Re: New backtab key in kbd

Thomas Dickey <[email protected]> Thu, 7 May 2026 18:17:52 -0400

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

On Thu, May 07, 2026 at 05:24:08PM +0000, Ronan Pigott wrote:
> Hi ncurses!
> 
> kbd now has a new "Backtab" key introduced in [1], and it is used by default in all the keymaps.
> 
> The linux terminfo currently is based on the old Meta_Tab entries (quoting misc/terminfo.src):
> 
> # Linux 3.0 was released in July 2011.  The keyboard utilities (kbd) are
> # used for configuring its keyboard mappings.
> #
> # kbd 1.14 was released before that (January 2008), but due to its placement
> # late in the Linux 2.6.x series had no immediate effect for most users.  That
> # provided a default mapping for shift-tab to the (misnamed) Meta_Tab, i.e.,
> # the same as Alt-Tab.
> #
> # The suggested mapping for the conventional \E[Z is provided in this entry as
> # an extended key to lessen user surprise -TD
> linux3.0|Linux 3.0 kernels,
> 	kcbt=\E^I, E3=\E[3J, kcbt2=\E[Z, use=linux2.6,
> 
> # This is Linux console for ncurses.
> linux|Linux console,
> 	use=linux3.0,
> 
> So I expect the new backtab key that emits \E[Z again might require us to change kcbt back?
> 
> Is it time for a linux7.0 terminfo?

perhaps - I assume I'll be seeing 7.0-release in one of the bleeding-edge
packages "soon", so that I can test it and see what else we may overlook.

But if it's in kbd, for instance, I have 2.9.0 on Fedora rawhide - and
that's from last September.  (I'll add a to-do note to review this when
I see released versions of either).
 
> [1] https://github.com/legionus/kbd/commit/5416a193f42bb5e1ba6c1e18f8e9448984fa76ee
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Ronan
> 
> 

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

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