[solved] tmux 2.3 setting correct term

feinedsquirrel · 2025-10-29 23:06:23

I was fixing up behavior of tmux for my terminal, and came across this reddit post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/neovim/comment … t/jxodia3/

Would it be reasonable for me to add info to 2.3.1 and 2.3.2 along the lines of:

You may consider first trying to set the `default-terminal` to use your terminal's declared capabilities with its native term.

set -g default-terminal "${TERM}"

then if you experience improper behavior, try other options such as what is shipped with tmux, `"tmux-256color"`.

Truecolor should work out of the box If your terminal properly declares truecolor support in its terminfo file with `Tc`, (e.g. `kitty` and `foot` are known to work/support this) provided you are using your environment's native term: `defaut-terminal "${TERM}"`.
If your terminal does not declare this, you can, for example, set `terminal-features`: <existing code block as on the wiki>

Does that sound ok?

Last edited by feinedsquirrel (2025-10-30 19:51:13)

seth · 2025-10-30 09:52:06

Faking a TERM is always the absolute last resort and I'd limit that the problematic processes - never the go-to approach.

The acknowledged follow-up posts also suggest to use the terminal-features, does this not work for you?
What actual problem are you dealing with?

feinedsquirrel · 2025-10-30 12:18:09

100% agree with your first statement, and that was my aim in my suggestion because:

I was under the impression that using anything other than "default-terminal ${TERM}" was the case of faking term. I thought e.g. tmux-256color was provided as a courtesy of sorts in the case of a broken terminfo from the containing emulator, or on console. (does that make sense? That it was _only_ multiplexing, not being its own emulator ((replacing the containing emulator)) outright.) I thought the containing emulator and its capabilities would be the the not-faked conditions of drawing to the display.
I've read some more information, including the man page where it says to not set "default-terminal" to anything other than {screen*|tmux*}, so my assumptions of which term was being faked was incorrect by a binary inversion.

"terminal-features" works for me. Now that I understand the above correctly, I agree it shouldn't be changed.
Maybe a sentence could be added explaining native capabilities come from tmux* terminfo? Or am I the only one who managed to think tmux didn't natively control the emulation? :forehead-smack: haha.

edit:

Even with "terminal-features", if I open tmux from the tty (console), I do not get 24-bit color. Is this expected? I suspect it is from what I'm reading in various sources, but want to double check.

Last edited by feinedsquirrel (2025-10-30 13:34:23)

seth · 2025-10-30 18:25:39

"terminal-features" works for me. Now that I understand the above correctly, I agree it shouldn't be changed.

\o/
Please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

Even with "terminal-features", if I open tmux from the tty (console), I do not get 24-bit color. Is this expected?

Does your console support 24bit colors w/o tmux?

tput colors

https://superuser.com/questions/1025990 … mmand-line

I guess kmscon can do 256 colors at least (but have never tried)

feinedsquirrel · 2025-10-30 20:11:37

Maybe a sentence could be added explaining native capabilities come from tmux* terminfo?

I was going to wait to see if someone had an answer to that before marking solved. :shrug:

I tried a script on console, and got 8 colors only, not 16 like some sources I found suggested should be supported by the kernel. I'll have to look more into that separately when I get some more time.

seth · 2025-10-30 20:52:33

That would be the same as the question

am I the only one who managed to think tmux didn't natively control the emulation?

and you're in the best position to answer that question.
The wiki addresses the terminfo in the xterm keys section and nowhere else suggests to move away from TERM and terminfo, but if you think users might frequently be confused about the nature of tmux itr (after all you've probably researched the topic) you're perfectly free to clarify this. It's still a wiki.

I really just wanted to stress, in response to your original question, that overriding TERM to the value of the hosting TE (or anything else) must not be advocated as primary strategy for anything.

Arch Linux

#1 2025-10-29 23:06:23

[solved] tmux 2.3 setting correct term

#2 2025-10-30 09:52:06

Re: [solved] tmux 2.3 setting correct term

#3 2025-10-30 12:18:09

Re: [solved] tmux 2.3 setting correct term

#4 2025-10-30 18:25:39

Re: [solved] tmux 2.3 setting correct term

#5 2025-10-30 20:11:37

Re: [solved] tmux 2.3 setting correct term

#6 2025-10-30 20:52:33

Re: [solved] tmux 2.3 setting correct term

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