Re: procps-2.0.6 and termcap.h
On Tue, Jun 06, 2000 at 03:06:36PM -0500, Andy Loftus wrote:
> I'm trying to install procps-2.0.6 (as required by kernel 2.2.15) and it fails
> because it can't find termcap.h.
> I don't know what termcap is but I get the impression that I don't need it
> since it is part of oldlibs in dselect (and the description restates my
> assumption, 'newer programs should link directly to ncurses').
termcap is a 'database' of TERMinal CAPabilities--back in the old days
when minicomputers ran lots of dumb terminals (i.e. monitors with
keyboards but little or no computing power of their own) there were
many many types available. digital equipment was top of the heap with
vt100 and later vt220, which most of the terminal-emulation programs
(xterm, rxvt, telnet, ssh...) can emulate with no problem.
the termcap database told unix (and now linux) what kinds of voodoo
are necessary to, for example, make blue-on-yellow text, or how to
position the cursor, and much more.
there's a new-style database called terminfo that does basically
the same thing, although instead of having one huge term-capability
file it's got them all broken out under /etc/terminfo/*...
as to whether or not it's necessary, i'd imagine it's useful for
CLI (command-line interfaces) such as mysql or psql and most of the
command shells...
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