faq

multi-tabed terminal based on rxvt

    after multiple window support is implemented.

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Q:  I like to use context menu when I right click in the terminal window. For
    example, to copy/paste text. Can you support it?

A:  YES! As of mrxvt-0.5.0 popup menus are supported. By default control right
    click on the terminal for a (customizable) menu. Control left click (or
    right click on the tabbar) for a list of all tabs. You must compile mrxvt
    with --enable-menubar.

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Q:  Will you rewrite mrxvt using C++? The object oriented feature of C++ can
    make mrxvt much modular.

A:  No! Because I do not like C++. C does not mean to be less modular or
    non-object oriented. It depends on how you do it. If you really like a C++
    implementation of rxvt, check out the rxvt-unicode project.

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Q:  How do I know which mrxvt version I'm using?

A:  The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). For rxvt version
    2.14 and later, the escape sequence `ESC[8n' sets the window title to the
    version number.

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Q:  Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works.

A:  Make sure that mouse reporting is actually turned off since killing some
    editors prematurely may leave the mouse in mouse report mode.  I've heard
    that tcsh may use mouse reporting unless it otherwise specified. A quick
    check is to see if cut/paste works when the Alt or Shift keys are depressed.
    See doc/refer.txt

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Q:  What's with this bold/blink stuff? I can never get blinking text!

A:  It is not possible, and likely will never be, for mrxvt to have actual
    blinking text. Instead (if mrxvt was compiled without NO_BOLDCOLOR),
    bold/blink attributes are used to set high-intensity foreground or
    background colors ... like what you'd see on a PC video adapter.  There are
    programs, notably John Davis' SLang-based ones
    ftp://space.mit.edu/pub/davis, that use bold/blink attributes to permit 16
    colors.

	color0-7	are the low-intensity colors.
	color8-15	are the corresponding high-intensity colors.

    A side issue of this bold/blink stuff is the question of how the normal
    default foreground/background colors are to be treated.  If the default
    foreground/background match one of the low-intensity colors (color0-7), the
    bold/blink attribute will invoke the appropriate high-intensity color
    (color8-15).

    In the case that the default foreground doesn't match one of the
    low-intensity colors, the bold attribute will use an `overstrike' to
    simulate a bold font. But note this leaves pixel-droppings and so, rather
    than wasting an inordinate amounts of energy to fix it, its use is simply
    deprecated.

    In the case that the default background doesn't match one of the
    low-intensity colors, the blink attribute is simply ignored (rather than
    representing it as bold as xterm does).

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Q:  I don't like the screen colors.  How do I change them?

A:  You can change the screen colors at run-time using ~/.mrxvtrc resources (or
    as long-options) ... see the man-page.

    Here are values that are supposed to resemble a VGA screen, including the
    murky brown that passes for low-intensity yellow:

	Mrxvt.color0:   #000000
	Mrxvt.color1:   #A80000
	Mrxvt.color2:   #00A800
	Mrxvt.color3:   #A8A800
	Mrxvt.color4:   #0000A8
	Mrxvt.color5:   #A800A8
	Mrxvt.color6:   #00A8A8
	Mrxvt.color7:   #A8A8A8

	Mrxvt.color8:   #000054
	Mrxvt.color9:   #FF0054
	Mrxvt.color10:  #00FF54
	Mrxvt.color11:  #FFFF54
	Mrxvt.color12:  #0000FF
	Mrxvt.color13:  #FF00FF
	Mrxvt.color14:  #00FFFF
	Mrxvt.color15:  #FFFFFF

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Q:  What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?

A:  Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the BackSpace keysym
    (not likely for Linux ... see the following question) there are two standard
    values that can be used for Backspace: ^H and ^?.

    Mrxvt tries to inherit the current stty settings and uses the value of
    `erase' to guess the value for backspace.  If mrxvt wasn't started from a
    terminal (say, from a menu or by remote shell), then the system value of
    `erase', which corresponds to CERASE in <termios.h>, will be used (which may
    not be the same as your stty setting).

    For starting a new mrxvt:

	use Backspace = ^H
	$ stty erase ^H
	$ mrxvt
	or
	$ mrxvt --backspacekey ^H -e bash

	use Backspace = ^?
	$ stty erase ^?
	$ mrxvt
	$ mrxvt --backspacekey ^? -e bash

    NB: generate either value with BackSpace and Ctrl/Shift-BackSpace. Toggle
	with "ESC[36h" / "ESC[36l" as documented in "doc/refer.txt"

    For an existing mrxvt:
	use Backspace = ^H
	    $ stty erase ^H
	    $ echo -n "^[[36h"

	use Backspace = ^?
	    $ stty erase ^?
	    $ echo -n "^[[36l"

    This helps satisfy some of the Backspace discrepancies that occur, but if
    you use Backspace = ^?, make sure that the termcap/terminfo value properly
    reflects that.

