/etc/terminfo/x/xterm problem with ncurses-base 4.2-3 to 5.0-6

[Trent Swift <trents@cse.unsw.EDU.AU>]

Hi all,

I'm having problems with ncurses-base. We have a lot of Solaris 2.6 and
Dec Alphas 4.0D and a couple of linux boxes. We're trying to move most
of lab machines (~300) over from pc.i86.solaris to debian linux but
I've got an annoying xterm problem.

When you telnet/ssh from an xterm on a dec/solaris box to potato
machine with ncurses.v.5.0-6, and then run less (or something that
uses /etc/terminfo/x/xterm) the screen goes into reverse video for all
output and with vi/emacs they fail to guess the size of the screen
correctly. 

At the moment to get around it, I have to TERM=vt100 - which is less
than desirable for an xterm.

- The problem doesn't exist logging in from a redhat box with
  ncurses.v.4.2 from our Decs/Solaris machines
- The problem doesn't exist logging in from our D/S to a debian box
  running ncurses.v.4.2-3

I've tried using the Solaris terminfo def for an xterm, it solves the
reverse video and screen size problem, but under-lining (eg in "man
man") still doesn't format correctly (unless TERM=vt100).

I've also tried copying the ncurses.v.4.2-3 xterm def but that didn't
help at all.

Any ideas on how to fix this? Has/does any one else had the problem?

Cheers,
	Trent.


+-------------------------------------------------------------------
| Trent Swift                                 trents@cse.unsw.edu.au
| System & Network Administrator               
| School of Computer Science & Engineering     
| The University of NSW, Sydney, 2052.