[SOLVED] [vi|man|less] covers/erases previous screen output

zedmelon · 01-09-2005, 01:06 PM

Either I would completely fail the [ Google | LinuxQuestions ] Search String Composition Test, or I am the only person who is annoyed enough by this to try and fix it.

When I use vi, man, less, et cetera, the screen is cleared (naturally) for the output of the program. When I'm done, the previous scrollback has been covered for the number of lines in the console, including the output or errors from what I was doing. I imagine whoever originally set this behavior enjoyed the extra scrollback it afforded, but more often than not, it erases information that I would have used for reference.

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Code:

make --with --a_buncha_options

(ten or thirty minutes pass)

Code:

*BARF*

naw, that didn't work. Hrmm, what does this error mean?

Code:

less INSTALL

Okay, now what was that error again...? Crap. No way to tell.
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I could just alias 'man' to 'echo;echo...echo;echo;man" and be done with it, but there's got to be a more intelligent way to do this.

I've man-ed setterm and term, but that's all I can think of. I've also manned less and skimmed man, but since the behavior is ubiquitous for all the fullscreen programs like this, the solution is likely elsewhere.

I'm using Slackware, but I've seen the same behavior--whether it's a tty or a remote pts--in oBSD and (I think) Fedora2, so I doubt it's relegated to one or two distros.

zedmelon · 01-09-2005, 10:52 PM

Anyone have any ideas on this?

Mods, I hate to double-post, but should I have posed this question in "Linux - General?"

dr_zayus69 · 01-10-2005, 03:22 PM

The only idea i have is you could do make -bunch of options > tempfilename. This will put the output of make -bunch of options into the file named tempfilename. Then just remember a word or two of the error then do grep [options] words you remembered tempfilename. Or you could store the error in your PAA -personal analog assistant aka a notepad and number two stylus.

bulliver · 01-10-2005, 03:31 PM

Sounds like it may be slack specific...

When I use less, vim etc...when I quit the buffer is redrawn (ie: what you want) so I would assume there has to be a config for this somewhere...

EDIT: ok, sorry. Just ignore me...it works in an xterm (konsole) but not on the CLI

zedmelon · 01-10-2005, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dr_zayus69
The only idea i have is you could do make -bunch of options > tempfilename.

Yeah, but rather than circumventing the issue, I want to eliminate the "cover up." SecureCRT (Windows ssh client) has an option "scroll to clear screen;" I guess I'm wanting something similar to that.

Quote:

Or you could store the error in your PAA -personal analog assistant aka a notepad and number two stylus.

*chortle* I like that.

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Quote:

Originally posted by bulliver
Sounds like it may be slack specific...

When I use less, vim etc...when I quit the buffer is redrawn (ie: what you want) so I would assume there has to be a config for this somewhere...

Yeah, I thought so too, because my BSD box gives my undisturbed screen back, and you can't even tell I edited a file. Other than the command line "# vi jonketyfilecrap" that is.

Quote:

...it works in an xterm (konsole) but not on the CLI

I checked this out. No diff on the tty or pts (my machines are across the room in a rack). Just for kicks, I did "man vi" (then found the link below) then "man elvis." I didn't see anything that might help, but I haven't scrutinized the built in help yet either. However, I did notice this:

Code:

/usr/bin/vi --> elvis

I tried 'vim,' and it gave back my console (yippee!). When I first learned vi wasn't really vi (~2001), I was noob enough to not know any difference. Hopefully I'm still noob enough to not tell between vim and elvis, because I edited the link to point to vim.