Re: [PATCH] Remove ncurses meta() call.

Thomas Dickey <[email protected]> Thu, 25 Jun 2026 21:09:42 -0400
Newsgroups	gmane.mail.mutt.devel
Message-ID	<[email protected]>
On Fri, Jun 26, 2026 at 02:29:31AM +0200, Vincent Lefevre wrote:
> On 2026-06-25 18:42:33 -0400, Thomas Dickey wrote:
> > more to the point: in 2000 (the quoted thread), the meta() call from mutt
> > had no effect on xterm because:
> > 
> > 	a) there were no control sequences to activate it until 6 years later,
> > 
> > 	b) ncurses was already using the terminal in 8-bit mode anyway
> 
> The meta() call could have been added for another terminal.

It "could" have, but since the SCO database had only one terminal
(which at that point was long out of production), I don't see that
as plausible.
 
> "git show 1a5381e07e97fe482c2b3a7c75f99938f0b105d4:ChangeLog"
> gives the initial version of the ChangeLog file in Git,
> starting with changes since 0.88 (while the current ChangeLog
> file no longer contains such information), but meta() isn't
> mentioned, only $meta_key:

The call to meta is in the initial commit, telling me that it was
added before Roessler got it from Elkins.
 
> - [[email protected]] adds the $meta_key boolean option to case 8bit input to be
>   delivered as ESC + the char with the hi bit stripped
> 
> And IIRC, Mutt preferably used S-Lang rather than ncurses in the past.

That actually was not uniform.  Some did, some didn't.

> This could have an influence.

slang didn't/doesn't do anything with that feature.  The only place
where the corresponding termcap mm/mo are mentioned is in the data files
which John Davis adapted (mechanically translated) from ncurses:

src/terminfo/uwin.inc:267:   {"mm", 102		UNTIC_COMMENT("turn on meta mode (8th-bit on)")},
src/terminfo/aix4.inc:419:   {"mm", 102		UNTIC_COMMENT("turn on meta mode (8th-bit on)")},
src/terminfo/default.inc:355:   {"mm", 102		UNTIC_COMMENT("turn on meta mode (8th-bit on)")},
src/terminfo/osf1r5.inc:421:   {"mm", 102		UNTIC_COMMENT("turn on meta mode (8th-bit on)")},
src/terminfo/hpux11.inc:362:   {"mm", 102		UNTIC_COMMENT("turn on meta mode (8th-bit on)")},

src/terminfo/uwin.inc:268:   {"mo", 101		UNTIC_COMMENT("turn off meta mode")},
src/terminfo/aix4.inc:420:   {"mo", 101		UNTIC_COMMENT("turn off meta mode")},
src/terminfo/default.inc:356:   {"mo", 101		UNTIC_COMMENT("turn off meta mode")},
src/terminfo/osf1r5.inc:422:   {"mo", 101		UNTIC_COMMENT("turn off meta mode")},
src/terminfo/hpux11.inc:363:   {"mo", 101		UNTIC_COMMENT("turn off meta mode")},

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