    The Delete key (which one would expect to emit ^?) is a another casualty of
    the ill-defined Backspace problem.  To avoid confusion between the Backspace
    and Delete keys, the Delete key has been assigned an escape sequence to
    match the vt100 for Execute (ESC[3~) and is in the supplied
    termcap/terminfo.

    Some other Backspace problems:
	some editors use termcap/terminfo,
	some editors (vim I'm told) expect Backspace = ^H,
	GNU Emacs (and Emacs-like editors) use ^H for help.

    Perhaps someday this will all be resolved in a consistent manner ... and
    maybe xterm will have Home/End values too!

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Q:  Why doesn't the Backspace key work on my Linux machine?

A:  The XFree86 server has a notorious problem of mapping the Backspace key as
    Delete in order to match the Linux console.

    The correct way to fix this:

    0 - Complain to your Linux distributer and the XFree86 team, maybe they'll
	fix it.

    1 - Use xmodmap to correct the Backspace mapping

	! ~/.Xmodmap

	! a correctly-mapped BackSpace
	keycode 22 = BackSpace

	*** Make sure the keycode above matches the physical Backspace key on
	your machine!! (use xev) ***

    This will also fix the BackSpace problem with Motif applications, such as
    ``why doesn't Backspace work for Netscape?''

    Finally, you can also remap the mrxvt key-binding at run-time (next
    question).

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Q:  I don't like the key-bindings.  How do I change them?

A:  You can use the "macro" feature of mrxvt (available from version 0.5.0
    onwards). See the man page for details. For instance, if you want the
    application keypad keys to work like the regular cursor / home / end keys,
    then you can use something like:

	Mrxvt.macro.KP_Left:	Str \eOD
	Mrxvt.macro.KP_Right:	Str \eOC
	Mrxvt.macro.KP_Up:	Str \eOA
	Mrxvt.macro.KP_Down:	Str \eOB

	Mrxvt.macro.KP_Prior:	Str \e[5~
	Mrxvt.macro.KP_Next:	Str \e[6~
	Mrxvt.macro.KP_Home:	Str \e[7~
	Mrxvt.macro.KP_End:	Str \e[8~

	Mrxvt.macro.KP_Insert:	Str \e[2~
	Mrxvt.macro.KP_Delete:	Str \e[3~

    You can also use the macro feature to correct the notorious backspace
    problem, but it is better you fix that by complaining to your Linux vendor
    :).

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Q:  I'm using keyboard model XXX that has extra Prior/Next/Insert keys.  How do
    I make use of them?  For example, the Sun Keyboard type 4 has the following
    mappings that mrxvt doesn't recognize.

	KP_Insert == Insert
	F22 == Print
	F27 == Home
	F29 == Prior
	F33 == End
	F35 == Next

A:  Rather than have mrxvt try to accomodate all the various possible keyboard
    mappings, it is better to use `xmodmap' to remap the keys as required for
    your particular machine, or the use "macro" feature of mrxvt in your
    ~/.mrxvtrc.

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Q:  How do I distinguish if I'm running mrxvt or a regular xterm? I need this to
    decide about setting colors etc.

A:  mrxvt always exports the variable "COLORTERM", so you can check and see if
    that is set. It also exports the variable "MRXVT_TABTITLE". Note that
    several programs, JED, slrn, Midnight Commander automatically check this
    variable to decide whether or not to use color.

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Q:  How do I set the correct, full IP address for the DISPLAY variable?

A:  If you've compiled mrxvt with DISPLAY_IS_IP then it is possible to use the
    following shell script snippets to correctly set the display.  If your
    version of mrxvt wasn't also compiled with ESCZ_ANSWER (as assumed in these
    snippets) then the COLORTERM variable can be used to distinguish mrxvt from
    a regular xterm.

