Re: Some features may be dropped from GNU Screen in the future (including braille support)

Please don't remove multiuser! It's a useful feature. Allow the user to
decide the security risk for themselves.


On Wed, Apr 2, 2014 at 4:57 PM, Don Raikes <[email protected]> wrote:

> Amadeusz,
>
> If you can't test Braille support, don't just remove it, ask for help
> testing.
>
> I would be happy to test Braille support on Linux, and I am sure there are
> others who would be willing to test as well.
>
> I haven't ever used the screen package per se, but I am a strong proponent
> for ensuring things at least stay as accessible as they are if not improve.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Axel Beckert [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2014 1:30 PM
> To: [email protected]; [email protected]
> Cc: Amadeusz Sławiński
> Subject: Some features may be dropped from GNU Screen in the future
> (including braille support)
>
> Hi,
>
> on the GNU Screen development mailing list, there's currently a thread
> which discusses how to get some drive in the GNU Screen development again.
>
> Amadeusz Sławiński (Cc'ed) has a git repo with some a little bit more
> disruptive changes at https://github.com/amade/screen/tree/devel/src
>
> In the following mail he describes what he changed and removed. (I've
> shortened the mail. "[…]" show points where I removed parts. Full mail at
> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/screen-devel/2014-04/msg00008.html)
>
> One of the GNU Screen feature which are about to be dropped in the future
> is Screen's braille support. (Which is not enabled in Debian's screen
> package as far as I can see.)
>
> I know that there are quite some visually handicapped Grml users, so I
> send this mail to the debian-accessibility mailing list and the general
> Grml mailing list. Reply-To is set to the screen-users mailing list. (I
> don't read debian-accessibility, but both other lists.) I also allowed
> myself to Bcc some other heavy screen users I know personally.
>
> So if you use Screen's braille features (whatever they are exactly) or any
> other of the explicitly listed features in the mail below, and want to
> continue to using them, please speak up now. Upstream is also in need of
> someone testing (and maybe maintaining) that code.
>
> One potentially to be removed screen feature which IIRC is used by Grml by
> default is the nethack mode with a little bit more cryptic screen messages
> than by default. Not sure how mission-critical that one is. ;-)
>
> ----- Forwarded message from Amadeusz Sławiński <[email protected]> -----
> Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2014 19:47:21 +0200
> From: Amadeusz Sławiński <[email protected]>
> To: screen-devel-mXXj517/[email protected]
> Subject: Re: [screen-devel] screen maintainer
>
> […]
> > > * new features (256 colors in hardstatus, hardstatus on top,
> > > truecolor, ...)
> […]
> > > * removal of ancient code (removed most of #ifdef for ancient
> > > systems)
> […]
> > I fear that this may cause a lot of breakage. Linux(*) is by far not
> > the only platform for Screen out there.
> >
> > (*) You wrote earlier that you only tested your code on Linux. Linux
> >     is by far not the only platform, GNU Screen runs on.
>
> That's why I warn before hand. Screen is project which accumulated more
> then 25 years of code according to copyrights. And while it may be
> interesting to historians, I think it's time source is stripped of those
> workarounds and retested on machines people use, because it's likely that
> it just works with far fewer hacks, than it had.
>
> > > * removal of features which didn't seem useful or could be replaced
> […]
> > Please list which features you removed, so that people at least have a
> > chance to object.
> […]
>
> That's why I want to talk about it before I do anything drastic, one of
> reasons I tried to describe my changes at least a bit ;)
>
> >From fast comparing between source files:
> multiuser - seemed more like security risk to me braille - couldn't test
> :( utmp - seemed broken and there is also utmpx?
> nethack - funny, but who really needs it?
> zmodem - according to wiki some ancient file transfer protocol there may
> be something else...
>
> […]
>
> I want to make sure that screen stays as usable as it is to people who use
> it, but also would like to see new stuff happening, that's why I started
> this talk.
>
> Amadeusz
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>
>                 Regards, Axel
> --
>  ,''`.  |  Axel Beckert <[email protected]>, http://people.debian.org/~abe/
> : :' :  |  Debian Developer, ftp.ch.debian.org Admin
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>
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