FYI: I'm going to retire the cursesGui plugin

Edward K. Ream

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May 10, 2026, 8:49:16 AM (11 days ago) May 10

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The cursesGui plugin was a precursor to the much more capable cursersGui2 plugin. While working on PR #4674, I started to wonder about the status of the older plugin.

A quick review of the cursesGui plugin showed it would need a lot of work to become functional. Earlier this morning, I created PR #4676 to record my investigations. Almost immediately, I closed this PR: there is no chance that the cursesGui plugin will ever again be useful. If it ever was. Indeed, the cursesGui plugin was probably based on Leo's long-defunct Tk gui!!

I plan to move cursesGui.py to Leo's permanent attic. Imo, this code should not even be considered to be obsolete. It's just useless. I don't want to tempt anyone else to waste a minute more on it.

Your comments, please.

Edward

Edward K. Ream

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May 10, 2026, 9:05:19 AM (11 days ago) May 10

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On Sunday, May 10, 2026 at 7:49:16 AM UTC-5 Edward K. Ream wrote:

> I plan to move cursesGui.py to Leo's permanent attic. Imo, this code should not even be considered to be obsolete. It's just useless. I don't want to tempt anyone else to waste a minute more on it.

PR #4677 does the work.

Edward

Viktor Ransmayr

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May 11, 2026, 5:17:09 AM (10 days ago) May 11

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Hello Edward,

What is the status of issue #4625 ?

Should I report issues for Linux - or - is it still to early from your point of view ?

With kind regards,

Viktor

Edward K. Ream

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May 11, 2026, 6:28:47 AM (10 days ago) May 11

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On Mon, May 11, 2026 at 4:17 AM Viktor Ransmayr wrote:

> What is the status of issue #4625 ?

PR #4674 is ready for review. Please report any issues with that PR.

Thanks.

Edward

Viktor Ransmayr

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May 11, 2026, 7:51:31 AM (10 days ago) May 11

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Hello Edward,

I did test the '--gui=console' option both in a fresh Debian - as well as - Fedora Test VM.

Here's the first report of a traceback for Debian 13.

With kind regards,

Viktor

###

user@Test-VM04:~$
user@Test-VM04:~$ cd projects/.venv
user@Test-VM04:~/projects/.venv$
user@Test-VM04:~/projects/.venv$ source bin/activate
(.venv) user@Test-VM04:~/projects/.venv$
(.venv) user@Test-VM04:~/projects/.venv$ cd leo-editor/
(.venv) user@Test-VM04:~/projects/.venv/leo-editor$
(.venv) user@Test-VM04:~/projects/.venv/leo-editor$ python3 -m leo.core.runLeo --gui=console
setting leoID from os.getenv('USER'): 'user'
Leo 6.8.9-devel, devel branch, April 14, 2026
Python 3.13.5, Leo Console Gui (npyscreen)
linux
SessionManager.load_snapshot: no previous session

Uncaught exception in Leo...
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<frozen runpy>", line 198, in _run_module_as_main
File "<frozen runpy>", line 88, in _run_code
File "/home/user/projects/.venv/leo-editor/leo/core/runLeo.py", line 128, in <module>
run()
~~~^^
File "/home/user/projects/.venv/leo-editor/leo/core/runLeo.py", line 112, in run
g.app.loadManager.load(fileName, pymacs)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/home/user/projects/.venv/leo-editor/leo/core/leoApp.py", line 2393, in load
g.app.gui.runMainLoop()
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
File "/home/user/projects/.venv/leo-editor/leo/plugins/cursesGui2.py", line 1681, in runMainLoop
self.curses_app.run() # run calls CApp.main(), which calls CGui.run().
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
File "/home/user/projects/.venv/leo-editor/leo/external/npyscreen/apNPSApplication.py", line 47, in run
return npyssafewrapper.wrapper(self.__remove_argument_call_main)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/home/user/projects/.venv/leo-editor/leo/external/npyscreen/npyssafewrapper.py", line 52, in wrapper
wrapper_no_fork(call_function)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/home/user/projects/.venv/leo-editor/leo/external/npyscreen/npyssafewrapper.py", line 101, in wrapper_no_fork
locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, '')
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/lib/python3.13/locale.py", line 615, in setlocale
return _setlocale(category, locale)
locale.Error: unsupported locale setting

(.venv) user@Test-VM04:~/projects/.venv/leo-editor$

###

Viktor Ransmayr

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May 11, 2026, 7:54:25 AM (10 days ago) May 11

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Hello Edward,

Edward K. Ream schrieb am Montag, 11. Mai 2026 um 12:28:47 UTC+2:

Here's the second report for a different traceback on Fedora 43, which allows the installation of Leo outside of a Python Virtual Environment (venv).

With kind regards,

Viktor

###

[user@Test-VM03 leo-editor]$
[user@Test-VM03 leo-editor]$ python -m leo.core.runLeo &
[1] 1136
[user@Test-VM03 leo-editor]$ setting leoID from os.getenv('USER'): 'user'

Leo 6.8.9-devel, devel branch, April 14, 2026

Python 3.14.4, PyQt version 6.11.0

linux
SessionManager.load_snapshot: no previous session

creating: /home/user/.leo/.leoRecentFiles.txt

[1]+ Done python -m leo.core.runLeo
[user@Test-VM03 leo-editor]$
[user@Test-VM03 leo-editor]$ python -m leo.core.runLeo --gui=console

setting leoID from os.getenv('USER'): 'user'
Leo 6.8.9-devel, devel branch, April 14, 2026

Python 3.14.4, Leo Console Gui (npyscreen)

linux
SessionManager.load_snapshot: no previous session

Uncaught exception in Leo...
Traceback (most recent call last):

File "/home/user/projects/leo-editor/leo/plugins/cursesGui2.py", line 1681, in runMainLoop

self.curses_app.run() # run calls CApp.main(), which calls CGui.run().
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^

File "/home/user/projects/leo-editor/leo/external/npyscreen/apNPSApplication.py", line 47, in run
return npyssafewrapper.wrapper(self.__remove_argument_call_main)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/home/user/projects/leo-editor/leo/external/npyscreen/npyssafewrapper.py", line 52, in wrapper
wrapper_no_fork(call_function)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/home/user/projects/leo-editor/leo/external/npyscreen/npyssafewrapper.py", line 116, in wrapper_no_fork
return_code = call_function(_SCREEN)
File "/home/user/projects/leo-editor/leo/external/npyscreen/apNPSApplication.py", line 40, in __remove_argument_call_main
return self.main()
~~~~~~~~~^^
File "/home/user/projects/leo-editor/leo/plugins/cursesGui2.py", line 2845, in main
g.app.gui.run()
~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
File "/home/user/projects/leo-editor/leo/plugins/cursesGui2.py", line 1695, in run
self.top_form = self.createCursesTop()
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
File "/home/user/projects/leo-editor/leo/plugins/cursesGui2.py", line 1401, in createCursesTop
self.curses_form = form = LeoForm(name='Dummy Name') # This call clears the screen.
~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/home/user/projects/leo-editor/leo/external/npyscreen/fmForm.py", line 58, in __init__
super(_FormBase, self).__init__(*args, **keywords)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/home/user/projects/leo-editor/leo/external/npyscreen/proto_fm_screen_area.py", line 100, in __init__
self._create_screen()
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
File "/home/user/projects/leo-editor/leo/external/npyscreen/proto_fm_screen_area.py", line 113, in _create_screen
self.lines = self._max_physical()[0] + 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
File "/home/user/projects/leo-editor/leo/external/npyscreen/proto_fm_screen_area.py", line 138, in _max_physical
'hh', fcntl.ioctl(sys.stderr.fileno(), termios.TIOCGWINSZ, 'xxxx')
~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
SystemError: buffer overflow

