Termcap Tirade

Many modern UNIX systems ship with a termcap which seems to be optimized for the 1970s era slow-speed serial lines instead of today's world of terminal emulators. Specifically, they seem to like to enable "alternate screen " mode, where if you use vi, more, etc it will display those results in the alternate page, then when you exit, flips back to what you had displayed prior to running the command. This has the ridiculous side effect of causing the text you were looking at (in, for example, a manual page) to disappear from the screen. Maybe it's an artifact of the way I work, but this drives me absolutely insane.

Fortunately, UNIX is built with a "toolbox" theory, so you can drop in pieces to fix this kind of bogosity easily. Depending on whether your system uses termcap or terminfo the mechanisms are a little different, Check your manual pages; my FreeBSD system does the right thing if I put the termcap entry below in $HOME/.termcap and nothing further is required. Some systems need a $TERMCAP variable or similar.

If your system uses terminfo (or if you need both), use the above entries and captoinfo(1) to generate the terminfo entries you need.

Thanks to Paul who seems to have a similar viewpoint, and who had already solved the problem when I went off screaming about how terrible it was and threatening to fix it up.

Termcap entries

#	Reconstructed via infocmp from file: /home/set/.terminfo//a/aterm
aterm| terminal emulator (X Window System):\
	:am:eo:km:mi:ms:xn:xo:\
	:co#80:it#8:li#24:\
	:AL=\E[%dL:DC=\E[%dP:DL=\E[%dM:DO=\E[%dB:IC=\E[%d@:\
	:K1=\EOw:K2=\EOu:K3=\EOy:K4=\EOq:K5=\EOs:LE=\E[%dD:\
	:RI=\E[%dC:UP=\E[%dA:ae=^O:al=\E[L:as=^N:bl=^G:cd=\E[J:\
	:ce=\E[K:cl=\E[H\E[2J:cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:cr=^M:\
	:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:ct=\E[3g:dc=\E[P:dl=\E[M:do=^J:ei=\E[4l:\
	:ho=\E[H:i1=\E[?47l\E=\E[?1l:ic=\E[@:im=\E[4h:\
	:is=\E[r\E[m\E[2J\E[H\E[?7h\E[?1;3;4;6l\E[4l:\
	:k0=\E[21~:k1=\E[11~:k2=\E[12~:k3=\E[13~:k4=\E[14~:\
	:k5=\E[15~:k6=\E[17~:k7=\E[18~:k8=\E[19~:k9=\E[20~:\
	:kD=\E[3~:kI=\E[2~:kN=\E[6~:kP=\E[5~:kb=^H:kd=\E[B:ke=\E>:\
	:kh=\E[7~:kl=\E[D:kr=\E[C:ks=\E=:ku=\E[A:le=^H:mb=\E[5m:\
	:md=\E[1m:me=\E[m\017:mr=\E[7m:nd=\E[C:rc=\E8:sc=\E7:\
	:se=\E[27m:sf=^J:so=\E[7m:sr=\EM:st=\EH:ta=^I:ue=\E[24m:\
	:up=\E[A:us=\E[4m:vb=\E[?5h\E[?5l:ve=\E[?25h:vi=\E[?25l:\
	:vs=\E[?25h:
#	Reconstructed via infocmp from file: /home/set/.terminfo//r/rxvt
rxvt|rxvt terminal emulator (X Window System):\
	:am:eo:km:mi:ms:xn:xo:\
	:co#80:it#8:li#24:\
	:AL=\E[%dL:DC=\E[%dP:DL=\E[%dM:DO=\E[%dB:IC=\E[%d@:\
	:K1=\EOw:K2=\EOu:K3=\EOy:K4=\EOq:K5=\EOs:LE=\E[%dD:\
	:RI=\E[%dC:UP=\E[%dA:ae=^O:al=\E[L:as=^N:bl=^G:cd=\E[J:\
	:ce=\E[K:cl=\E[H\E[2J:cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:cr=^M:\
	:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:ct=\E[3g:dc=\E[P:dl=\E[M:do=^J:ei=\E[4l:\
	:ho=\E[H:i1=\E[?47l\E=\E[?1l:ic=\E[@:im=\E[4h:\
	:is=\E[r\E[m\E[2J\E[H\E[?7h\E[?1;3;4;6l\E[4l:\
	:k0=\E[21~:k1=\E[11~:k2=\E[12~:k3=\E[13~:k4=\E[14~:\
	:k5=\E[15~:k6=\E[17~:k7=\E[18~:k8=\E[19~:k9=\E[20~:\
	:kD=\E[3~:kI=\E[2~:kN=\E[6~:kP=\E[5~:kb=^H:kd=\E[B:ke=\E>:\
	:kh=\E[7~:kl=\E[D:kr=\E[C:ks=\E=:ku=\E[A:le=^H:mb=\E[5m:\
