Cannot open termcap database

Cannot open termcap database

[A Soare]

I tried to compile emacs for console, and I got the error 

Cannot open termcap database


I solved the problem by installing ncurses-dev.

One can introduce a check in ./configure.ac for the existence of terminfo data
base when compiling for console and giving a suggestive error message?




Alin.

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Mathias Dahl]

On Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 3:11 PM, A Soare <alinsoar@voila.fr> wrote:
> I tried to compile emacs for console, and I got the error
>
> Cannot open termcap database
>
>
> I solved the problem by installing ncurses-dev.
>
> One can introduce a check in ./configure.ac for the existence of terminfo data
> base when compiling for console and giving a suggestive error message?

I get bitten by this each time I compile and install Emacs on a new
Ubuntu GNU/Linux machine. Each time I have to surf around to
understand what to do about it. If it is possible for "us" to fix it
it would be nice.

/Mathias

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Dan Nicolaescu]

Mathias Dahl <mathias.dahl@gmail.com> writes:

  > On Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 3:11 PM, A Soare <alinsoar@voila.fr> wrote:
  > > I tried to compile emacs for console, and I got the error
  > >
  > > Cannot open termcap database
  > >
  > >
  > > I solved the problem by installing ncurses-dev.
  > >
  > > One can introduce a check in ./configure.ac for the existence of terminfo data
  > > base when compiling for console and giving a suggestive error message?
  > 
  > I get bitten by this each time I compile and install Emacs on a new
  > Ubuntu GNU/Linux machine. Each time I have to surf around to
  > understand what to do about it. If it is possible for "us" to fix it
  > it would be nice.

configure could try to detect either the termcap or terminfo headers and
if none are present should error out.  All the systems we support
nowadays that use ttys have either termcap or terminfo, so we don't lose
anything.

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Stefan Monnier]

>> > I tried to compile emacs for console, and I got the error
>> > Cannot open termcap database
>> > I solved the problem by installing ncurses-dev.
>> > One can introduce a check in ./configure.ac for the existence of terminfo data
>> > base when compiling for console and giving a suggestive error message?
>> I get bitten by this each time I compile and install Emacs on a new
>> Ubuntu GNU/Linux machine. Each time I have to surf around to
>> understand what to do about it. If it is possible for "us" to fix it
>> it would be nice.
> configure could try to detect either the termcap or terminfo headers and
> if none are present should error out.  All the systems we support
> nowadays that use ttys have either termcap or terminfo, so we don't lose
> anything.

I think the problem isn't so much the C headers, as the database.
For some reason, some distribution seem to have a tendency to install
some packages that provide the termcap header files without having the
termcap database installed, so compilation works fine, but it fails at
run-time.


        Stefan

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Dan Nicolaescu]

Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:

  > >> > I tried to compile emacs for console, and I got the error
  > >> > Cannot open termcap database
  > >> > I solved the problem by installing ncurses-dev.
  > >> > One can introduce a check in ./configure.ac for the existence of terminfo data
  > >> > base when compiling for console and giving a suggestive error message?
  > >> I get bitten by this each time I compile and install Emacs on a new
  > >> Ubuntu GNU/Linux machine. Each time I have to surf around to
  > >> understand what to do about it. If it is possible for "us" to fix it
  > >> it would be nice.
  > > configure could try to detect either the termcap or terminfo headers and
  > > if none are present should error out.  All the systems we support
  > > nowadays that use ttys have either termcap or terminfo, so we don't lose
  > > anything.
  > 
  > I think the problem isn't so much the C headers, as the database.
  > For some reason, some distribution seem to have a tendency to install
  > some packages that provide the termcap header files without having the
  > termcap database installed, so compilation works fine, but it fails at
  > run-time.

The problem is different.  
If both termcap and terminfo headers are missing emacs uses
src/termcap.c files.  
But at run time it tries to look for /etc/termcap which modern
distributions do not install (they install the terminfo database).

