Hello,
This *looks* like it should be a trivial problem (or at least
often-encountered one) but short of debugging both screen and tcsh, I
have no ideas what to do next...
On several machines (seemingly random, some are running 7-stable, others
8-stable), I get this message after starting "screen", written on the
newly created screen:
csh: Cannot open /etc/termcap.
csh: using dumb terminal settings.
The problem is: this also happens whan I'm doing it as the root user,
and /etc/termcap is a symlink to /usr/share/misc/termcap, which
definitely exists and is readable. To make it even stranger, it looks
like the environment contains something which seems to be valid termcap
data:
lara:/home/ivoras# setenv
STY=58859.pts-13.lara
TERM=screen
TERMCAP=SC|screen|VT 100/ANSI X3.64 virtual terminal:\
:DO=\E[%dB:LE=\E[%dD:RI=\E[%dC:UP=\E[%dA:bs:bt=\E[Z:\
:cd=\E[J:ce=\E[K:cl=\E[H\E[J:cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:ct=\E[3g:\
:do=^J:nd=\E[C:pt:rc=\E8:rs=\Ec:sc=\E7:st=\EH:up=\EM:\
:le=^H:bl=^G:cr=^M:it#8:ho=\E[H:nw=\EE:ta=^I:is=\E)0:\
:li#48:co#104:am:xn:xv:LP:sr=\EM:al=\E[L:AL=\E[%dL:\
:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:dl=\E[M:DL=\E[%dM:dc=\E[P:DC=\E[%dP:\
:im=\E[4h:ei=\E[4l:mi:IC=\E[%d@:ks=\E[?1h\E=:\
:ke=\E[?1l\E>:vi=\E[?25l:ve=\E[34h\E[?25h:vs=\E[34l:\
:ti=\E[?1049h:te=\E[?1049l:us=\E[4m:ue=\E[24m:so=\E[3m:\
:se=\E[23m:mb=\E[5m:md=\E[1m:mh=\E[2m:mr=\E[7m:\
:me=\E[m:ms:\
:Co#8:pa#64:AF=\E[3%dm:AB=\E[4%dm:op=\E[39;49m:AX:\
:vb=\Eg:as=\E(0:ae=\E(B:\
:ac=\140\140aaffggjjkkllmmnnooppqqrrssttuuvvwwxxyyzz{{||}}~~..--++,,hhII00:\
:k0=\E[10~:k1=\EOP:k2=\EOQ:k3=\EOR:k4=\EOS:k5=\E[15~:\
:k6=\E[17~:k7=\E[18~:k8=\E[19~:k9=\E[20~:k;=\E[21~:\
:F1=\E[23~:F2=\E[24~:F3=\E[25~:F4=\E[26~:F5=\E[28~:\
:F6=\E[29~:F7=\E[31~:F8=\E[32~:F9=\E[33~:FA=\E[34~:kb=^?:\
:K2=\E[G:kh=\E[1~:@1=\E[1~:kH=\E[4~:@7=\E[4~:kN=\E[6~:\
:kP=\E[5~:kI=\E[2~:kD=\E[3~:ku=\EOA:kd=\EOB:kr=\EOC:\
:kl=\EOD:
WINDOW=0
SHELL=/bin/csh
The shell and all started programs are misbehaving and/or treating the
terminal as "dumb". For example, "mc" writes this:
lara:/home/ivoras# mc
Unknown terminal: screen
Check the TERM environment variable.
Also make sure that the terminal is defined in the terminfo database.
Alternatively, set the TERMCAP environment variable to the desired
termcap entry.
There really isn't a termcap line in /etc/termcap beginning with
^screen, but there is one beginning with ^SC containing the entry which
is also in the environment listing above (which fails with the same
error if I set it).
The system works if I set some other terminal type like "xterm".
Any ideas? Why is the "screen" terminal type so special?
