# WARNING: terminal is not fully functional 4 messages from 2022-01-27 to 2022-01-27. Participants: Jeffrey Walton, Junio C Hamano. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/57320 ## Jeffrey Walton, 2022-01-27 06:00 Subject: WARNING: terminal is not fully functional Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAH8yC8kYP2Sth%2BvUZMzHujKQZC6r1kFf%2BLz%3D6_WRs4GFR65B9g%40mail.gmail.com ``` Hi Everyone, I needed to install Git on Ubuntu 8. Git seems to work Ok for most task, but this is unusual: $ git diff WARNING: terminal is not fully functional - (press RETURN) Here's the terminal: $ echo $TERM xterm-256color It seems like loss of colors on an old platform is not that important. However, the message being printed creates an actionable item that needs attention. I think no message would be a better option. Jeff ``` ## Junio C Hamano, 2022-01-27 06:15 Subject: Re: WARNING: terminal is not fully functional Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/xmqqr18t4sc0.fsf%40gitster.g In-Reply-To: ``` Jeffrey Walton writes: > I needed to install Git on Ubuntu 8. Git seems to work Ok for most > task, but this is unusual: > > $ git diff > WARNING: terminal is not fully functional > - (press RETURN) > > Here's the terminal: > > $ echo $TERM > xterm-256color A short answer. You are using "less" as the pager, but it is not working with your terminal. Likely reason is perhaps you are missing terminfo/termcap database entry for that terminal. I have working xterm-256color, so $ TERM=xterm-256color less README.md works as expected, but using a (bogus) terminal that no system would have ever heard of, e.g. $ TERM=no-such-terminal-exists less README.md results in exactly the symptom you are observing. Something to try quickly would be: $ export TERM=vt100; less README.md As the termcap/terminfo entry for vt100 is usually more widely available, this may unblock you. > It seems like loss of colors on an old platform is not that important. > However, the message being printed creates an actionable item that > needs attention. I think no message would be a better option. You would want to redirect it to folks who work on "less" ;-) ``` ## Jeffrey Walton, 2022-01-27 07:05 Subject: Re: WARNING: terminal is not fully functional Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAH8yC8k53a4xcDh34XqoA0VCcxG%2BY%2BmE-rb1MKMd_Z%2Br-t%3D_Bw%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` On Thu, Jan 27, 2022 at 1:15 AM Junio C Hamano wrote: > > Jeffrey Walton writes: > > > I needed to install Git on Ubuntu 8. Git seems to work Ok for most > > task, but this is unusual: > > > > $ git diff > > WARNING: terminal is not fully functional > > - (press RETURN) > > > > Here's the terminal: > > > > $ echo $TERM > > xterm-256color > > A short answer. You are using "less" as the pager, but it is not > working with your terminal. Likely reason is perhaps you are > missing terminfo/termcap database entry for that terminal. > > I have working xterm-256color, so > > $ TERM=xterm-256color less README.md > > works as expected, but using a (bogus) terminal that no system would > have ever heard of, e.g. > > $ TERM=no-such-terminal-exists less README.md > > results in exactly the symptom you are observing. > > Something to try quickly would be: > > $ export TERM=vt100; less README.md > > As the termcap/terminfo entry for vt100 is usually more widely > available, this may unblock you. > > > It seems like loss of colors on an old platform is not that important. > > However, the message being printed creates an actionable item that > > needs attention. I think no message would be a better option. > > You would want to redirect it to folks who work on "less" ;-) Oh, sorry about that. Jeff ``` ## Junio C Hamano, 2022-01-27 18:44 Subject: Re: WARNING: terminal is not fully functional Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/xmqqczkd2f3x.fsf%40gitster.g In-Reply-To: ``` Jeffrey Walton writes: > On Thu, Jan 27, 2022 at 1:15 AM Junio C Hamano wrote: >> >> Jeffrey Walton writes: >> >> > I needed to install Git on Ubuntu 8. Git seems to work Ok for most >> > task, but this is unusual: >> > >> > $ git diff >> > WARNING: terminal is not fully functional >> > - (press RETURN) >> > >> > Here's the terminal: >> > >> > $ echo $TERM >> > xterm-256color >> ... >> Something to try quickly would be: >> >> $ export TERM=vt100; less README.md >> >> As the termcap/terminfo entry for vt100 is usually more widely >> available, this may unblock you. >> >> > It seems like loss of colors on an old platform is not that important. >> > However, the message being printed creates an actionable item that >> > needs attention. I think no message would be a better option. >> >> You would want to redirect it to folks who work on "less" ;-) > > Oh, sorry about that. No need to be sorry for that. I seem to have these terminfo database entries for terminals whose name begin with 'x': $ /bin/ls /lib/terminfo/x xterm xterm-256color xterm-color xterm-debian xterm-mono xterm-r5 xterm-r6 xterm-vt220 xterm-xfree86 my suspicion is that you are lacking xterm-256color for some reason. These usually come from ncurses-base package if I am not mistaken. ```