Andrew Schulman: >>>> Instead of specifying -T screen-256color every time, one can just put >>>> 'term screen-256color' into .screenrc. I'll update the docs to show this >>>> when I make the release current. >>> >>> Is there any reason that I shouldn't put this command into the default >>> /etc/screenrc file? >> >> 'fraid so. Prompted by this thread I wondered the same thing about >> mintty: why not set TERM to "xterm-256color" by default? >> >> Answer: because /etc/termcap doesn't know about it, and other programs >> that read the TERM variable might not recognise it either. >> Furthermore, user startup scripts that compare TERM to "xterm" or >> "screen" would break. > > You're talking about setting e.g. TERM=xterm-256color in the environment by > default, but I was asking whether it would cause any harm to put 'term > screen-256color' into the default /etc/screenrc. Know any reason that I > shouldn't?
Well, yes. 'term screen-256color' sets TERM=screen-256color in the environment of programs running inside screen, hence any program or script that recognises "screen" but not "screen-256color" will no longer work as expected. Furthermore, 'term screen-256color' (or '-T screen-256color') does not activate 256-color mode in screen. It it screen querying terminfo and finding that it is itself running in a 256-color terminal that does that. Hence, when screen is started with the usual TERM setting of "xterm" or "rxvt", you'd end up telling programs running inside screen that 256 colors are available when that isn't actually the case. Andy -- Problem reports: http://cygwin.com/problems.html FAQ: http://cygwin.com/faq/ Documentation: http://cygwin.com/docs.html Unsubscribe info: http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple
