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I have applied the proposed "configurable color palette" patch. Now the colors may be specified in the configuration file using numbered parameters color-num=RRGGBB.

color-235=212121
color-247=a6a19b
color-background=235
color-foreground=247

I changed my mind. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/fbterm/fbtermrc is now an allowed configuration location along with the old $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/fbtermrc. Old location is used only when $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/fbterm/ does not exist.

To set a wallpaper in fbterm, you'll need fbv package (framebuffer image viewer). Execute the following instructions right before launching fbterm (works in POSIX-compliant shell like dash):

# hide cursor
echo -ne "\e[?25l"
# display fullscreen-stretched image and quit viewer without screen refreshing
fbv -ciuker "$WALLPAPER_FILE" << EOF
q
EOF
# use current screen state as a wallpaper
export FBTERM_BACKGROUND_IMAGE=1

To enable 256 color mode properly, do export TERM=fbterm-256color AFTER fbterm starts and then attach to a tmux session. If TERM is not linux upon fbterm launch, it will fail. Tmux is needed because fbterm provides escape codes that differ from broadly used codes, so tmux serves as an abstraction layer.

Unlike vanilla fbterm, in this version the configuration file is located at $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/fbtermrc or $HOME/.config/fbtermrc if XDG_CONFIG_HOME is unset or empty (the original placement is $HOME/.fbtermrc). Also, the configuration file is not forcibly recreated anymore. For default configuration, see /etc/fbterm/fbtermrc.example.

Copy /etc/fbterm/fbtermrc.example as $HOME/.config/fbterm/fbtermrc and edit it. This should work because fbconfig.patch is applied, otherwise I don't know what's happening.

Hello, ivanp7, I installed fbterm and did all the steps necessary but I'm unable to configure it, there is no fbtermrc file generated and even the rc file I created myself on the home directory,has no effect on changing the font colour, size, etc. The only thing I'm able to change is the wallpaper. But that is due to fbv. I don't know if this the right place for posting issues, or what info I should provide but I hope you can help me, many thanks for creating this package.

I automated thx1138's solution. (For someone building with yay, just do yay --editmenu -S fbterm and apply this solution.)

@L41 add:

sed -i -e 's#SUBDIRS = .*#SUBDIRS = src im doc#g' Makefile

It is the tic command, for some weird reason it writes to both $TERMINFO and /usr/share/terminfo. I couldn't figure out why and how to prevent this behavior, so went with the straightforward way (it worked for me the last time I checked). If you guys find a solution, I'll update the PKGBUILD.

This package does not build properly:

make[2]: Nothing to be done for 'install-exec-am'.
tic fbterm
"fbterm", line 2, terminal 'fbterm-256color': /usr/share/terminfo/f: permission denied
make[2]: *** [Makefile:424: install-data-local] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory '/home/dk/.cache/paru/clone/fbterm/src/fbterm-1.7/terminfo'
make[1]: *** [Makefile:317: install-am] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/dk/.cache/paru/clone/fbterm/src/fbterm-1.7/terminfo'
make: *** [Makefile:378: install-recursive] Error 1

Why does the it require access to /usr/share/terminfo/f during the build stage?

tic fbterm
"fbterm", line 2, terminal 'fbterm-256color': /usr/share/terminfo/f: permission denied

fbterm/src/fbterm-1.7/terminfo$ cat Makefile.am

EXTRA_DIST = fbterm

install-data-local:
       tic fbterm

PKGBUILD
----
...
  mkdir -p tic
  TERMINFO=$srcdir/$_gitname-$_majorver/tic tic terminfo/fbterm
...

It looks like both the PKGBUILD and the stock Makefile.am in fbterm-1.7/terminfo are running tic on terminfo/fbterm, but running tic from the Makefile, without first resetting the TERMINFO= directory, tic tries to access the filesystem outside of the BUILDDIR directory.

You could run makepkg -o, then edit the toplevel Makefile to remove the "terminfo" subdirctory from the list:

...
SUBDIRS = src im doc
...

and then makepkg -ei. It's not elegant, but it works.

I get a strange error while doin makepkg:

make[2]: Für das Ziel „install-exec-am“ ist nichts zu tun.
tic fbterm
"fbterm", line 2, terminal 'fbterm-256color': /usr/share/terminfo/f: permission denied
make[2]: *** [Makefile:424: install-data-local] Fehler 1
make[2]: Verzeichnis „/tmp/pkgbuild-0/fbterm/src/fbterm-1.7/terminfo“ wird verlassen
make[1]: *** [Makefile:317: install-am] Fehler 2
make[1]: Verzeichnis „/tmp/pkgbuild-0/fbterm/src/fbterm-1.7/terminfo“ wird verlassen
make: *** [Makefile:378: install-recursive] Fehler 1

I read something about that cant install terminfo and recompiled a patched ncurses which should resolv the issue but unfortunately does not.

Any suggestions?

@Neubulae This package has little difference from debian vanilla, the patches do not modify core behavior of fbterm.