Changes between Version 2 and Version 3 of 256Colors

Timestamp:

Jul 30, 2010, 5:02:33 PM (14 years ago)

Author:

andersk@mit.edu

Comment:

Explain how to set things up in a way that works for other applications too

256Colors

@@ -1 @@
-BarnOwl has built-in support for 256color terminals, assuming your libncursesw (and GNU `screen`, if you're using it) support it.
+BarnOwl has built-in support for 256-color terminals, assuming your libncursesw (and GNU Screen, if you're using it) support it.
 
-If you're running BarnOwl out of the locker and want 256color support, use `barnowl-256color` instead of `barnowl`.
-
-As of Debian Lenny, the stock screen is built with 256color support, but it is disabled by default.
-To enable it, add the following to your `~/.screenrc`.
+Outside of screen, your `TERM` environment variable must be set to `xterm-256color` instead of `xterm`.  If you're running BarnOwl out of the locker, the `barnowl-256color` wrapper sets this for you.  But to get 256 color support for all programs, put something like this in your `~/.bashrc`:
 {{{
-# tell screen how to set colors. AB = background, AF=foreground
-termcapinfo xterm 'Co#256:AB=\E[48;5;%dm:AF=\E[38;5;%dm'
-# erase background with current bg color
-defbce "on"
+case "$TERM" in
+    xterm) TERM=xterm-256color;;
+esac
 }}}
 
-For older platforms, the barnowl locker may have a newer `screen` under the name of `screen-256color`; `/mit/barnowl/etc/screenrc` includes the aforementioned additions.
+As of Debian Lenny, the stock `screen` is built with 256 color support.  To enable it, first make sure your outer `TERM` is `xterm-256color` as above, and add the following to your `~/.screenrc`:
+{{{
+# Erase background with current bg color
+defbce on
+# Advertise 256 color support to inner applications
+term screen-256color-bce
+}}}
 
+For older platforms, the `barnowl` locker may have a newer `screen` under the name of `screen-256color`; `/mit/barnowl/etc/screenrc` includes the aforementioned additions.
+
+In case you want to use 256-color Emacs inside screen, see [http://debbugs.gnu.org/db/26/2650.html Emacs bug 2650].