Update terminfo explanation and workaround

3 files changed, 63 insertions, 37 deletions

diff --git a/PKGBUILD b/PKGBUILD
index 299e8f49ea99..7c5e65827e91 100644
--- a/PKGBUILD
+++ b/PKGBUILD
@@ -5,19 +5,18 @@
 
 pkgname=st
 pkgver=0.8.2
-pkgrel=9
+pkgrel=10
 pkgdesc='A simple virtual terminal emulator for X.'
 arch=('i686' 'x86_64' 'armv7h')
 license=('MIT')
 depends=(libxft)
-makedepends=(libxext ncurses)
 url=https://st.suckless.org
 source=(https://dl.suckless.org/$pkgname/$pkgname-$pkgver.tar.gz
         terminfo.patch
         README.terminfo.rst)
 sha256sums=(aeb74e10aa11ed364e1bcc635a81a523119093e63befd2f231f8b0705b15bf35
-            b282c0b963a24299d02e485af30260d237ca2e8e6b06282d385022c9c10a0950
-            9a1b764cedd3a6288cc6601a3cdce06f4ab993f44de7aea5afd69511c13df7c0)
+            bf6c8b73a606a8e513c7919d91f93ed7aeb5f44e80269bb244cc01659145a5ea
+            0ebcbba881832adf9c98ce9fe7667c851d3cc3345077cb8ebe32702698665be2)
 _sourcedir=$pkgname-$pkgver
 _makeopts="--directory=$_sourcedir"
 
@@ -69,4 +68,5 @@ package() {
   install $installopts "$licdir" "$_sourcedir/LICENSE"
   install $installopts "$docdir" "$_sourcedir/README"
   install $installopts "$docdir" README.terminfo.rst
+  install $installopts "$shrdir/$pkgname" "$_sourcedir/st.info"
 }
diff --git a/README.terminfo.rst b/README.terminfo.rst
index c5f4b6db6fee..cd724d0d4cd6 100644
--- a/README.terminfo.rst
+++ b/README.terminfo.rst
@@ -2,16 +2,16 @@ Terminfo Entries
 ================
 
 :Author: Sebastian J. Bronner <waschtl@sbronner.com>
-:Date: 2019-10-30
+:Date: 2019-11-06
 :URL: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/st
 
 The Problem
 -----------
 
-Most Linux-based distributions will have the bulk of their terminfo entries in
-the ``ncurses`` package. These live in ``/usr/share/terminfo``. There you will
-find several entries for ``st``. These, however, do not work well with current
-versions of ``st``. You need the terminfo entries supplied with ``st``.
+Most Linux-based distributions will have their terminfo entries in the
+``ncurses`` package. These live in ``/usr/share/terminfo``. There you will find
+several entries for ``st``. As of ``ncurses-6.1`` as packaged in ArchLinux,
+these, do not work well with current versions of ``st``.
 
 Specifically, I have observed the following issues when using the terminfo
 entries supplied with ``ncurses``:
@@ -38,40 +38,53 @@ For reference, I performed these tests using the following software versions:
 ``st`` 0.8.2, ``tmux`` 2.9_a, ``neovim`` 0.4.2, and ``w3m``
 0.5.3.git20190105-1.
 
-The Solution
-------------
+A couple of issues have been filed against ``tmux`` for this. Although it is
+not a problem with ``tmux`` the issues remain for reference:
+
+| https://github.com/tmux/tmux/issues/1264
+| https://github.com/tmux/tmux/issues/1593
 
-The ``ncurses`` package should stop shipping terminfo entries for ``st``. These
-should then be provided in ``/usr/share/terminfo`` by this (and other) ``st``
-packages. The conflicting terminfo entries are
+Complications
+-------------
 
-* ``st`` and
-* ``st-256color``.
+While it may be tempting to use the terminfo files shipped with ``st``, that
+would be a bad idea from a packaging standpoint. There are two reasons for
+this: (1) As of ``st-0.8.2`` they have errors in them. This has been fixed and
+will roll out in the next release, though.
 