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Stefan Monnier]

> The problem is different.
> If both termcap and terminfo headers are missing emacs uses
> src/termcap.c files.
> But at run time it tries to look for /etc/termcap which modern
> distributions do not install (they install the terminfo database).

Looks like you're right.  Maybe we should throw away src/termcap.c
altogether, or only use it if a configure flag is given.


        Stefan

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Miles Bader]

Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:
>> But at run time it tries to look for /etc/termcap which modern
>> distributions do not install (they install the terminfo database).
>
> Looks like you're right.  Maybe we should throw away src/termcap.c
> altogether, or only use it if a configure flag is given.

Of course, given modern systems, we could probably just include our own
termcap file (and a simple search path for searching for a termcap file
to use) with about 5 entries and cover 99% of uses...

-Miles

-- 
Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it
has to be us.  -- Jerry Garcia

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Dan Nicolaescu]

Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:

  > > The problem is different.
  > > If both termcap and terminfo headers are missing emacs uses
  > > src/termcap.c files.
  > > But at run time it tries to look for /etc/termcap which modern
  > > distributions do not install (they install the terminfo database).
  > 
  > Looks like you're right.  Maybe we should throw away src/termcap.c
  > altogether, or only use it if a configure flag is given.

Throw it away please.  I don't think we support any platform where it
is necessary.

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2009 09:17:40 -0800 (PST)
> From: Dan Nicolaescu <dann@ics.uci.edu>
> Cc: A Soare <alinsoar@voila.fr>, emacs-devel@gnu.org,
> 	Mathias Dahl <mathias.dahl@gmail.com>
> 
>   > Looks like you're right.  Maybe we should throw away src/termcap.c
>   > altogether, or only use it if a configure flag is given.
> 
> Throw it away please.  I don't think we support any platform where it
> is necessary.

MSDOS needs it.  I could move all the code it needs to msdos.c, if
that's what people want, but it sounds easier to leave termcap.c in
place and just move termcap.o to MSDOS_OBJ in src/Makefile.in.  Then
no other platform will link it in.

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Dan Nicolaescu]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

  > > Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2009 09:17:40 -0800 (PST)
  > > From: Dan Nicolaescu <dann@ics.uci.edu>
  > > Cc: A Soare <alinsoar@voila.fr>, emacs-devel@gnu.org,
  > > 	Mathias Dahl <mathias.dahl@gmail.com>
  > > 
  > >   > Looks like you're right.  Maybe we should throw away src/termcap.c
  > >   > altogether, or only use it if a configure flag is given.
  > > 
  > > Throw it away please.  I don't think we support any platform where it
  > > is necessary.
  > 
  > MSDOS needs it.  I could move all the code it needs to msdos.c, if
  > that's what people want, but it sounds easier to leave termcap.c in
  > place and just move termcap.o to MSDOS_OBJ in src/Makefile.in.  Then
  > no other platform will link it in.

IMHO: given that it's only used in a single platform, it should be in a
platform specific file, that will eliminate any possibility of
confusion.

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2009 11:24:15 -0800 (PST)
> From: Dan Nicolaescu <dann@ics.uci.edu>
> Cc: monnier@iro.umontreal.ca, alinsoar@voila.fr, emacs-devel@gnu.org,
>         mathias.dahl@gmail.com
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> 
>   > > Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2009 09:17:40 -0800 (PST)
>   > > From: Dan Nicolaescu <dann@ics.uci.edu>
>   > > Cc: A Soare <alinsoar@voila.fr>, emacs-devel@gnu.org,
>   > > 	Mathias Dahl <mathias.dahl@gmail.com>
>   > > 
>   > >   > Looks like you're right.  Maybe we should throw away src/termcap.c
>   > >   > altogether, or only use it if a configure flag is given.
>   > > 
>   > > Throw it away please.  I don't think we support any platform where it
>   > > is necessary.
>   > 
>   > MSDOS needs it.  I could move all the code it needs to msdos.c, if
>   > that's what people want, but it sounds easier to leave termcap.c in
>   > place and just move termcap.o to MSDOS_OBJ in src/Makefile.in.  Then
>   > no other platform will link it in.
> 
> IMHO: given that it's only used in a single platform, it should be in a
> platform specific file, that will eliminate any possibility of
> confusion.

Moving it into MSDOS_OBJ makes it platform specific.  But I will go
with any decision Stefan and Yidong make in this matter.

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Stefan Monnier]

>> > Looks like you're right.  Maybe we should throw away src/termcap.c
>> > altogether, or only use it if a configure flag is given.
>> Throw it away please.  I don't think we support any platform where it
>> is necessary.

> MSDOS needs it.  I could move all the code it needs to msdos.c, if
> that's what people want, but it sounds easier to leave termcap.c in
> place and just move termcap.o to MSDOS_OBJ in src/Makefile.in.  Then
> no other platform will link it in.

Moving the code is not a good idea.  If it's still in use, then we may
as well keep it as is.  So we should simply change the configure script
so that it never uses it except under MSDOS, or upon some other
explicit request.


        Stefan

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>
> Cc: Dan Nicolaescu <dann@ics.uci.edu>,  alinsoar@voila.fr,  emacs-devel@gnu.org,  mathias.dahl@gmail.com
> Date: Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:46:23 -0500
> 
> > MSDOS needs it.  I could move all the code it needs to msdos.c, if
> > that's what people want, but it sounds easier to leave termcap.c in
> > place and just move termcap.o to MSDOS_OBJ in src/Makefile.in.  Then
> > no other platform will link it in.
> 
> Moving the code is not a good idea.  If it's still in use, then we may
> as well keep it as is.  So we should simply change the configure script
> so that it never uses it except under MSDOS, or upon some other
> explicit request.

The MSDOS build does not use the configure script, it uses its own
config.bat, and relies on src/Makefile.in to mention DOS-specific
files in MSDOS_OBJ.  So if the configure script is modified to never
use termcap.c and termcap.o is added to MSDOS_OBJ, I think the effect
is what you suggest above.

Btw, maybe I'm blind, but configure checks only for termcap.h, it
never references -ltermcap or anything else that has "termcap" as a
substring.  Would removing termcap.h from the script be all that is
needed for Unix platforms to not use termcap.c?

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Andreas Schwab]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

> Btw, maybe I'm blind, but configure checks only for termcap.h, it
> never references -ltermcap or anything else that has "termcap" as a
> substring.

AC_CHECK_LIB(ncurses, tparm)

Andreas.

-- 
Andreas Schwab, schwab@linux-m68k.org
GPG Key fingerprint = 58CA 54C7 6D53 942B 1756  01D3 44D5 214B 8276 4ED5
"And now for something completely different."

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Andreas Schwab <schwab@linux-m68k.org>
> Cc: Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>,  alinsoar@voila.fr,  mathias.dahl@gmail.com,  dann@ics.uci.edu,  emacs-devel@gnu.org
> Date: Sat, 05 Dec 2009 11:51:25 +0100
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> 
> > Btw, maybe I'm blind, but configure checks only for termcap.h, it
> > never references -ltermcap or anything else that has "termcap" as a
> > substring.
> 
> AC_CHECK_LIB(ncurses, tparm)

Yes, thanks.

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Dan Nicolaescu]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

  > > From: Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>
  > > Cc: Dan Nicolaescu <dann@ics.uci.edu>,  alinsoar@voila.fr,  emacs-devel@gnu.org,  mathias.dahl@gmail.com
  > > Date: Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:46:23 -0500
  > > 
  > > > MSDOS needs it.  I could move all the code it needs to msdos.c, if
  > > > that's what people want, but it sounds easier to leave termcap.c in
  > > > place and just move termcap.o to MSDOS_OBJ in src/Makefile.in.  Then
  > > > no other platform will link it in.
  > > 
  > > Moving the code is not a good idea.  If it's still in use, then we may
  > > as well keep it as is.  So we should simply change the configure script
  > > so that it never uses it except under MSDOS, or upon some other
  > > explicit request.
  > 
  > The MSDOS build does not use the configure script, it uses its own
  > config.bat, and relies on src/Makefile.in to mention DOS-specific
  > files in MSDOS_OBJ.  So if the configure script is modified to never
  > use termcap.c and termcap.o is added to MSDOS_OBJ, I think the effect
  > is what you suggest above.

termcap.o would also need to be removed from the setting of termcapobj
in src/Makefile.in

  > Btw, maybe I'm blind, but configure checks only for termcap.h, it
  > never references -ltermcap or anything else that has "termcap" as a
  > substring.  Would removing termcap.h from the script be all that is
  > needed for Unix platforms to not use termcap.c?

No, see above.
And it gets even better: termcap.h is not even used, see src/term.c and src/cm.c:

/* For now, don't try to include termcap.h.  On some systems,
   configure finds a non-standard termcap.h that the main build
   won't find.  */

#if defined HAVE_TERMCAP_H && 0
#include <termcap.h>
#else

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Sat, 5 Dec 2009 03:05:03 -0800 (PST)
> From: Dan Nicolaescu <dann@ics.uci.edu>
> Cc: Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>, alinsoar@voila.fr,
>         emacs-devel@gnu.org, mathias.dahl@gmail.com
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> 
>   > The MSDOS build does not use the configure script, it uses its own
>   > config.bat, and relies on src/Makefile.in to mention DOS-specific
>   > files in MSDOS_OBJ.  So if the configure script is modified to never
>   > use termcap.c and termcap.o is added to MSDOS_OBJ, I think the effect
>   > is what you suggest above.
> 
> termcap.o would also need to be removed from the setting of termcapobj
> in src/Makefile.in
> 
>   > Btw, maybe I'm blind, but configure checks only for termcap.h, it
>   > never references -ltermcap or anything else that has "termcap" as a
>   > substring.  Would removing termcap.h from the script be all that is
>   > needed for Unix platforms to not use termcap.c?
> 
> No, see above.
> And it gets even better: termcap.h is not even used, see src/term.c and src/cm.c:
> 
> /* For now, don't try to include termcap.h.  On some systems,
>    configure finds a non-standard termcap.h that the main build
>    won't find.  */
> 
> #if defined HAVE_TERMCAP_H && 0
> #include <termcap.h>
> #else

Right.  So, taking into consideration what Andreas points out, we will
need to:

  . Move termcap.o from termcapobj to MSDOS_OBJ in src/Makefile.in

  . Simplify src/Makefile.in under #ifndef LIBS_TERMCAP" in the
    !TERMINFO case (because both branches will become identical now)

  . Remove termcap.h from AC_CHECK_HEADERS in configure.in

  . Remove the above "#if 0" snippet from src/term.c and src/cm.c

Anything else I missed?

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:50:40 +0200
> From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>
> Cc: alinsoar@voila.fr, mathias.dahl@gmail.com, monnier@iro.umontreal.ca,
> 	emacs-devel@gnu.org
> 
> > termcap.o would also need to be removed from the setting of termcapobj
> > in src/Makefile.in
> > 
> >   > Btw, maybe I'm blind, but configure checks only for termcap.h, it
> >   > never references -ltermcap or anything else that has "termcap" as a
> >   > substring.  Would removing termcap.h from the script be all that is
> >   > needed for Unix platforms to not use termcap.c?
> > 
> > No, see above.
> > And it gets even better: termcap.h is not even used, see src/term.c and src/cm.c:
> > 
> > /* For now, don't try to include termcap.h.  On some systems,
> >    configure finds a non-standard termcap.h that the main build
> >    won't find.  */
> > 
> > #if defined HAVE_TERMCAP_H && 0
> > #include <termcap.h>
> > #else
> 
> Right.  So, taking into consideration what Andreas points out, we will
> need to:
> 
>   . Move termcap.o from termcapobj to MSDOS_OBJ in src/Makefile.in
> 
>   . Simplify src/Makefile.in under #ifndef LIBS_TERMCAP" in the
>     !TERMINFO case (because both branches will become identical now)
> 
>   . Remove termcap.h from AC_CHECK_HEADERS in configure.in
> 
>   . Remove the above "#if 0" snippet from src/term.c and src/cm.c
> 
> Anything else I missed?

