Error opening terminal: xterm

[Anton Shterenlikht]

I'm trying to use ports-mgmt/synth.
I get:

# synth build net/mpich
Error opening terminal: xterm.

John Marino replied on github this is nothing
to do with synth but rather some misconfig on
my box. He mentioned termcap.

As far as I can see my /etc/termcap.small is
the default version.

Anybody has a suggestion?

Thanks

Anton
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[Polytropon]

On Wed, 12 Jul 2017 15:49:17 GMT, Anton Shterenlikht wrote:
> I'm trying to use ports-mgmt/synth.
> I get:
>
> # synth build net/mpich
> Error opening terminal: xterm.

Is the "xterm" program installed on your machine?
Yes, I know, stupid question, but might be relevant. ;-)

> John Marino replied on github this is nothing
> to do with synth but rather some misconfig on
> my box. He mentioned termcap.
>
> As far as I can see my /etc/termcap.small is
> the default version.

Terminal emulators usually have a built-in "sane default"
in case of problems with termcap or terminfo. The error
message doesn't really look like something termcap-related,
it's just that there is no indication of _what_ is the
problem.



> Anybody has a suggestion?

Can you manually start xterm? From within an xterm (or
whatever terminal emulator you are using)?

Maybe the port in question expects /usr/bin/xterm to be
the executable ("hardcoded Linuxism")?



--
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...

[Anton Shterenlikht]

> Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2017 18:31:28 +0200
> From: Polytropon <fre...@edvax.de>
> To: Anton Shterenlikht <a...@cmplx.uk>
> Subject: Re: Error opening terminal: xterm
> Cc: freebsd-...@freebsd.org

>
> On Wed, 12 Jul 2017 15:49:17 GMT, Anton Shterenlikht wrote:
> > I'm trying to use ports-mgmt/synth.
> > I get:
> >
> > # synth build net/mpich
> > Error opening terminal: xterm.
>
> Is the "xterm" program installed on your machine?
> Yes, I know, stupid question, but might be relevant. ;-)

yes, it is, use it every day:

# pkg info -xo xterm
xterm-330 x11/xterm

However, I never launch xterm as root,
because I don't allow root access to X:

# xterm
Warning: This program is an suid-root program or is being run by the root user.
The full text of the error or warning message cannot be safely formatted
in this environment. You may get a more descriptive message by running the
program as a non-root user or by removing the suid bit on the executable.
xterm: Xt error: Can't open display: %s
xterm: DISPLAY is not set

Again John told me this error has nothing to do with X anyway.

>
> > Anybody has a suggestion?
>
> Can you manually start xterm? From within an xterm (or
> whatever terminal emulator you are using)?

yes, sure.

>
> Maybe the port in question expects /usr/bin/xterm to be
> the executable ("hardcoded Linuxism")?

unlikely. ports-mgmt/synth was recently strongly
recommended by some experienced users in ports@
as a replacement of portmaster. So I guess this
must be a well behaved port.

Thanks

Anton

[Polytropon]

Fully correct.

> Again John told me this error has nothing to do with X anyway.

It doesn't really look like an X error, but it also doesn't
look like a termap/terminfo error, because those errors tend
to give a hint through their error message.

The message "Error opening terminal: xterm." isn't very helpful.
Can you provide some context from where (within the overall
construct) this message is coming? What tries to start xterm,
and how does it try to do so? Can the maintainer explain?

> > > Anybody has a suggestion?
> >
> > Can you manually start xterm? From within an xterm (or
> > whatever terminal emulator you are using)?
>
> yes, sure.

Good.

> > Maybe the port in question expects /usr/bin/xterm to be
> > the executable ("hardcoded Linuxism")?
>
> unlikely. ports-mgmt/synth was recently strongly
> recommended by some experienced users in ports@
> as a replacement of portmaster. So I guess this
> must be a well behaved port.

I'd think so, too - but still the error message (which doesn't
provide the _actual_ error) might suggest that there is still
something not working as intended. As you can manually start
xterm, xterm probably isn't the problem; starting xterm as
root _could_ be, but there are no X-related error messages
(such as $DISPLAY not set, or missing X access permission).

--
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...