Re: tn3270, mset and map3270

[Joerg Sonnenberger <joerg%britannica.bec.de@localhost>]

On Tue, Feb 09, 2010 at 03:45:12PM -0500, der Mouse wrote:
> >> In order not to lose functions like $TERMCAP and tn3270, please
> >> implement terminfo as an emulation on top of native termcap.
> > What (fictitious) terminals are we talking about BTW that require the
> > use of TERMCAP?
> 
> I don't think it's so much that the terminals care - how can they tell
> what software generated the sequences they see? - it is a question of
> compatability with things, things that used to work just fine, that
> stuff descriptions in $TERMCAP and expect them to work.

Compatiblity is always a nice argument. Let me repeat my question
though. What actually depends on this? Hand-waving that someone
somewhere might require this is not really a good reason to waste time
on writing (and maintaining) a compatiblity layer. It is a good reason
to remove a feature. So far two use cases have been discussed:
- use with read-only media lacking a specific terminal definition
- software that doesn't deal properly with terminal sizes

The first case is being discussed ($TERMINFO or not) and I would like to
know if this case actually happens. The second one has been discussed as
software bug so far and irrelevant. So do you actually have another one,
which is not theoretical?

Joerg