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Date:Tue, 2 Mar 2004 22:49:39 +0000 (UTC) 
Subject:Eliminating termcap (Was: Re: 15.53 - Windows Installer Available) 
From:A . Sloman 
Volume-ID: 

On Mon, 1 Mar 2004, Stephen Isard wrote:

> Although termcap is compiled in, I doubt that if often gets used.  A
> quick reading of vdinitseq.p suggests that it is a fallback in case an
> appropriate ved<terminaltype>screen.p file, e.g., vedxtermscreen.p,
> isn't available, and I think that for most cases there is such a file.
> There's vedlinuxscreen.p for the linux console.
>
> In fact, vdtermcap.p includes an explicit opt-out for a system lacking
> termcap:
> ------------
> #_IF DEF NCR
> 	/*	Termcap not available -- see comment in "termcap.p"
> 	*/
> define vedtermcapscreen(_);
> enddefine;
> #_TERMIN_IF true
> #_ENDIF
> ------------

That's interesting. I think I should see if I can rebuild at least linux
poplog so that it does not use termcap.

That's mainly a relic of days when there were lots of different VDUs
with different characteristics I think, so it might as well be removed
by default.

Instead we now almost always use ved in an Xterm window?

That would eliminate one installation headache. (E.g. mandrake
9.something).

But I am so busy right now I am not sure when I'll ahve time to
try it.

I think the simplest thing would just be to find files in
$usepop/pop/ved/src/* and $usepop/pop/src/* that reference termcap and
if possible eliminate the references, then recompile them (using pgcomp)
and archive them (using pglibr), then run pglink, and if the newpop11
it produces works, try to alter the link command in

	$popsys/poplink_cmnd

so as to remove

	-ltermcap \

and then try to link and run.

If that works it will be necessary to alter whatever it is in
in
	$popsrc/syscomp/*

that inserts that linker command line option, and then we can live
happily thereafter without termcap.

Does anyone know if termcap still supplied by default in solaris?
(It seems to be there in the the version of solaris we have,
Solaris 8 I think).

So maybe it will still be needed for use on sun consoles before X
starts.

Aaron