Hans Ottevanger
2011-Jun-16 19:23 UTC
csh Cannot open /etc/termcap after starting "screen"
On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 07:18:37PM +0200, Ivan Voras wrote:> Hello, > > This *looks* like it should be a trivial problem (or at least > often-encountered one) but short of debugging both screen and tcsh, I > have no ideas what to do next... > > On several machines (seemingly random, some are running 7-stable, others > 8-stable), I get this message after starting "screen", written on the > newly created screen: > > csh: Cannot open /etc/termcap. > csh: using dumb terminal settings. > > The problem is: this also happens whan I'm doing it as the root user, > and /etc/termcap is a symlink to /usr/share/misc/termcap, which > definitely exists and is readable. To make it even stranger, it looks > like the environment contains something which seems to be valid termcap > data: > > lara:/home/ivoras# setenv > STY=58859.pts-13.lara > TERM=screen > TERMCAP=SC|screen|VT 100/ANSI X3.64 virtual terminal:\ > :DO=\E[%dB:LE=\E[%dD:RI=\E[%dC:UP=\E[%dA:bs:bt=\E[Z:\ > :cd=\E[J:ce=\E[K:cl=\E[H\E[J:cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:ct=\E[3g:\ > :do=^J:nd=\E[C:pt:rc=\E8:rs=\Ec:sc=\E7:st=\EH:up=\EM:\ > :le=^H:bl=^G:cr=^M:it#8:ho=\E[H:nw=\EE:ta=^I:is=\E)0:\ > :li#48:co#104:am:xn:xv:LP:sr=\EM:al=\E[L:AL=\E[%dL:\ > :cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:dl=\E[M:DL=\E[%dM:dc=\E[P:DC=\E[%dP:\ > :im=\E[4h:ei=\E[4l:mi:IC=\E[%d@:ks=\E[?1h\E=:\ > :ke=\E[?1l\E>:vi=\E[?25l:ve=\E[34h\E[?25h:vs=\E[34l:\ > :ti=\E[?1049h:te=\E[?1049l:us=\E[4m:ue=\E[24m:so=\E[3m:\ > :se=\E[23m:mb=\E[5m:md=\E[1m:mh=\E[2m:mr=\E[7m:\ > :me=\E[m:ms:\ > :Co#8:pa#64:AF=\E[3%dm:AB=\E[4%dm:op=\E[39;49m:AX:\ > :vb=\Eg:as=\E(0:ae=\E(B:\ > > :ac=\140\140aaffggjjkkllmmnnooppqqrrssttuuvvwwxxyyzz{{||}}~~..--++,,hhII00:\ > :k0=\E[10~:k1=\EOP:k2=\EOQ:k3=\EOR:k4=\EOS:k5=\E[15~:\ > :k6=\E[17~:k7=\E[18~:k8=\E[19~:k9=\E[20~:k;=\E[21~:\ > :F1=\E[23~:F2=\E[24~:F3=\E[25~:F4=\E[26~:F5=\E[28~:\ > :F6=\E[29~:F7=\E[31~:F8=\E[32~:F9=\E[33~:FA=\E[34~:kb=^?:\ > :K2=\E[G:kh=\E[1~:@1=\E[1~:kH=\E[4~:@7=\E[4~:kN=\E[6~:\ > :kP=\E[5~:kI=\E[2~:kD=\E[3~:ku=\EOA:kd=\EOB:kr=\EOC:\ > :kl=\EOD: > WINDOW=0 > SHELL=/bin/csh > > The shell and all started programs are misbehaving and/or treating the > terminal as "dumb". For example, "mc" writes this: > > lara:/home/ivoras# mc > Unknown terminal: screen > Check the TERM environment variable. > Also make sure that the terminal is defined in the terminfo database. > Alternatively, set the TERMCAP environment variable to the desired > termcap entry. > > There really isn't a termcap line in /etc/termcap beginning with > ^screen, but there is one beginning with ^SC containing the entry which > is also in the environment listing above (which fails with the same > error if I set it). > > The system works if I set some other terminal type like "xterm". > > Any ideas? Why is the "screen" terminal type so special? >This is probably because your termcap entry is too long. If I remember well the length is limited to 1024, which is confirmed by the following citation from 'man 5 termcap': The total length of a single entry (excluding only escaped newlines) may not exceed 1024. I have tried the TERMCAP entry you specified using bash and I get similar problems when using e.g. vi or clear. If I shorten the TERMCAP somewhat everything works again, though probably with reduced functionality. On 8.2-STABLE I can also set TERM to either screen or SC. Apparently the SC entry in /etc/termcap is just short enough. Hope this helps. Kind regards, Hans