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<frozen runpy>", line 198, in _run_module_as_main
File "<frozen runpy>", line 88, in _run_code

File "/home/user/projects/leo-editor/leo/core/runLeo.py", line 128, in <module>
run()
~~~^^
File "/home/user/projects/leo-editor/leo/core/runLeo.py", line 112, in run
g.app.loadManager.load(fileName, pymacs)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/home/user/projects/leo-editor/leo/core/leoApp.py", line 2393, in load
g.app.gui.runMainLoop()
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
File "/home/user/projects/leo-editor/leo/plugins/cursesGui2.py", line 1686, in runMainLoop
curses.endwin()
~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
_curses.error: endwin() returned ERR

[user@Test-VM03 leo-editor]$

###

Edward K. Ream

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May 11, 2026, 11:08:31 AM (10 days ago) May 11

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On Mon, May 11, 2026 at 6:51 AM Viktor Ransmayr wrote:

> I did test the '--gui=console' option both in a fresh Debian - as well as - Fedora Test VM.

Thanks for your testing. I tested Leo's console gui on Ubuntu. Everything worked for me except that Leo reported multiple errors during shutdown, after correctly executing Leo's quit-leo command. Those errors were the result of Leo calling sys.exit(0). That would be a separate issue, but I don't much care about the tracebacks.

In short, the PR #4674 appears to do what it's supposed to do. I'm going to merge it.

Now to your specific reports.

> Here's the first report of a traceback for Debian 13.

QQQ

Uncaught exception in Leo...
Traceback (most recent call last):

[snip]

File "/home/user/projects/.venv/leo-editor/leo/core/leoApp.py", line 2393, in load
g.app.gui.runMainLoop()
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
File "/home/user/projects/.venv/leo-editor/leo/plugins/cursesGui2.py", line 1681, in runMainLoop
self.curses_app.run() # run calls CApp.main(), which calls CGui.run().
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
File "/home/user/projects/.venv/leo-editor/leo/external/npyscreen/apNPSApplication.py", line 47, in run
return npyssafewrapper.wrapper(self.__remove_argument_call_main)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/home/user/projects/.venv/leo-editor/leo/external/npyscreen/npyssafewrapper.py", line 52, in wrapper
wrapper_no_fork(call_function)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/home/user/projects/.venv/leo-editor/leo/external/npyscreen/npyssafewrapper.py", line 101, in wrapper_no_fork
locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, '')
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/lib/python3.13/locale.py", line 615, in setlocale
return _setlocale(category, locale)
locale.Error: unsupported locale setting

QQQ

The cursesGui2.py plugin doesn't mess with locale settings. This must be an npyscreen issue of some kind.

Your other crash was also interesting:

QQQ

SystemError: buffer overflow
During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

[Snip]

File "/home/user/projects/leo-editor/leo/plugins/cursesGui2.py", line 1686, in runMainLoop
curses.endwin()
~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
_curses.error: endwin() returned ERR

QQQ

This is the last part of the traceback that I say. To repeat, sys.exit(0) caused it. The cursesGui2 plugin is mostly blameless.