	:md=\E[1m:me=\E[m\017:mr=\E[7m:nd=\E[C:rc=\E8:sc=\E7:\
	:se=\E[27m:sf=^J:so=\E[7m:sr=\EM:st=\EH:ta=^I:ue=\E[24m:\
	:up=\E[A:us=\E[4m:vb=\E[?5h\E[?5l:ve=\E[?25h:vi=\E[?25l:\
	:vs=\E[?25h:
#	Reconstructed via infocmp from file: /home/set/.terminfo//x/xterm-color
xterm-color|xterm terminal emulator (XFree86 3.1.2E and above):\
	:am:km:mi:ms:xn:\
	:co#80:it#8:li#65:\
	:AL=\E[%dL:DC=\E[%dP:DL=\E[%dM:DO=\E[%dB:IC=\E[%d@:\
	:K1=\EOw:K2=\EOy:K3=\EOu:K4=\EOq:K5=\EOs:LE=\E[%dD:\
	:RI=\E[%dC:UP=\E[%dA:ae=^O:al=\E[L:as=^N:bl=^G:cd=\E[J:\
	:ce=\E[K:cl=\E[H\E[2J:cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:cr=^M:\
	:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:ct=\E[3g:dc=\E[P:dl=\E[M:do=^J:ei=\E[4l:\
	:ho=\E[H:ic=\E[@:im=\E[4h:\
	:is=\E[r\E[m\E[H\E[2J\E[?7h\E[?1;3;4;6l\E[4l:\
	:k0=\E[21~:k1=\E[11~:k2=\E[12~:k3=\E[13~:k4=\E[14~:\
	:k5=\E[15~:k6=\E[17~:k7=\E[18~:k8=\E[19~:k9=\E[20~:\
	:kD=\177:kI=\E[2~:kN=\E[6~:kP=\E[5~:kb=^H:kd=\EOB:\
	:ke=\E[?1l\E>:kh=\EOH:kl=\EOD:kr=\EOC:ks=\E[?1h\E=:\
	:ku=\EOA:le=^H:md=\E[1m:me=\E[m:mr=\E[7m:nd=\E[C:rc=\E8:\
	:..sa=\E[0%?%p1%p6%|%t;1%;%?%p2%t;4%;%?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;%?%p4%t;5%;m%?%p9%t\016%e\017%;:\
	:sc=\E7:se=\E[m:sf=^J:so=\E[7m:sr=\EM:st=\EH:ta=^I:ue=\E[m:\
	:up=\E[A:us=\E[4m:vb=\E[?5h\E[?5l:ve=\E[?25h:vi=\E[?25l:\
	:vs=\E[?25h:
#	Reconstructed via infocmp from file: /home/set/.terminfo//x/xterm-mono
xterm-mono| no color xterm terminal emulator (X11R6 Window System):\
	:am:km:mi:ms:xn:xo:\
	:co#80:it#8:li#65:\
	:AL=\E[%dL:DC=\E[%dP:DL=\E[%dM:IC=\E[%d@:LE=\E[%dD:\
	:UP=\E[%dA:ae=\E(B:al=\E[L:as=\E(0:bl=^G:cd=\E[J:ce=\E[K:\
	:cl=\E[H\E[2J:cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:cr=^M:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:\
	:ct=\E[3k:dc=\E[P:dl=\E[M:do=^J:ei=\E[4l:ho=\E[H:ic=\E[@:\
	:im=\E[4h:is=\E[r\E[m\E[2J\E[H\E[?7h\E[?1;3;4;6l\E[4l:\
	:k1=\E[11~:k2=\E[12~:k3=\E[13~:k4=\E[14~:k5=\E[15~:\
	:k6=\E[17~:k7=\E[18~:k8=\E[19~:k9=\E[20~:kb=^H:kd=\E[B:\
	:kh=\E[@:kl=\E[D:kr=\E[C:ku=\E[A:le=^H:md=\E[1m:me=\E[m:\
	:mr=\E[7m:nd=\E[C:nw=^M^J:rc=\E8:sc=\E7:se=\E[m:sf=^J:\
	:so=\E[7m:sr=\EM:ta=^I:ue=\E[m:up=\E[A:us=\E[4m:
#	Reconstructed via infocmp from file: /home/set/.terminfo//x/xterm
xterm| terminal emulator (X Window System):\
	:am:eo:km:mi:ms:xn:xo:\
	:co#80:it#8:li#24:\
	:AL=\E[%dL:DC=\E[%dP:DL=\E[%dM:DO=\E[%dB:IC=\E[%d@:\
	:K1=\EOw:K2=\EOu:K3=\EOy:K4=\EOq:K5=\EOs:LE=\E[%dD:\
	:RI=\E[%dC:UP=\E[%dA:ae=^O:al=\E[L:as=^N:bl=^G:cd=\E[J:\
	:ce=\E[K:cl=\E[H\E[2J:cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:cr=^M:\
	:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:ct=\E[3g:dc=\E[P:dl=\E[M:do=^J:ei=\E[4l:\
	:ho=\E[H:i1=\E[?47l\E=\E[?1l:ic=\E[@:im=\E[4h:\
	:is=\E[r\E[m\E[2J\E[H\E[?7h\E[?1;3;4;6l\E[4l:\
	:k0=\E[21~:k1=\E[11~:k2=\E[12~:k3=\E[13~:k4=\E[14~:\
	:k5=\E[15~:k6=\E[17~:k7=\E[18~:k8=\E[19~:k9=\E[20~:\
	:kD=\E[3~:kI=\E[2~:kN=\E[6~:kP=\E[5~:kb=^H:kd=\E[B:ke=\E>:\
	:kh=\E[7~:kl=\E[D:kr=\E[C:ks=\E=:ku=\E[A:le=^H:mb=\E[5m:\
	:md=\E[1m:me=\E[m\017:mr=\E[7m:nd=\E[C:rc=\E8:sc=\E7:\
	:se=\E[27m:sf=^J:so=\E[7m:sr=\EM:st=\EH:ta=^I:ue=\E[24m:\
	:up=\E[A:us=\E[4m:vb=\E[?5h\E[?5l:ve=\E[?25h:vi=\E[?25l:\
	:vs=\E[?25h: