TERM environment variable not set.

[Daniel Holm]

Binary package hint: xterm

The TERM environment variable not set, which creates some difficulty. I use Guake as my standard virtual shell, but the same thing happens in Gnome Terminal.

If I run $ export TERM=xterm everything works like a charm again, but it is frustrating having to do this at each new session and it would certainly be a issue for beginners.

I got this bug both on my laptop running latest Maverick and my server, also running Maverick. Both installed Beta 4.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
Package: xterm 261-1ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-22.33-generic 2.6.35.4
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-22-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 256.53 Fri Aug 27 20:27:48 PDT 2010
 GCC version: gcc version 4.4.5 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.4.4-14ubuntu4)
Architecture: amd64
CheckboxSubmission: ca9a6e4f7f27175b0ad961c785977527
CheckboxSystem: 4359ae94444d1d712e0f7d48453d9e6b
Date: Thu Sep 30 17:54:21 2010
DkmsStatus: nvidia-current, 256.53, 2.6.35-22-generic, x86_64: installed
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Beta amd64 (20100901.1)
MachineType: Zepto Znote
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=de9094ea-b926-4ad7-bed6-31065b40cdec ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=sv_SE.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: xterm
dmi.bios.date: 08/05/2009
dmi.bios.version: G14A
dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: Zepto
dmi.board.vendor: Zepto
dmi.board.version: 0.46-EC0.38
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Chassis Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 1
dmi.chassis.vendor: Zepto
dmi.chassis.version: Zepto
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvn:bvrG14A:bd08/05/2009:svnZepto:pnZnote:pvrG14A:rvnZepto:rnZepto:rvr0.46-EC0.38:cvnZepto:ct1:cvrZepto:
dmi.product.name: Znote
dmi.product.version: G14A
dmi.sys.vendor: Zepto
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 codename: maverick
 architecture: x86_64
 kernel: 2.6.35-22-generic

[Thomas Dickey (dickey-his)]

It's more likely to be a problem with your shell environment than xterm.

[Daniel Holm (danielholm)]

Yeah, probably. But I didn't know what else?

[Thomas Dickey (dickey-his)]

I don't see the shell mentioned (assuming bash). It's not a problem with the terminal database,
otherwise you'd not succeed in using the exported $TERM. So I'm assuming some scripting
error in the shell's initialization is clearing the variable.

[Daniel Holm (danielholm)]

Yes. It is bash. What do you want me to do?

[Thomas Dickey (dickey-his)]

yOn Fri, 1 Oct 2010, Daniel Holm wrote:

> Yes. It is bash. What do you want me to do?

I'm curious if there's something in its initialization scripts which is
doing an "unset" on TERM, or exporting it to some odd value.

--
Thomas E. Dickey
http://invisible-island.net
ftp://invisible-island.net

[Daniel Holm (danielholm)]

echo $TERM shows 'null'. Where can I find these init scripts?

[Thomas Dickey (dickey-his)]

On Fri, 1 Oct 2010, Daniel Holm wrote:

> echo $TERM shows 'null'. Where can I find these init scripts?

As a start, I'd look at the "rc" files that dpkg -L bash lists, e.g.,

/etc/skel/.bashrc
/etc/bash.bashrc

and also your own scripts. You might also get a list of files using
strace, e.g., "strace -fo foo", and looking for open-calls.

--
Thomas E. Dickey
http://invisible-island.net
ftp://invisible-island.net

[Daniel Holm (danielholm)]

I will check those files in /etc. But this bug showed up after upgrading to Maverick via a fresh install on my laptop - but kept the home dir. And on my server there was a complete fresh install with no prior home.

[Thomas Dickey (dickey-his)]

On Mon, 4 Oct 2010, Daniel Holm wrote:

> I will check those files in /etc. But this bug showed up after upgrading
> to Maverick via a fresh install on my laptop - but kept the home dir.
> And on my server there was a complete fresh install with no prior home.

This appears to be a bug in vte which affects all of its users except
for gnome-terminal.

  https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=639280

(it only surfaced in one of my queries today)

--
Thomas E. Dickey
http://invisible-island.net
ftp://invisible-island.net

[Daniel Holm (danielholm)]

Since my own scripts worked in Lucid and this error also occours on my fresh server, I don't think that they are the root of the problem. But here are the rc files from my laptop at first. I can post those from my server too, if you'd like.