bin/80256: /rescue/vi doesn't work without terminal database in /usr

[Bruce Evans]

The following reply was made to PR bin/80256; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: Bruce Evans <bde at zeta.org.au>
To: "Simon L. Nielsen" <simon at FreeBSD.org>
Cc: freebsd-gnats-submit at FreeBSD.org
Subject: Re: bin/80256: /rescue/vi doesn't work without terminal database in
 /usr
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:40:39 +1000 (EST)

 On Sat, 23 Apr 2005, Simon L. Nielsen wrote:
 
 > On 2005.04.23 17:19:17 +0200, Brian Candler wrote:
 > > I do note however from ncurses(3X):
 > >=20
 > >             If  the  ncurses library has been configured with termcap sup=
 > port,
 > >             ncurses will check for a terminal's description in termcap fo=
 > rm if
 > >             it is not available in the terminfo database.
 > >=20
 > > This suggests a very simple solution (untested):
 > >=20
 > > --- lib/libncurses/pathnames.h.orig	Sat Apr 23 17:17:01 2005
 > > +++ lib/libncurses/pathnames.h	Sat Apr 23 17:17:13 2005
 > > @@ -34,5 +34,5 @@
 > >   * $FreeBSD: src/lib/libncurses/pathnames.h,v 1.1 1999/08/30 07:57:50 pe=
 > ter Exp $
 > >   */
 > > =20
 > > -#define	_PATH_DEF	".termcap /usr/share/misc/termcap"
 > > +#define	_PATH_DEF	".termcap /usr/share/misc/termcap /rescue/termcap"
 > >  #define	_PATH_DEF_SEC	"/usr/share/misc/termcap"
 > >=20
 > > and then bundle a few termcap entries in /rescue/termcap. Is there any
 > > reason why that couldn't be done?
 >
 > Without knowing how the code in question works, that does sounds like
 > a simple way to get working vi in a rescue environment.
 
 Why not use the normal mechanism?  Environment variables exist so that you
 don't have to hard-code paths into utilities.  From environ(7):
 
 %%%
       TERMCAP      The string describing the terminal in TERM, or, if it begins
                    with a '/', the name of the termcap file.  See TERMPATH
                    below, and termcap(5).
 
       TERMPATH     A sequence of pathnames of termcap files, separated by
                    colons or spaces, which are searched for terminal descrip-
                    tions in the order listed.  Having no TERMPATH is equivalent
                    to a TERMPATH of ``$HOME/.termcap:/etc/termcap''.  TERMPATH
                    is ignored if TERMCAP contains a full pathname.
 %%%
 
 Or you can use ".termcap" (maybe using a special $HOME for rescue) without
 changing ther defaults.
 
 There is also some documentation of TERMCAP and TERMPATH in termcap(5).
 This gives a few less details than the above, and points to termcap(3).
 termcap(3) used to have a few more details than the above, but has rotted
 and now doesn't say anything about the environment variables.  The details
 are still in the Attic (libterm/Attic/termcap.3,v).
 
 Bruce