Re: The linux terminal now supports alternative screen

Thomas Dickey <[email protected]> Wed, 1 Apr 2026 04:18:34 -0400

Newsgroups	gmane.comp.lib.ncurses.bugs
Message-ID	<[email protected]>

On Wed, Apr 01, 2026 at 04:04:30AM -0400, Thomas Dickey wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 01, 2026 at 03:35:25AM -0400, Thomas Dickey wrote:
> > On Tue, Mar 31, 2026 at 10:05:06PM -0500, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
> > > At 2026-03-31T22:06:05+0200, Sébastien Hinderer wrote:
> > > > Since Linux 6.19.10, the linux terminal has gained the alternative
> > > > screen capability, thanks to Nicolas Pitre in Cc.
> > > > 
> > > > Could the terminfo entry for the linux temrinal be updated
> > > > accordingly, please?
> > > > 
> > > > It is okay to update unconditionnally because older kernels will just
> > > > ignore the corresponding escape sequences if they do not support them.
> > > > 
> > > > Attached is a patch that illustrates the proposed change.
> > > 
> > > Why did you define the same two capabilities 32 times each in one
> > > terminal type description instead of just once?
> > 
> > today's April 1.
> 
> more to the point: alternate screen is (like backspace vs delete) one of
> those features that aren't just added or changed to a terminal description.
> This would be a new alias/entry, something like
> 
> linux-alt1049|Linux console with alternate screen,
> 	use=xterm+alt1049, use=linux,

That's using the existing block:

xterm+alt1049|xterm 90 feature,
	rmcup=\E[?1049l, smcup=\E[?1049h,
 
rather than this:

xterm+alt+title|xterm 90 and 251 features combined,
	rmcup=\E[?1049l\E[23;0;0t, smcup=\E[?1049h\E[22;0;0t,

because it's unlikely that Linux console would implement titlestack.

-- 
Thomas E. Dickey <[email protected]>
https://invisible-island.net

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