value of $TERM: st-256color
Output of infocmp | grep bs: kbs=\177,

The general consensus was that everything appeared to be configured appropriately. The final suggestion was that the shell may be the problem, namely bash which is the shell I use.

Suggestions for how to remedy the behavior?

Last edited by grimpirate (2016-06-15 20:38:41)

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#2 2016-06-15 16:08:21

2ManyDogs
Forum Moderator
Registered: 2012-01-15
Posts: 4,645

Re: st terminal emulator and Backspace key

Please post the output of the following command:

pacman -Qo /usr/share/terminfo/s/st-256color

If this file is not present (or it is configured incorrectly) I can duplicate both the backspace problem and the nano error.

Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2016-06-15 16:11:38)


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#3 2016-06-15 20:11:35

grimpirate
Member
Registered: 2011-10-26
Posts: 42

Re: st terminal emulator and Backspace key

I can confirm that the file is not present 2ManyDogs. The only similar file present within that directory is stterm-256color.

I attempted the fix from FAQ question 2 using the st-git package from the AUR

tic -s st.info

This produced four files in ~/.terminfo (st, st-256color, st-meta, st-meta-256color)

I migrated and appropriately permissioned those files into /usr/share/terminfo/s/

One issue remains where there is considerable lag when pressing the backspace key and character deletion.

Last edited by grimpirate (2016-06-15 20:40:04)

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#4 2016-06-15 20:27:44

2ManyDogs
Forum Moderator
Registered: 2012-01-15
Posts: 4,645

Re: st terminal emulator and Backspace key

That file should have already been present. It is part of the ncurses package, which I assume you have installed if you are able to use nano. What is the ouput of

pacman -Qi ncurses

As far as the time delay goes, I have no help to offer. I built and installed st-git to test this, and it works fine on my machine. I suppose you could try removing the st-256color file you copied and reinstalling the ncurses package.

(edit) I just checked, and the st-256color file created by your tic command and the st-256color file I have in /usr/share/terminfo are different. This might be the problem or might not.

(edit2) -- I see you edited your post and the lag issue is now resolved. Great!

Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2016-06-15 20:31:44)


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#5 2016-06-15 20:39:18

grimpirate
Member
Registered: 2011-10-26
Posts: 42

Re: st terminal emulator and Backspace key

Spoke too soon, I'm still experiencing the lag problem.

Tried deleting ncurses from the pacman cache and reinstalling. Still no change.

Also tried manually extracting the ncurses-6.0-4-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz contents into a temporary directory and then moving the st files from that package into /usr/share/terminfo/s and nothing has changed.

Last edited by grimpirate (2016-06-15 21:27:18)

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#6 2016-06-15 21:10:44

2ManyDogs
Forum Moderator
Registered: 2012-01-15
Posts: 4,645

Re: st terminal emulator and Backspace key

Did you also delete (or move) the st-256color file you copied, and replace it with the one from the ncurses package?

A little off-topic, but could I ask why you want to use st? It's a nice emulator, but there are others that are almost as small and resource-frugal, and much easier to configure.

Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2016-06-15 21:22:49)


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#7 2016-06-16 00:29:20

grimpirate
Member
Registered: 2011-10-26
Posts: 42

Re: st terminal emulator and Backspace key

Yes I did try that 2ManyDogs (edited the post after you had started your reply I think). Didn't resolve the issue.

I've been using the suckless software (dwm, surf, dmenu, and st) for a couple of years now. It's always worked great, I have zero complaints really. I decided on st precisely because of its size and resource usage. I am open to alternatives.

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#8 2016-06-16 01:21:42

2ManyDogs
Forum Moderator
Registered: 2012-01-15
Posts: 4,645

Re: st terminal emulator and Backspace key

Sorry I have no help for the lag issue. I can't duplicate this problem.

Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2016-06-16 01:32:57)


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#9 2016-10-27 02:24:20

Henkm
Member
From: Dutch living in Malaysia
Registered: 2015-11-11
Posts: 21

Re: st terminal emulator and Backspace key

Sorry if this is necrobumping but the question remained unsolved.

I had the same lag issue after fiddling with the delkey patch. I solved it by deleting local terminfo:

rm ~/.terminfo/st*

(Make backups as needed, obviously).
I did not need to regenerate anything with tic but YMMV.

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