Description of problem: The terminfo database for rxt (and xterm) is incorrect, the backspace definition is incorrect Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): ncurses-5.4-13 (and all previous versions I have used) How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: Open and rxvt terminal or konsole and presumably an xterm (which I dont have and didn't test). Start a perl interpreter. Type something, press the backspace key, instead of deleting the content a ^? appears Problems also appear with many other applications including remote logging in to a FreeBSD machine and using vi. The version of vi on fc3 appears to work fine. Additional info: The terminfo variable kbs should be changed from kbs=^H to kbs=^? This is my full terminfo decompiled file: # Reconstructed via infocmp from file: /home/pim/.terminfo/r/rxvt rxvt|rxvt terminal emulator (X Window System), am, bce, eo, km, mir, msgr, xenl, xon, colors#8, cols#80, it#8, lines#24, ncv@, pairs#64, acsc=``aaffggjjkkllmmnnooppqqrrssttuuvvwwxxyyzz{{||}}~~, bel=^G, blink=\E[5m, bold=\E[1m, civis=\E[?25l, clear=\E[H\E[2J, cnorm=\E[?25h, cr=^M, csr=\E[%i%p1%d;%p2%dr, cub=\E[%p1%dD, cub1=^H, cud=\E[%p1%dB, cud1=^J, cuf=\E[%p1%dC, cuf1=\E[C, cup=\E[%i%p1%d;%p2%dH, cuu=\E[%p1%dA, cuu1=\E[A, dch=\E[%p1%dP, dch1=\E[P, dl=\E[%p1%dM, dl1=\E[M, ed=\E[J, el=\E[K, el1=\E[1K, enacs=\E(B\E)0, flash=\E[?5h\E[?5l, home=\E[H, hpa=\E[%i%p1%dG, ht=^I, hts=\EH, ich=\E[%p1%d@, ich1=\E[@, il=\E[%p1%dL, il1=\E[L, ind=^J, is1=\E[?47l\E=\E[?1l, is2=\E[r\E[m\E[2J\E[H\E[?7h\E[?1;3;4;6l\E[4l, kDC=\E[3$, kEND=\E[8$, kHOM=\E[7$, kLFT=\E[d, kNXT=\E[6$, kPRV=\E[5$, kRIT=\E[c, ka1=\EOw, ka3=\EOy, kb2=\EOu, kbs=\177, kc1=\EOq, kc3=\EOs, kcbt=\E[Z, kcub1=\E[D, kcud1=\E[B, kcuf1=\E[C, kcuu1=\E[A, kdch1=\E[3~, kel=\E[8\^, kend=\E[8~, kent=\EOM, kf0=\E[21~, kf1=\E[11~, kf10=\E[21~, kf11=\E[23~, kf12=\E[24~, kf13=\E[25~, kf14=\E[26~, kf15=\E[28~, kf16=\E[29~, kf17=\E[31~, kf18=\E[32~, kf19=\E[33~, kf2=\E[12~, kf20=\E[34~, kf3=\E[13~, kf4=\E[14~, kf5=\E[15~, kf6=\E[17~, kf7=\E[18~, kf8=\E[19~, kf9=\E[20~, kfnd=\E[1~, khome=\E[7~, kich1=\E[2~, kmous=\E[M, knp=\E[6~, kpp=\E[5~, kslt=\E[4~, op=\E[39;49m, rc=\E8, rev=\E[7m, ri=\EM, rmacs=^O, rmcup=\E[2J\E[?47l\E8, rmir=\E[4l, rmkx=\E>, rmso=\E[27m, rmul=\E[24m, rs1=\E>\E[1;3;4;5;6l\E[?7h\E[m\E[r\E[2J\E[H, rs2=\E[r\E[m\E[2J\E[H\E[?7h\E[?1;3;4;6l\E[4l\E>, s0ds=\E(B, s1ds=\E(0, sc=\E7, setab=\E[4%p1%dm, setaf=\E[3%p1%dm, sgr=\E[0%?%p6%t;1%;%?%p2%t;4%;%?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;%?%p4%t;5%;m%?%p9%t\016%e\017%;, sgr0=\E[m\017, smacs=^N, smcup=\E7\E[?47h, smir=\E[4h, smkx=\E=, smso=\E[7m, smul=\E[4m, tbc=\E[3g, vpa=\E[%i%p1%dd, There is also the possibility that I am completely insane because I cant believe this has never been fixed!
rxt should be rxvt
Could not reproduce using a stock FC-3 (I'm assuming that's what you meant with test3 version) with updates; perl and other apps backspace worked fine (with kbs as ^H)-- in konsole (assuming you were testing with TERM=konsole and TERM=xterm), xterm, and rxvt (assuming TERM=rxvt and TERM=xterm). As rxvt is not included with FC3 Core, I tested against the Fedora Extras version at http://download.fedora.us/fedora/fedora/3/i386/RPMS.extras/.
My system was first installed redhat 6.1 and upgraded manually through the years using either rpm -Fvh or apg-get upgarde. It is now the equivalent of fedora core 3. Some time ago this problem started, it affects TERM=rxvt and TERM=xterm (as used by kde's konsole app). It affects all users and has been driving me crazy for some time. So the other day I investigated and found that the terminfo changes fix the problem. However, I have not tried a virgin FC3 install and I have always been baffled as to why this problem had not been fixed. It seems to me that something is mapping my backspace to ^? instead of ^H, I just cant figure out what on earth it could be. It seems this isn't a bug in fc3 after all, but any help in tracking down what the true problem could be would be appreciated.
I have tracked down the problem. At somepoint rpm did not upgrade my: /etc/bashrc using the /etc/bashrc.rpmnew I found there has fixed the problem. Sorry to trouble you.
The real cause of this is ofcourse bug 142659, the old bashrc contained stty erase `tput kbs` Which appearantly has been removed, relying on the terminal to set the stty erase correct itself, which is okay, but generates an inconcistency between stty erase and terminfo. Havill you might want to read bug 142569 as this is the result of the much discussed bug 122815 and your input there would be very welcome.