    Courtesy of Chuck Blake <[e-mail]> with the following shell script
    snippets:

	# Bourne/Korn/POSIX family of shells:
	# assume an xterm if we don't know
	[ ${TERM:-foo} = foo ] && TERM=xterm
	if [ ${TERM:-foo} = xterm ]; then
	    # see if enhanced mrxvt or not
	    stty -icanon -echo min 0 time 15
	    echo -n '^[Z'
	    read term_id
	    stty icanon echo
	    if [ ""${term_id} = '^[[?1;2C' -a ${DISPLAY:-foo} = foo ]; then
		# query the mrxvt we are in for the DISPLAY string
		echo -n '^[[7n'
		# set it in our local shell
		read DISPLAY
	    fi
	fi

    csh/tcsh family of shells:

	# if term is unset, we are probably in an xterm
	if ( !(${?TERM}) ) then
	    TERM = xterm
	endif
	if ( ${TERM} =~ xterm ) then
	    # see if enhanced mrxvt or not
	    stty -icanon -echo min 0 time 15  
	    echo -n '^[Z'
	    set term_id=$<
	    stty icanon echo
	    if ( ""${term_id} == "^[[?1;2C" && ${?DISPLAY} == 0 ) then
		# query the mrxvt we're in for the DISPLAY string
		echo -n '^[[7n'
		# set it in our local shell
		setenv DISPLAY "$<"
	    endif
	endif

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Q:  Can I search the scroll back buffer?

A:  Yes! (Well sort of). The following two macros (bound to Ctrl+Shift+? and
    Ctrl+/ respectively) will save your scroll back buffer to a file and open it
    in less and vim respectively. When opened in less, you can see the same
    colors as you do on your screen. When opened in Vim, you can edit / cut &
    paste, but can't see the same colors [unless you write your own syntax file,
    and use the "conceal" patch by Vince Negri].

	Mrxvt.macro.Primary+Ctrl+Shift+question: PrintScreen -ps perl -e '$_=join("",<STDIN>); s/\n+$/\n/g; print' > /tmp/scrollback
	Mrxvt.macro.Primary+Add+Ctrl+Shift+question: NewTab "(Search)" /bin/sh -c "less -ifLR +G /tmp/scrollback; rm /tmp/scrollback"

	Mrxvt.macro.Primary+Ctrl+slash: PrintScreen -s perl -e '$_=join("",<STDIN>); s/\n+$/\n/g; print' > /tmp/scrollback
	Mrxvt.macro.Primary+Add+Ctrl+slash: NewTab "(Search)" /bin/sh -c 'view +"syn off|set nospell notitle |normal G" /tmp/scrollback; rm /tmp/scrollback'

    NOTE: If you use Vim-6.4, you probably want to remove the "nospell" Vim
    option. Opening in Vim is especially useful if Vim is compiled with X
    support. In this case, Vim will synchronize your visual selection to the X
    clipboard buffer, and you can paste it into other tabs using Ctrl+Shift+v.
    
    The perl command just strips the trailing new lines from your buffer. If you
    want them, replace it with "cat". Remember that once you view the scroll
    back buffer in less / vim, new output in the original tab will not be
    visible in less / vim. Also the scroll back buffer is in the file
    /tmp/scrollback. If you are working on some highly secret government
    project, and don't want any one else to be able to see your scroll back
    buffer, umask it correctly, or replace /tmp/scrollback to some private
    location in your home directory.

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Q:  Where is the CVS repository of mrxvt?

A:  From mrxvt-0.5.1, we have abandoned CVS, and now exclusively use Subversion.
    To check out from the subversion repository use

	svn checkout https://svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/materm/mrxvt05b

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Q:  I find a bug, or I would like to see a new feature in mrxvt, how to report
    it?

A:  You can go to http://sourceforge.net/projects/materm and report the bug
    using tracker system. Alternately, you can email the mrxvt developer mailing
    list at [e-mail]. Please use the SourceForge bug
    tracker system for feature requests, or MAJOR bugs. Report minor bugs on the
    materm-devel mailing list. If in doubt, post to the devel mailing list, and
    you might be asked to file a feature request / bug report in addition.

    Please describe the bug as clearly as possible, so that we can replicate it.
    We can not (and WILL not) fix bugs we can not reproduce! Be sure to test if
    your bug is still present in the current version (from Subversion) of mrxvt.
    If the bug is still present in the subversion repository, then please report
    the system you are running mrxvt on, AND steps to reproduce the bug.

    Again, we can and will NOT fix bugs we can not reproduce. Tell us how to
    reproduce the bug, or your report will get (silently) ignored!

--

vim: set ts=8 tw=80:
EOF