No one commented.  Should I do this now, or should I wait for the
release branch to be cut?

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Chong Yidong]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

> No one commented.  Should I do this now, or should I wait for the
> release branch to be cut?

I'd prefer to wait till we branch.

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Chong Yidong <cyd@stupidchicken.com>
> Cc: monnier@iro.umontreal.ca, alinsoar@voila.fr, dann@ics.uci.edu,
>         emacs-devel@gnu.org, mathias.dahl@gmail.com
> Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2009 10:55:40 -0500
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> 
> > No one commented.  Should I do this now, or should I wait for the
> > release branch to be cut?
> 
> I'd prefer to wait till we branch.

Will do.

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Ken Hori]

This happens on Ubuntu Karmic (9.10) as well with Gnome2 as X.

 ... just wanted to bring this topic to attention again.

On Sat, Dec 12, 2009 at 8:30 AM, Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> wrote:
>> From: Chong Yidong <cyd@stupidchicken.com>
>> Cc: monnier@iro.umontreal.ca, alinsoar@voila.fr, dann@ics.uci.edu,
>>         emacs-devel@gnu.org, mathias.dahl@gmail.com
>> Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2009 10:55:40 -0500
>>
>> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
>>
>> > No one commented.  Should I do this now, or should I wait for the
>> > release branch to be cut?
>>
>> I'd prefer to wait till we branch.
>
> Will do.
>
>
>

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:22:40 -0800
> From: Ken Hori <fplemma@gmail.com>
> Cc: Chong Yidong <cyd@stupidchicken.com>, alinsoar@voila.fr, mathias.dahl@gmail.com, 
> 	dann@ics.uci.edu, monnier@iro.umontreal.ca, emacs-devel@gnu.org
> 
> This happens on Ubuntu Karmic (9.10) as well with Gnome2 as X.
> 
>  ... just wanted to bring this topic to attention again.

Thanks, but there's no need: it's on my todo, waiting for the release
branch, as I said last time.

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Stefan Monnier]

> Thanks, but there's no need: it's on my todo, waiting for the release
> branch, as I said last time.

You can install it in the new "pending" branch.  That's what it's for.


        Stefan

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:30:48 +0200
> From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>
> Cc: alinsoar@voila.fr, mathias.dahl@gmail.com, dann@ics.uci.edu,
> 	monnier@iro.umontreal.ca, emacs-devel@gnu.org
> 
> > From: Chong Yidong <cyd@stupidchicken.com>
> > Cc: monnier@iro.umontreal.ca, alinsoar@voila.fr, dann@ics.uci.edu,
> >         emacs-devel@gnu.org, mathias.dahl@gmail.com
> > Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2009 10:55:40 -0500
> > 
> > Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> > 
> > > No one commented.  Should I do this now, or should I wait for the
> > > release branch to be cut?
> > 
> > I'd prefer to wait till we branch.
> 
> Will do.

Done.

Re: Cannot open termcap database

[A. Soare]

I met the error with `termcap database' on Ubuntu and Debian, latest versions.


I met an identical error on Debian, in the moment when temacs started to load the .el files. The error said "Cannot load the charset iso-8859-2", or something like this.

After I installed kde, it worked, because kde installed a few hundreds of other packages.




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