[Bug 1726826] Re: screen 256 colour TERM setting breaks logging into older hosts

[Launchpad Bug Tracker]

This bug was fixed in the package screen - 4.6.2-1

---
screen (4.6.2-1) unstable; urgency=medium

  * Import new upstream release.
+ Refresh patches where necessary.
+ Add fixes for new typos found by Lintian to
  debian/patches/64-fix-manpage-typos-reported-by-lintian.patch.

 -- Axel Beckert   Wed, 25 Oct 2017 19:48:01 +0200

** Changed in: screen (Ubuntu)
   Status: Fix Committed => Fix Released

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Title:
  screen 256 colour TERM setting breaks logging into older hosts

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Re: [Bug 1726826] Re: screen 256 colour TERM setting breaks logging into older hosts

[Axel Beckert]

Hi Paul,

Paul Gortmaker wrote:
> So, something that used to work and now does not -- the boilerplate
> definition of a regression,

No, it's no regression in this case:

Screen's behaviour hasn't changed at all. But it's long-standing
behaviour relies a lot on which termcap definitions are available, and
that depends on ncurses-term being installed or not on the remote (and
partially also on the local) side as well as which termcap definitions
are in ncurses-base and which are in ncurses-term. And that changes
over time. See the README "that nobody reads".

IMHO this is neither a regression nor an issue with screen's code nor
can it be fixed without causing _real_ regressions, which I'd like to
avoid.

It might be an issue with the logic implemented in screen since many,
many years if not decades. But I surely won't change such a
long-standing behaviour as a distribution-only patch.

Regards, Axel
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[Bug 1726826] Re: screen 256 colour TERM setting breaks logging into older hosts

[Paul Gortmaker]

So, something that used to work and now does not -- the boilerplate
definition of a regression, I'd think -- and the "solution" is to update
a distro specific README file, that nobody will read?  It is your call
in the end, but I have to say that doesn't improve the end-user
experience any

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[Bug 1726826] Re: screen 256 colour TERM setting breaks logging into older hosts

[Axel Beckert]

I do not want to add any further patches to Debian's screen package
which makes it differ from upstream behaviour more than it already does.
(Of course, it's a different thing if issues are caused by existing
patches.)

And IMHO workarounds for issues in other packages do not belong into
shell startup files either. (Saying this with my Debian Zsh Team hat
on.)

Additionally, after the long and thorough discussion in the Debian bug
report (and additional discussions on the ncurses-term topic on IRC),
I'm convinced that there is no perfect solution. If you change something
to make screen usable in scenario X, it will make people using screen in
scenario Y unhappy and vice versa.

Even moving definitions from ncurses-term to ncurses-base doesn't make
things better by default: It may help to SSH from older systems with
ncurses-term to newer systems with just ncurses-base installed. But it
will also cause issues for people SSHing from newer systems with just
ncurses-base installed to older systems with an older version of
ncurses-base installed. (Not having ncurses-term at all and all
definitions in ncurses-base might look like a solution, but then it will
which definitions are in that package at which version...)

So yes, IMHO the best thing we can do is document the issue. (And
improvements for the documentation are always welcome. :-)

If you really think a behavioural change is needed in screen, then
please make according suggestions upstream and submit patches there.

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  screen 256 colour TERM setting breaks logging into older hosts

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[Bug 1726826] Re: screen 256 colour TERM setting breaks logging into older hosts

[Bug Watch Updater]

** Changed in: screen (Debian)
   Status: Confirmed => Fix Released

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Title:
  screen 256 colour TERM setting breaks logging into older hosts

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[Bug 1726826] Re: screen 256 colour TERM setting breaks logging into older hosts

[Egmont Koblinger]

I _guess_ it shouldn't be that hard to patch screen to make an exception
to the "prepend 'screen.'" rule, and convert an implicitly created
"screen.xterm-256color" into "screen-256color". (I haven't checked
screen's source to see how easy it would be.)

This would go against its current documentation, so the documentation
should be updated and probably a similar README.Debian entry should also
be created. Also, before doing this, it should be examined and
understood what's the difference between these two terminal descriptions
(at least the file themselves are not exactly byte-by-byte the same).

Alternatively, a similar workaround could go into shell startup files
(probably /etc/bash.bashrc and /etc/zsh/zshrc) instead.

If we're saying documenting the issue in screen's README.Debian is
enough (as it might easily be, presumably there'll be tons of forums out
there pointing to this file), the current addition really nicely
summarizes the available workarounds, thanks!

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Title:
  screen 256 colour TERM setting breaks logging into older hosts

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[Bug 1726826] Re: screen 256 colour TERM setting breaks logging into older hosts

[Axel Beckert]

Please see this new section in README.Debian, which will be published
with the next upload of Debian's screen package to Debian Unstable:
https://anonscm.debian.org/cgit/collab-
maint/screen.git/tree/debian/README.Debian#n142

I don't see any other feasible solution to this problem from the side of
the screen package.

** Changed in: screen (Ubuntu)
   Status: New => In Progress

** Changed in: screen (Ubuntu)
   Status: In Progress => Fix Committed

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[Bug 1726826] Re: screen 256 colour TERM setting breaks logging into older hosts

[Bug Watch Updater]

** Changed in: screen (Debian)
   Status: Unknown => Confirmed

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Title:
  screen 256 colour TERM setting breaks logging into older hosts

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[Bug 1726826] Re: screen 256 colour TERM setting breaks logging into older hosts

[Axel Beckert]

** Bug watch added: Debian Bug tracker #854414
   https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=854414

** Also affects: screen (Debian) via
   https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=854414
   Importance: Unknown
   Status: Unknown

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  screen 256 colour TERM setting breaks logging into older hosts

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[Bug 1726826] Re: screen 256 colour TERM setting breaks logging into older hosts

[Egmont Koblinger]

I'm not sure why newer versions of screen (or Ubuntu's configuration)
tend to set this weird value of "screen.xterm-256color". The more
readable value "screen-256color" is supported at least since Trusty
14.04 (see https://packages.ubuntu.com/trusty/all/ncurses-
base/filelist), probably much earlier than that (I'm seeing forum posts
about "screen-256color" dated 2011-ish).

I recommend that you configure your local screen to set this value
instead.

Indeed screen setting a new value of "screen.xterm-256color" that hasn't
had years to get deployed across systems is a bug.

(On a somewhat related note, this whole architecture is plain dead
broken. ssh'ing and friends should transfer the entire description of
the current terminal's behavior, not just a name. Then we wouldn't have
to wait for years, anything new would be usable straight away.)

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  screen 256 colour TERM setting breaks logging into older hosts

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