xfterm4 bug?

[Alexander Toresson]

On 12/12/05, Erik Harrison <erikharrison at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 12/12/05, Paul Tansom <paul at aptanet.com> wrote:
> > ** Andrew Conkling <andrew.conkling at gmail.com> [2005-12-12 18:26]:
> > > On 12/12/05, Alexander Toresson <alexander.toresson at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > On 12/12/05, Paul Tansom <paul at aptanet.com> wrote:
> > > > > ** Alexander Toresson <alexander.toresson at gmail.com> [2005-12-12 17:35]:
> > > > > > On 12/12/05, Paul Tansom <paul at aptanet.com> wrote:
> > > > > > > ** Net Llama! <netllama at linux-sxs.org> [2005-12-12 16:54]:
> > > > > > > > On Mon, 12 Dec 2005, Paul Tansom wrote:
> > > > > > > > > I've recently started using xfterm4 instead of just xterm and seem to
> > > > > > > > > have a slight bug in the settings. I'm not entirely sure whether it is
> > > > > > > > > application specific though.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > xfterm4 = xterm
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > So unless you've set something specific to change that, whatever issue
> > > > > > > > you're experiencing is an xterm issue.  At any rate, there is no xfterm4
> > > > > > > > binary, just a shell script.
> > > > > > > ** end quote [Net Llama!]
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > True it is a script, but it is doing more than just starting xterm. I
> > > > > > > have no problems with a raw xterm. The xfterm4 script adds tab
> > > > > > > capabilities and a menu with configuration options amongst other things,
> > > > > > > so something in there is causing the issue. I've not had the chance to
> > > > > > > investigate and just wondered whether anyone else had seen the problem.
> > > > > > > This is not an xterm issue since the same command line with xterm
> > > > > > > instead of xfterm4 works fine.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > This is a bug in the terminal that xfterm4 starts, not xfterm4. Please
> > > > > > try to interpret the script and see what terminal it's starting.
> > > > > ** end quote [Alexander Toresson]
> > > > >
> > > > > Hmm, the first time I went round this loop (when I switched from xterm
> > > > > to xfterm4) I decided that, having followed the script through to other
> > > > > scripts and various environment variables and settings it was xfterm4
> > > > > was using xterm and wrapping things round it.
> > > > >
> > > > > This time round I've come to a different conclusion! After a very, very
> > > > > careful trace through and experiments with the TERMCMD setting I've
> > > > > concluded that xfterm4 is actually running Terminal, and this is doing
> > > > > all the fancy bits.
> > > > >
> > > > > So it looks to be the wrong question, but possibly the right list.
> > > > > Having checked the information on Terminal it is still part of XFCE4:
> > > > >
> > > > > ====
> > > > > Terminal 0.2.4 (Xfce 4.2.3.2)
> > > > >
> > > > > Copyright (c) 2003-2005
> > > > > os-cillation e.K. All rights reserved.
> > > > >
> > > > > Written by Benedikt Meurer <benny at xfce.org>.
> > > > >
> > > > > Built with Gtk+-2.6.2, running with Gtk+-2.6.10.
> > > > >
> > > > > Please report bugs to <http://bugs.os-cillation.com/>.
> > > > > ====
> > > > >
> > > > > Sadly the reference web address doesn't appear to exist, so a quick trip
> > > > > to the www. address takes me through to BerliOS to set up an account
> > > > > (which I am sorting at the moment). Terminal doesn't appear to be listed
> > > > > when viewing the bug list though, so where I'll get to after the account
> > > > > is set up I've no idea!
> > > >
> > > > The correct place to report bugs against terminal is
> > > > http://bugzilla.xfce.org/ (afaik).
> > >
> > > You could also be running xfce4-terminal.  The big difference I've
> > > noticed between them is that Terminal has a full-fledged preferences
> > > window (e.g. you can change the keyboard shortcuts) whereas
> > > xfce4-terminal just has a few options.  Both are accessible by
> > > right-clicking in the terminal window.
> > >
> > > As for Backspace, I've heard of this.  Are you using screen?
> > > Regardless, I bet you can find some non-random bits that match this
> > > somewhere out there....  Maybe you could even find some on the
> > > bugzilla. :)
> > ** end quote [Andrew Conkling]
> >
> > Aha, yes, that's the cause of the problem, screen not irssi. Terminal
> > and xfce4-terminal look to be one and the same thing though.
>
> For future reference:
> xfterm4: a shell script which wraps several known terminal emulators.
> This ships with Xfce. Bugs in it, in general are illusory - they're
> really bugs with xterm, or whatever term it starts. But if you do find
> a bug in the shell script, report bugs at bugs.xfce.org under the Xfce
> product
>
> xfce4-terminal: A terminal emulator written by Eduard Roccatello, it
> is of late unmaintained, and is not an official part of Xfce. I don't
> know about Eduard's official position on it is.

FYI, Terminal was renamed to xfce4-terminal by the debian xfce
maintainers. Bad choice of name, imho.

> Terminal: A terminal emulator written by Benedikt Meurer. It is in
> good shape, maintained, and also not a part of the Xfce core. More
> confusingly, Debian seems to package Terminal as "xfce4-terminal".
> Report bugs against Terminal at bugs.xfce.org under the Terminal
> product.
>
>  I'll have
> > to take a look through bugzilla before reporting it. If you look at the
> > os-cillation page that hosts Terminal it takes you to the BerliOS bug
> > tracking system though - a bit confusing!
>
> BerliOS hosts the xfce-goodies project which was an umbrella for third
> party projects using the Xfce platform. A lot of that work has been
> moved back into the Xfce SVN - there may still be some dangling
> pointers back to BerliOS within projects that moved.
>

Regards, Alexander Toresson