-Additional entries that could be considered for removal from ``ncurses`` are
+| https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses/2019-10/msg00071.html
+| https://lists.suckless.org/hackers/1911/17006.html
 
-* ``st-0.6``,
-* ``st-0.7``,
-* ``st-16color``,
-* ``st-direct``,
-* ``stterm`` (for distributions that rename ``st`` to ``stterm``),
-* ``stterm-16color``, and
-* ``stterm-256color``.
+(2) It is vital that remote terminals connecting via ``ssh`` are known. That is
+accomplished by having all terminfo files in one package (like ``ncurses``).
 
-This solution cannot be implemented without the cooperation of ``ncurses``
-since many distributions (including Arch Linux) do not allow for two packages
-that provide files with identical paths to be installed side-by-side.
-Therefore, I am bringing this to the attention of the ``ncurses`` team.
+``ncurses`` has released updated terminfo entries. The problem as described
+above is fixed. However, the updated terminfo entries are not installed on
+ArchLinux because they were released as a standalone file without a new release
+of the rest of ``ncurses``.
+
+The Solution
+------------
+
+The solution must be to get the updated terminfo entries packaged for
+ArchLinux. I believe that the ``ncurses`` package should be updated to that
+effect.
+
+https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/57596
 
 The Workaround
 --------------
 
 A somewhat painful, albeit pragmatic, workaround is as follows: A user that
 encounters issues that are due to mismatched terminfo entries, such as those
-above, can symlink the terminfo entries included in this package into her
-user-level terminfo database using the following commands:
+above, can populate a user-level terminfo database from the terminfo entries
+supplied by ``st``. The following command will do this:
 
 .. code:: shell
 
-   mkdir ~/.terminfo/s
-   ln -s /usr/share/st/terminfo/s/* ~/.terminfo/s
+   tic -sx /usr/share/st/st.info
+
+The generated terminfo database will most likely be placed in ``~/.terminfo``.
+The command will print the actual location used. Unfortunately, these files
+need to be kept up to date by hand. Actually they should probably be removed as
+soon as a new version of ``ncurses`` is released.
diff --git a/terminfo.patch b/terminfo.patch
index e91e91f6c8e9..0f2ae88308b5 100644
--- a/terminfo.patch
+++ b/terminfo.patch
@@ -1,12 +1,25 @@
---- Makefile	2019-02-09 12:50:41.000000000 +0100
-+++ Makefile	2019-10-30 23:39:55.775193275 +0100
-@@ -47,7 +47,8 @@
+--- Makefile.old	2019-02-09 12:50:41.000000000 +0100
++++ Makefile	2019-11-07 00:00:24.487953923 +0100
+@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@
  	mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(MANPREFIX)/man1
  	sed "s/VERSION/$(VERSION)/g" < st.1 > $(DESTDIR)$(MANPREFIX)/man1/st.1
  	chmod 644 $(DESTDIR)$(MANPREFIX)/man1/st.1
 -	tic -sx st.info
-+	mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/share/st/terminfo
-+	tic -sx -o $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/share/st/terminfo st.info
  	@echo Please see the README file regarding the terminfo entry of st.
  
  uninstall:
+--- st.info.old	2019-02-09 12:50:41.000000000 +0100
++++ st.info	2019-11-07 00:01:02.605412883 +0100
+@@ -189,10 +189,10 @@
+ 	rmxx=\E[29m,
+ 	smxx=\E[9m,
+ # tmux extensions, see TERMINFO EXTENSIONS in tmux(1)
+-	Se,
+-	Ss,
+ 	Tc,
+ 	Ms=\E]52;%p1%s;%p2%s\007,
++	Se=\E[2 q,
++	Ss=\E[%p1%d q,
+ 
+ st-256color| simpleterm with 256 colors,
+ 	use=st,