---
-Why does st not handle utmp entries?
+## Why does st not handle utmp entries?
-Use the excellent tool of utmp[0] for this task.
+Use the excellent tool of [utmp](http://git.suckless.org/utmp/) for this task.
-[0] http://hg.suckless.org/utmp/
---
+## Some _random program_ complains that st is unknown/not recognised/unsupported/whatever!
+
+It means that st doesn’t have any terminfo entry on your system. Chances are
+you did not `make install`. If you just want to test it without installing it,
+you can manualy run `tic -s st.info`.
+
+## Nothing works, and nothing is said about an unknown terminal!
+
+* Some programs just assume they’re running in xterm i.e. they don’t rely on
+ terminfo. What you see is the current state of the “xterm compliance”.
+* Some programs don’t complain about the lacking st description and default to
+ another terminal. In that case see the question about terminfo.
+
+## I get some weird glitches/visual bug on _random program_!
+
+Try launching it with a different TERM: $ TERM=xterm myapp. toe(1) will give
+you a list of available terminals, but you’ll most likely switch between xterm,
+st or st-256color. The default value for TERM can be changed in config.h
+(TNAME).
+
+## How do I scroll back up?
+
+Using a terminal multiplexer.
+
+* `st -e tmux` using C-b [
+* `st -e screen` using C-a ESC
+
+## Why doesn't the Del key work in some programs?
+
+Taken from the terminfo manpage:
+
+ If the terminal has a keypad that transmits codes when the keys
+ are pressed, this information can be given. Note that it is not
+ possible to handle terminals where the keypad only works in
+ local (this applies, for example, to the unshifted HP 2621 keys).
+ If the keypad can be set to transmit or not transmit, give these
+ codes as smkx and rmkx. Otherwise the keypad is assumed to
+ always transmit.
+
+In the st case smkx=E[?1hE= and rmkx=E[?1lE>, so it is mandatory that
+applications which want to test against keypad keys send these
+sequences.
+
+But buggy applications (like bash and irssi, for example) don't do this. A fast
+solution for them is to use the following command:
+
+ $ printf '\033[?1h\033=' >/dev/tty
+
+or
+ $ tput smkx
+
+In the case of bash, readline is used. Readline has a different note in its
+manpage about this issue:
+
+ enable-keypad (Off)
+ When set to On, readline will try to enable the
+ application keypad when it is called. Some systems
+ need this to enable arrow keys.
+
+Adding this option to your .inputrc will fix the keypad problem for all
+applications using readline.
+
+If you are using zsh, then read the zsh FAQ
+<http://zsh.sourceforge.net/FAQ/zshfaq03.html#l25>:
+
+ It should be noted that the O / [ confusion can occur with other keys
+ such as Home and End. Some systems let you query the key sequences
+ sent by these keys from the system's terminal database, terminfo.
+ Unfortunately, the key sequences given there typically apply to the
+ mode that is not the one zsh uses by default (it's the "application"
+ mode rather than the "raw" mode). Explaining the use of terminfo is
+ outside of the scope of this FAQ, but if you wish to use the key
+ sequences given there you can tell the line editor to turn on
+ "application" mode when it starts and turn it off when it stops:
+
+ function zle-line-init () { echoti smkx }
+ function zle-line-finish () { echoti rmkx }
+ zle -N zle-line-init
+ zle -N zle-line-finish
+
+Putting these lines into your .zshrc will fix the problems.
+
+## How can I use meta in 8bit mode?
+
+St supports meta in 8bit mode, but the default terminfo entry doesn't
+use this capability. If you want it, you have to use the 'st-meta' value
+in TERM.
+
+## I cannot compile st in OpenBSD
+
+OpenBSD lacks librt, despite it being mandatory in POSIX
+<http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/c99.html#tag_20_11_13>.
+If you want to compile st for OpenBSD you have to remove -lrt from config.mk, and
+st will compile without any loss of functionality, because all the functions are
+included in libc on this platform.
+
+## The Backspace Case
+
+St is emulating the Linux way of handling backspace being delete and delete being
+backspace.
+
+This is an issue that was discussed in suckless mailing list
+<http://lists.suckless.org/dev/1404/20697.html>. Here is why some old grumpy
+terminal users wants its backspace to be how he feels it:
+
+ Well, I am going to comment why I want to change the behaviour
+ of this key. When ASCII was defined in 1968, communication
+ with computers was done using punched cards, or hardcopy
+ terminals (basically a typewriter machine connected with the
+ computer using a serial port). ASCII defines DELETE as 7F,
+ because, in punched-card terms, it means all the holes of the
+ card punched; it is thus a kind of 'physical delete'. In the
+ same way, the BACKSPACE key was a non-destructive backspace,
+ as on a typewriter. So, if you wanted to delete a character,
+ you had to BACKSPACE and then DELETE. Another use of BACKSPACE
+ was to type accented characters, for example 'a BACKSPACE `'.
+ The VT100 had no BACKSPACE key; it was generated using the
+ CONTROL key as another control character (CONTROL key sets to
+ 0 b7 b6 b5, so it converts H (code 0x48) into BACKSPACE (code
+ 0x08)), but it had a DELETE key in a similar position where
+ the BACKSPACE key is located today on common PC keyboards.
+ All the terminal emulators emulated the difference between
+ these keys correctly: the backspace key generated a BACKSPACE
+ (^H) and delete key generated a DELETE (^?).
+
+ But a problem arose when Linus Torvalds wrote Linux. Unlike
+ earlier terminals, the Linux virtual terminal (the terminal
+ emulator integrated in the kernel) returned a DELETE when
+ backspace was pressed, due to the VT100 having a DELETE key in
+ the same position. This created a lot of problems (see [1]
+ and [2]). Since Linux has become the king, a lot of terminal
+ emulators today generate a DELETE when the backspace key is
+ pressed in order to avoid problems with Linux. The result is
+ that the only way of generating a BACKSPACE on these systems
+ is by using CONTROL + H. (I also think that emacs had an
+ important point here because the CONTROL + H prefix is used
+ in emacs in some commands (help commands).)
+
+ From point of view of the kernel, you can change the key
+ for deleting a previous character with stty erase. When you
+ connect a real terminal into a machine you describe the type
+ of terminal, so getty configures the correct value of stty
+ erase for this terminal. In the case of terminal emulators,
+ however, you don't have any getty that can set the correct
+ value of stty erase, so you always get the default value.
+ For this reason, it is necessary to add 'stty erase ^H' to your
+ profile if you have changed the value of the backspace key.
+ Of course, another solution is for st itself to modify the
+ value of stty erase. I usually have the inverse problem:
+ when I connect to non-Unix machines, I have to press CONTROL +
+ h to get a BACKSPACE. The inverse problem occurs when a user
+ connects to my Unix machines from a different system with a
+ correct backspace key.
+
+ [1] http://www.ibb.net/~anne/keyboard.html
+ [2] http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO-5.html
+
+## But I really want the old grumpy behaviour of my terminal
+
+Apply [1].
+
+[1] http://st.suckless.org/patches/delkey
Got questions, comments, patches, etc.? Contact Jason Woofenden