What is Arch Linux's default terminal?

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Using the command echo $TERM, I get the output 'xterm'. However, I have not done anything to install the X Windowing System, and as far as I know, Xterm cannot run without it, and Arch does not install it by default. (Furthermore, there isn't any manpage on xterm, and I would think that if I actually had xterm installed, it would have a manpage).

So is the default terminal for Arch Linux really Xterm? If so, how is it running without X? If not, why does the $TERM variable contain 'xterm', and what is the default terminal?

Anachrome

Posted 2011-11-25T14:43:19.153

Reputation: 93

Answers

9

When you log in to the console without X11, you are using the Linux built-in "virtual console". It's built into the kernel and its terminfo name is linux, which is what you should be seeing in $TERM.

If your $TERM has anything else, carefully check your configuration, including:

  • the agetty lines in /etc/inittab (they should say linux at the end1)
  • system-wide shell startup scripts
    • /etc/profile, /etc/profile.d/*.sh
    • /etc/bash.bashrc (if using bash)
  • your own shell startup scripts
    • ~/.profile, ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_login, ~/.bashrc

1 Certain Arch Wiki pages suggest configuring agetty in inittab to use xterm or even xterm-256color. This is nonsense.

user1686

Posted 2011-11-25T14:43:19.153

Reputation: 283 655

1Could you elaborate on that last part? – Daniel Beck – 2011-11-26T14:06:22.883

Which part are you referring to -- "your own shell startup" or "Arch Wiki"? – user1686 – 2011-11-26T14:13:46.203

When googling for an example of Arch's inittab (being away from my own system), I found the Arch Wiki page on "Init and inittab", which has such examples in it (agetty being told to use "xterm-256color" as the terminal name) without sufficient explanation as to why it should be done like that. Not only this configuration is incorrect and cannot add any new features (such as more colors) to the Linux tty, it can even break programs expecting to be able to use Xterm-specific commands, as other users blindly trust and copy-paste the Wiki examples... – user1686 – 2011-11-26T15:26:12.517

Ah right now I understand what you mean. It'd configure the Linux virtual console to pretend to be xterm, with negative side effects in everything checking e.g. Term env variable or Termcap – Daniel Beck – 2011-11-26T15:33:54.787

In /etc/inittab, all of the agetty lines (tty1 through tty6) have 'linux'. None of the other files you mentioned have anything that looks like it could affect $TERM, however, /etc/profile.d does contain two files 'xorg.sh' and 'xorg.csh' (but they contain nothing that looks like it could be affecting $TERM. – Anachrome – 2011-11-26T19:46:52.603

2Alright, I feel like a complete moron--the $TERM on my arch linux computer is 'linux'; however, I've been accessing the computer via ssh (the keyboard is busted, I just used my desktop keyboard, which happens to be a USB keyboard, to do). I had no idea that ssh would use a diff terminal than the one the computer was using, though it seems pretty obvious now. Sorry for that. – Anachrome – 2011-11-26T20:18:40.773

Asked: 2011-11-25T14:43:19.153

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Active: 2017-04-18T06:53:01.483