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Re: ncurses problem



On 2018-09-27 08:51 -0400, Greg Wooledge wrote:

> On Wed, Sep 26, 2018 at 10:38:53PM +0000, Grzesiek Sójka wrote:
>> Hi there,
>> 
>> I compiled following test program:
>> ==========================================
>> #include <ncurses.h>
>> #include <string.h>
> [snip]
>
>> It's supposed to show current window dimension when resizing terminal
>> window. Unfortunately, dimensions are not updated and it shows initial
>> geometry. Interesting thing is that it works perfectly after "ssh localhost"
>> or "su -". I tested on both, sid and stretch. exactly the same result.
>> 
>> Any ideas??
>
> My first thought is that your shell login profile,
>
>> PS. I use xfce4 and lxdm.
>
> ... which is NOT how you normally log in, is turning on bash's
> checkwinsize option, which causes bash to set the LINES and COLUMNS
> variables upon receipt of a SIGWINCH (a signal that is sent when the
> window changes size).
>
> In the absence of that option, those variables might not be set at all,
> or might be set to the wrong size, and won't be updated when the window
> changes size while sitting in an idle shell.
>
> (What an ncurses program does with this signal, I honestly do not know.)
>
> So, just wild-ass guessing here, you might have put the necessaray
> "shopt -s checkwinsize" and "export LINES COLUMNS" into ~/.profile
> which is only read when you perform a shell login, and NOT when you
> perform an lxdm login.

Actually it is exactly the other way around.  If LINES and COLUMNS are
set in the environment, then the ncurses library will _not_ update the
screen size upon receiving SIGWINCH, and that causes the behavior
Grzesiek observed.  This is documented in ncurses(3).

Cheers,
       Sven


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