Nethack, xterm, 5.1-RELEASE

[Christian Weisgerber]

Guy Middleton <guy at obstruction.com> wrote:

> I install the nethack34 port on 5.1-RELEASE, then try to run it in an xterm,
> it says "Terminal must backspace" and quits.

This is due to the removal of the "bs" attribute from the xterm
termcap entry.  "bs" has been classified as obsolete forever.  I'm
not certain what the proper fix is, though.  Hmm.  I guess the
subsequent check for "cm" is enough to filter out unusable terminals.

(The thought of somebody still working with a 30-year old homebrew
terminal that supports cursor movement but no absolute positioning
is just a tad too ridiculous to entertain seriously.)

How are things if we simply remove the offending check?

--- win/tty/termcap.c.orig	Wed Jun 18 18:21:29 2003
+++ win/tty/termcap.c	Wed Jun 18 18:21:51 2003
@@ -217,10 +217,6 @@
 	    error("Terminal must backspace.");
 # else
 	    if(!(BC = Tgetstr("bc"))) {	/* termcap also uses bc/bs */
-#  ifndef MINIMAL_TERM
-		if(!tgetflag("bs"))
-			error("Terminal must backspace.");
-#  endif
 		BC = tbufptr;
 		tbufptr += 2;
 		*BC = '\b';
-- 
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber                          naddy at mips.inka.de